Categorical and semantic perception of the meaning of call types in zebra finches

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Elie, Julie E.; de Witasse-Thezy, Aude; Thomas, Logan; Malit, Ben; Theunissen, Frederic E.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1; Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (ENS de LYON); University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8077
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ads8482
• 发表日期: 2025-09-18
• 页码: 1210-1215
• 关键词: black-capped chickadees; vocal repertoire; alarm calls; mobbing calls; COMMUNICATION; predator; monkeys; CLASSIFICATION; REPRESENTATION; INFORMATION

摘要

Vocal communication in social animals involves the production and perception of various calls that ethologists categorize into call types based on their acoustical structure and behavioral context. Whether these categories indicate distinct meanings for the animals remains unknown. The zebra finch, a gregarious songbird, uses similar to 11 call types that are known to communicate hunger, danger, or social conflict and to establish social contact and bonding. Using auditory discrimination tasks, we show that the birds both discriminate and categorize all the call types in their vocal repertoire. In addition, systematic errors were more frequent between call types used in similar behavioral contexts than could be expected from their acoustic similarity. Thus, zebra finches organize their calls into categories and create a mental representation of the meaning of these sounds.