title: Social learning of a communicative signal in captive chimpanzees.
abstract: The acquisition of linguistic competency from more experienced social partners is a fundamental aspect of human language. However, there is little evidence that non-human primates learn to use their vocalizations from social partners. Captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) produce idiosyncratic vocal signals that are used intentionally to capture the attention of a human experimenter. Interestingly, not all apes produce these sounds, and it is unclear what factors explain this difference. We tested the hypothesis that these attention-getting (AG) sounds are socially learned via transmission between mothers and their offspring. We assessed 158 chimpanzees to determine if they produced AG sounds. A significant association was found between mother and offspring sound production. This association was attributable to individuals who were raised by their biological mother-as opposed to those raised by humans in a nursery environment. These data support the hypothesis that social learning plays a role in the acquisition and use of communicative vocal signals in chimpanzees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Physics, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA. jtaglial@kennesaw.edu
authors.forename: Jared P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Taglialatela
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reamer
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schapiro
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Hopkins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*