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    UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

    UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

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    Numerous hurdles stand in the way of young voters

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    UM launches creative writing program

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    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

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    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

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    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

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    Ole Miss Hockey returns: new player breakdown

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    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

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    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

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    Snackbar to host “Food of My People” with Betsy Chapman

    Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

    Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

    Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

    Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

    CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

    CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

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  • News
    UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

    UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

    Numerous hurdles stand in the way of young voters

    Numerous hurdles stand in the way of young voters

    UM launches creative writing program

    UM launches creative writing program

    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

  • Sports
    • All
    • Game Recap
    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

    Michael Trigg, Reginald Hughes no longer part of Ole Miss Football

    Carry-on, Jerrion

    Rebels seek first SEC win against LSU

    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

    Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

    Ole Miss Hockey returns: new player breakdown

    Ole Miss Hockey returns: new player breakdown

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

  • Arts & Culture

    Snackbar to host “Food of My People” with Betsy Chapman

    Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

    Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

    Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

    Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

    CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

    CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

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    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

    Designer versus fast fashion: Is it worth the investment?

    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

    How an ATV wreck saved my life

    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

    Casual drug use runs rampant across campus

    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

    Press on, Presley

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Vocalization, language in primates discussed at Brevard Hall

Jacqueline KnirnschildbyJacqueline Knirnschild
September 11, 2017
Reading Time: 3 mins read

As humans, we like to pride ourselves in the fact that we’re the only animal species able to use language to communicate meaning – however, recent research shows that may not be exactly true.

Thursday night at Brevard Hall, Angela Dassow, assistant professor of biology at Carthage College, used research to argue that white-handed gibbons are capable of expressing specific meanings through vocalizations. Gibbons are a type of ape.

Ultimately, if we program a keyboard to play gibbon calls, Dassow said, we could potentially be able to communicate with them.

“I haven’t tested it yet. I want to learn a little more gibbon and get better at playing a keyboard before I test whether or not these gibbons will communicate with me,” Dassow said. “But it’s a future goal.”

During her doctoral research, Dassow observed wild gibbons in Thailand and captive gibbons at various zoos around the country in order to understand the potential effects captivity has on their vocalizations.

In both groups of gibbons, Dassow recorded calls under natural conditions and also introduced context-appropriate stimuli, such as models of predators for those in the wild and a veterinarian for those in captivity.

Dassow then spent 10 months looking for distinctions between vocalizations and possible sources of variability.

“One of the challenging aspects of any kind of acoustic research is determining what these boundaries are going to be,” Dassow said. “It’s somewhat subjective in terms of who is coding, which is where computational analysis comes in.”  

Dassow used technology to make sure her observations were accurate and ultimately determined there are 27 categories of sound in gibbon communication.

The greater question, however, is whether or not these acoustic units actually signify meaning, which is what Dassow investigated next.

“We want to look at what those patterns are – how they’re combined and whether or not they’re used in any sort of predictable way,” Dassow said. “If I can find a repeated sequence that’s always associated with predators, can I expect to go to another gibbon group and see that repeated with their communication as well?”

Through analysis, Dassow eventually isolated two concise subsequences of gibbon vocalizations, one which is a generic predator warning and one which specifically warns of a snake.

“This first subsequence is a motivational sequence made up of just two different sounds meaning that the organism is alert but not necessarily referring to anything specific,” Dassow said. “Whereas the second subsequence is a referential type of vocalization – there is an associated meaning with that.”

Predator warning calls appear to be more complex than previously thought, Dassow said. More research, however, still needs to be done to understand the extent of gibbon communication and their ability to learn.

Unanswered questions include whether or not animal vocabularies evolve over time and whether or not animal communication has context-dependent words, such as the English word “suck.”

Dassow, however, found that vocalizations differ greatly between captive and wild gibbons, which indicates that limited vocal learning may be occurring.  

“Gibbons are innate in their vocal production. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you move them – they’ll still have the same acoustic units,” Dassow said. “But they do appear to learn how to use those acoustic units.”

“I haven’t actually tried to teach a gibbon any sequences yet,” Dassow continued. “But what might be possible is that they’re learning from each other.”  

These findings can be applied to studies on the evolution of vocal communication and contribute to conservation efforts.

Dassow said gibbon vocalization research can inform captive-release programs which gibbons are ready to be released. If a gibbon is able to effectively communicate about territorial boundaries and understand when another gibbon group is warning of a predator, its chances of surviving in the wild are much higher.

Freshman mechanical engineering major Sudesh Pathak, who is currently taking Anthropology 101, said he really appreciates Dassow’s research because not only is it interesting, but it also seems extremely challenging.

“How do they do that?” he said. “Those sounds are so similar – I can’t even distinguish the voices of some of my friends.”

In Case You Missed It

Snackbar to host “Food of My People” with Betsy Chapman

16 hours ago
Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

Michael Trigg, Reginald Hughes no longer part of Ole Miss Football

22 hours ago
Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

22 hours ago
Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

22 hours ago
CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

22 hours ago
UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

22 hours ago

Vocalization, language in primates discussed at Brevard Hall

Jacqueline KnirnschildbyJacqueline Knirnschild
September 11, 2017
Reading Time: 3 mins read

As humans, we like to pride ourselves in the fact that we’re the only animal species able to use language to communicate meaning – however, recent research shows that may not be exactly true.

Thursday night at Brevard Hall, Angela Dassow, assistant professor of biology at Carthage College, used research to argue that white-handed gibbons are capable of expressing specific meanings through vocalizations. Gibbons are a type of ape.

Ultimately, if we program a keyboard to play gibbon calls, Dassow said, we could potentially be able to communicate with them.

“I haven’t tested it yet. I want to learn a little more gibbon and get better at playing a keyboard before I test whether or not these gibbons will communicate with me,” Dassow said. “But it’s a future goal.”

During her doctoral research, Dassow observed wild gibbons in Thailand and captive gibbons at various zoos around the country in order to understand the potential effects captivity has on their vocalizations.

In both groups of gibbons, Dassow recorded calls under natural conditions and also introduced context-appropriate stimuli, such as models of predators for those in the wild and a veterinarian for those in captivity.

Dassow then spent 10 months looking for distinctions between vocalizations and possible sources of variability.

“One of the challenging aspects of any kind of acoustic research is determining what these boundaries are going to be,” Dassow said. “It’s somewhat subjective in terms of who is coding, which is where computational analysis comes in.”  

Dassow used technology to make sure her observations were accurate and ultimately determined there are 27 categories of sound in gibbon communication.

The greater question, however, is whether or not these acoustic units actually signify meaning, which is what Dassow investigated next.

“We want to look at what those patterns are – how they’re combined and whether or not they’re used in any sort of predictable way,” Dassow said. “If I can find a repeated sequence that’s always associated with predators, can I expect to go to another gibbon group and see that repeated with their communication as well?”

Through analysis, Dassow eventually isolated two concise subsequences of gibbon vocalizations, one which is a generic predator warning and one which specifically warns of a snake.

“This first subsequence is a motivational sequence made up of just two different sounds meaning that the organism is alert but not necessarily referring to anything specific,” Dassow said. “Whereas the second subsequence is a referential type of vocalization – there is an associated meaning with that.”

Predator warning calls appear to be more complex than previously thought, Dassow said. More research, however, still needs to be done to understand the extent of gibbon communication and their ability to learn.

Unanswered questions include whether or not animal vocabularies evolve over time and whether or not animal communication has context-dependent words, such as the English word “suck.”

Dassow, however, found that vocalizations differ greatly between captive and wild gibbons, which indicates that limited vocal learning may be occurring.  

“Gibbons are innate in their vocal production. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you move them – they’ll still have the same acoustic units,” Dassow said. “But they do appear to learn how to use those acoustic units.”

“I haven’t actually tried to teach a gibbon any sequences yet,” Dassow continued. “But what might be possible is that they’re learning from each other.”  

These findings can be applied to studies on the evolution of vocal communication and contribute to conservation efforts.

Dassow said gibbon vocalization research can inform captive-release programs which gibbons are ready to be released. If a gibbon is able to effectively communicate about territorial boundaries and understand when another gibbon group is warning of a predator, its chances of surviving in the wild are much higher.

Freshman mechanical engineering major Sudesh Pathak, who is currently taking Anthropology 101, said he really appreciates Dassow’s research because not only is it interesting, but it also seems extremely challenging.

“How do they do that?” he said. “Those sounds are so similar – I can’t even distinguish the voices of some of my friends.”

In Case You Missed It

Snackbar to host “Food of My People” with Betsy Chapman

16 hours ago
Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

Michael Trigg, Reginald Hughes no longer part of Ole Miss Football

22 hours ago
Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

Morgan Wallen to return to Oxford

22 hours ago
Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

Student-made cooking show arrives on campus

22 hours ago
CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

CASA Encore raises an impressive $450K

22 hours ago
UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

UM students vote: Presley vs. Reeves

22 hours ago

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