TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental evidence for the volitional control of vocal production in an immature gibbon
AU - Koda, Hiroki
AU - Oyakawa, Chisako
AU - Kato, Akemi
AU - Masataka, Nobuo
N1 - Funding Information:
We appreciate Mr. Toshikuni Nihonmatsu for providing permission to conduct this research. This work could not have been completed without his deep consideration and helpfulness as well as the assistance of the entire staff of the Fukuchiyama City Zoo. We also thank Ms. Yuko Ohshima for her preliminary training, and Ms. Satomi Araya for her secretarial work. The comments of Dr. Tobias Riede and an anonymous reviewer improved the manuscript. We adhered to the guidelines of the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University (Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Primates). This study was supported by the Global COE Program to Kyoto University, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan.
PY - 2007/6
Y1 - 2007/6
N2 - Volitional control of vocal production is an essential ability for vocal usage learning in animal calls. Operant conditioning of vocal production is one of the most direct experimental approaches for assessing volitional vocal control in animals. In this case study, we attempted operant conditioning of the vocalizations of an immature female white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar). For the operant conditioning of vocal production, the gibbon was required to immediately vocalize in response to a V-sign cue by the human experimenter's hand. During the 2-month period of intensive training for conditioning, the gibbon successfully learned to produce the contingent response of vocalizations. We again tested the conditioning with a 30-day interval after the completion of conditioning and were able to immediately show memorization of vocal conditioning. These results directly suggest greater volitional control of vocal production in gibbons than previously considered. Our study implies the possibility of upper level volitional control in this species, which involves differentiation of several call types in response to specific arbitrary stimuli over the motivational state.
AB - Volitional control of vocal production is an essential ability for vocal usage learning in animal calls. Operant conditioning of vocal production is one of the most direct experimental approaches for assessing volitional vocal control in animals. In this case study, we attempted operant conditioning of the vocalizations of an immature female white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar). For the operant conditioning of vocal production, the gibbon was required to immediately vocalize in response to a V-sign cue by the human experimenter's hand. During the 2-month period of intensive training for conditioning, the gibbon successfully learned to produce the contingent response of vocalizations. We again tested the conditioning with a 30-day interval after the completion of conditioning and were able to immediately show memorization of vocal conditioning. These results directly suggest greater volitional control of vocal production in gibbons than previously considered. Our study implies the possibility of upper level volitional control in this species, which involves differentiation of several call types in response to specific arbitrary stimuli over the motivational state.
KW - Gibbon
KW - Operant conditioning
KW - Vocal production
KW - Vocal usage learning
KW - Volitional control
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U2 - 10.1163/156853907781347817
DO - 10.1163/156853907781347817
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34547593396
VL - 144
SP - 681
EP - 692
JO - Behaviour
JF - Behaviour
SN - 0005-7959
IS - 6
ER -