07.05.2024 - Steffen Hage

Monkey vocalizations have long been assumed to be largely innate, highly affective, and stereotyped for over 50 years. Recently, this perception has dramatically changed. Current studies in monkeys, including our own, have unveiled distinct learning mechanisms during vocal development and vocal flexibility, allowing monkeys to cognitively control when, where, and what to vocalize. All of these capabilities represent crucial biological preadaptations in monkeys that contribute to the emergence of a language system in humans. In my talk, I will focus on our recent studies involving marmoset monkeys and discuss whether the observed findings can serve as model systems to investigate neural networks underlying specific aspects of human speech.