Article published in:
How the Brain Got Language: Towards a New Road Map
Edited by Michael A. Arbib
[Interaction Studies 19:1/2] 2018
► pp. 121–135

Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates

| Freie Universität Berlin
| Freie Universität Berlin
Despite the variety of theories suggesting how human language might have evolved, very few consider the potential role of emotions in such scenarios. The few existing theories jointly highlight that gaining control over the production of emotional communication was crucial for establishing and maintaining larger social groups. This in turn resulted in the development of more complex social emotions and the corresponding sophisticated socio-cognitive skills to understand others’ communicative behavior, providing the grounds for language to emerge. Importantly, these theories propose that the ability of controlling emotional communication is a uniquely human trait, an assumption that we will challenge. By taking a comparative approach, we discuss recent findings from behavioral and neurobiological studies from our closest relatives, the non-human primates, on the extent of control over their gestural, facial and vocal signals. This demonstrates that research foci differ drastically across these modalities, which further enhances the traditional dichotomy between emotional, involuntary facial and vocal expressions in contrast to intentionally, voluntarily produced gestures. Based on this brief overview, we point to gaps of knowledge in primate communication research and suggest how investigating emotional expressions in our closest relatives might enrich the road map towards the evolution of human language.
Keywords: language evolution, emotional control, intentional, gesture, facial expression, orofacial movements, vocalization, primates
Published online: 17 September 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.17040.lie
References

References

Arbib, M. A.
(2005) From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(2), 105–124. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis (Vol. 16). New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, K., & Zuberbühler, K.
(2006) Language evolution: Semantic combinations in primate calls. Nature, 441(7091), 303–303.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L., & Volterra, V.
(1979) The Emergence of Symbols: Cognition and Communication in Infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bateson, G.
(1955) A theory of play and fantasy. Psychiatric Research Reports, 2(39), 39–51.Google Scholar
Bekoff, M., & Allen, C.
(1997) Intentional communication and social play: How animals negotiate and agree to play. In M. Bekoff & J. A. Byers (Eds.), Animal play: Evolutionary, comparative and ecological perspectives (pp. 97–114). Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Benga, O.
(2005) Intentional communication and the anterior cingulate cortex. Interaction Studies, 6(2), 201–221. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, T. J.
(2013) Speech-like vocalized lip-smacking in geladas. Current Biology, 23(7), R268–R269. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boe, L., Fagot, J., Perrier, P., & Schwartz, J. -L.
(2018) Origins of human language: Continuities and discontinuities with nonhuman primates. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Call, J., & Tomasello, M.
(Eds.) (2007) The gestural communication of apes and monkeys. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Chevalier-Skolnikoff, S.
(1994) The primate play face: A possible key to the determinants and evolution of play. Rice University Studies, 60(3), 9–29.Google Scholar
Clay, Z., Archbold, J., & Zuberbühler, K.
(2015) Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour. PeerJ, 3, e1124.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J.
(2000) Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (pp. 91–115). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Coudé, G., Ferrari, P. F., Rodà, F., Maranesi, M., Borelli, E., Veroni, V., … Fogassi, L.
(2011) Neurons controlling voluntary vocalization in the macaque ventral premotor cortex. PLoS ONE, 6(11), e26822.Crossref[ p. 133 ]Google Scholar
Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., Mundry, R., & Zuberbühler, K.
(2012) Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger. Current Biology, 22(2), 142–146. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C.
(1889/1998) The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals (3rd ed.). London: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. B. M.
(1988) The communicative repertoire of captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) compared to that of chimpanzees. Behaviour, 106(3), 183–251.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dezecache, G., Mercier, H., & Scott-Phillips, T. C.
(2013) An evolutionary approach to emotional communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 59, 221–233.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G.
(1992) Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study. Experimental Brain Research, 91(1), 176–180.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, S. D.
(2009) Socioecological correlates of facial mobility in nonhuman anthropoids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 139(3), 413–420.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, P.
(1992) An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 169–200.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V.
(1978) Facial Action Coding System. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Evans, C. S.
(1997) Referential signals. In D. H. Owings, M. D. Beecher, & N. S. Thompson (Eds.), Perspectives in Ethology (Vol. 12: Communication, pp. 99–143). New York & London: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Feldman Barrett, L. F., Lindquist, K. A., & Gendron, M.
(2007) Language as context for the perception of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(8), 327–332.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, P. F., Gallese, V., Rizzolatti, G., & Fogassi, L.
(2003) Mirror neurons responding to the observation of ingestive and communicative mouth actions in the monkey ventral premotor cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience, 17(8), 1703–1714.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, P. F., Gerbella, M., Coudé, G., & Rozzi, S.
(2017) Two different mirror neuron networks: The sensorimotor (hand) and limbic (face) pathways. Neuroscience, 358, 300–315.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fridlund, A.
(1994) Human Facial Expression: An Evolutionary View. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gavrilov, N., Hage, S. R., & Nieder, A.
(2017) Functional specialization of the primate frontal lobe during cognitive control of vocalizations. Cell Reports, 21(9), 2393–2406.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ghazanfar, A. A., & Eliades, S. J.
(2014) The neurobiology of primate vocal communication. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 28, 128–135.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gruber, T., & Grandjean, D.
(2017) A comparative neurological approach to emotional expressions in primate vocalizations. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 73, 182–190.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jablonka, E., Ginsburg, S., & Dor, D.
(2012) The co-evolution of language and emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367, 2152–2159. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jürgens, U.
(2002) Neural pathways underlying vocal control. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 26(2), 235–258.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Koelsch, S., Jacobs, A. M., Menninghaus, W., Liebal, K., Klann-Delius, G., von Scheve, C., & Gebauer, G.
(2015) The quartet theory of human emotions: an integrative and neurofunctional model. Physics of Life Reviews, 13, 1–27. Crossref[ p. 134 ]Google Scholar
Leavens, D. A., Russell, J. L., & Hopkins, W. D.
(2005) Intentionality as measured in the persistence and elaboration of communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Child Development, 76(1), 291–306. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liebal, K., Pika, S., & Tomasello, M.
(2004) Social communication in siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus): Use of gestures and facial expressions. Primates, 45(1), 41–57. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liebal, K., Schneider, C., & Errson-Lembeck, M.
(2018) How primates acquire their gestures: evaluating current theories and evidence. Animal Cognition, 1–14. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liebal, K., Waller, B. M., Burrows, A. M., & Slocombe, K. E.
(2013) Primate Communication: A Multimodal Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Maryanski, A., & Turner, J. H.
(1992) The Social Cage: Human Nature and the Evolution of Society: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Müri, R. M.
(2016) Cortical control of facial expression. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 524(8), 1578–1585.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Oña, L., Sandler, W., & Liebal, K.
in prep). Compositionality in chimpanzee communication?
Owren, M. J., Dieter, J. A., Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L.
(1992) Evidence of limited modification in the vocalizations of cross-fostered rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and Japanese (M. fuscata) macaques. Developmental Psychobiology, 26(7), 257–270.Google Scholar
Parr, L., Waller, B. M., & Fugate, J.
(2005) Emotional communication in primates: Implications for neurobiology. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15(6), 716–720.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pinker, S., & Bloom, P.
(1990) Natural selection and natural language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 13(4), 707–784. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rizzolatti, G., & Arbib, M. A.
(1998) Language within our grasp. Trends in Neuroscience, 21(5), 188–194. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, A. I., & Roberts, S. G. B.
(2016) Wild chimpanzees modify modality of gestures according to the strength of social bonds and personal network size. Scientific Reports, 6 33864, Crossref.Google Scholar
Scheider, L., Waller, B. M., Oña, L., Burrows, A. M., & Liebal, K.
(2016) Social use of facial expressions in hylobatids. PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0151733. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schel, A. M., Townsend, S. W., Machanda, Z., Zuberbühler, K., & Slocombe, K. E.
(2013) Chimpanzee alarm call production meets key criteria for intentionality. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e76674. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L.
(2003) Meaning and emotion in animal vocalizations. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1000 (Emotions inside out: 130 Years after Darwin’s “The expression of the emotions in man and animals”), 32–55.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sherwood, C. C., Hof, P. R., Holloway, R. L., Semendeferi, K., Gannon, P. J., Frahm, H. D., & Zilles, K.
(2005) Evolution of the brainstem orofacial motor system in primates: a comparative study of trigeminal, facial, and hypoglossal nuclei. Journal of Human Evolution, 48(1), 45–84.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sherwood, C. C., Holloway, R. L., Erwin, J. M., & Hof, P. R.
(2004) Cortical orofacial motor representation in old World monkeys, great apes, and humans. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 63(2), 82–106.Crossref[ p. 135 ]Google Scholar
Slocombe, K. E., Waller, B. M., & Liebal, K.
(2011) The language void: The need for multimodality in primate communication research. Animal Behaviour, 81(5), 919–924. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Spoor, J. R., & Kelly, J. R.
(2004) The evolutionary significance of affect in groups: Communication and group bonding. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 7(4), 398–412.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Taglialatela, J. P., Cantalupo, C., & Hopkins, W. D.
(2006) Gesture handedness predicts asymmetry in the chimpanzee inferior frontal gyrus. Neuroreport, 17(9), 923–927.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Taglialatela, J. P., Russell, J. L., Schaeffer, J. A., & Hopkins, W. D.
(2008) Communicative signaling activates ‘Broca’s’ homolog in chimpanzees. Current Biology, 18(5), 343–348.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, J., & Byrne, R.
(1993) Concealing facial evidence of mood: Perspective-taking in a captive gorilla? Primates, 34(4), 451–457.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Thunström, M., Kuchenbuch, P., & Young, C.
(2014) Concealing of facial expressions by a wild Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). Primates, 55(3), 369–375.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Turner, J. H.
(1996) The evolution of emotions in humans: A Darwinian–Durkheimian analysis. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 26(1), 1–33.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vick, S. J., Waller, B. M., Parr, L. A., Smith Pasqualini, M. C., & Bard, K. A.
(2007) A cross-species comparison of facial morphology and movement in humans and chimpanzees using the facial action coding system (FACS). Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 31(1), 1–20.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Waller, B. M., Caeiro, C. C., & Davila-Ross, M.
(2016) Orangutans modify facial displays depending on recipient attention. PeerJ, e827. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Waller, B. M., Lembeck, M., Kuchenbuch, P., Burrows, A. M., & Liebal, K.
(2012) GibbonFACS: A muscle-based facial movement coding system for hylobatids. International Journal of Primatology, 33(4), 809–821.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Waller, B. M., Whitehouse, J., & Micheletta, J.
(2016) Macaques can predict social outcomes from facial expressions. Animal Cognition, 19(5), 1031–1036.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, M., Hauser, M., & Wrangham, R.
(2007) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) modify grouping and vocal behaviour in response to location-specific risk. Behaviour, 144(12), 1621–1653.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zuberbühler, K.
(2015) Linguistic capacity of non-human animals. WIREs Cognitive Sciences, 6, 313–321. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 7 other publications

Arbib, Michael A., Francisco Aboitiz, Judith M. Burkart, Michael Corballis, Gino Coudé, Erin Hecht, Katja Liebal, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, James Pustejovsky, Shelby Putt, Federico Rossano, Anne E. Russon, P. Thomas Schoenemann, Uwe Seifert, Katerina Semendeferi, Chris Sinha, Dietrich Stout, Virginia Volterra, Sławomir Wacewicz & Benjamin Wilson
2018. The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language . Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 19:1-2 ► pp. 370 ff. Crossref logo
Arbib, Michael A., Francisco Aboitiz, Judith M. Burkart, Michael C. Corballis, Gino Coudé, Erin Hecht, Katja Liebal, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, James Pustejovsky, Shelby S. Putt, Federico Rossano, Anne E. Russon, P. Thomas Schoenemann, Uwe Seifert, Katerina Semendeferi, Chris Sinha, Dietrich Stout, Virginia Volterra, Sławomir Wacewicz & Benjamin Wilson
2020.  In How the Brain Got Language – Towards a New Road Map [Benjamins Current Topics, 112], ► pp. 370 ff. Crossref logo
Fröhlich, Marlen, Christine Sievers, Simon W. Townsend, Thibaud Gruber & Carel P. Schaik
2019. Multimodal communication and language origins: integrating gestures and vocalizations. Biological Reviews 94:5 ► pp. 1809 ff. Crossref logo
Liebal, Katja, Christel Schneider & Manuela Errson-Lembeck
2019. How primates acquire their gestures: evaluating current theories and evidence. Animal Cognition 22:4 ► pp. 473 ff. Crossref logo
Nieuwburg, Elisabeth G.I., Annemie Ploeger & Mariska E. Kret
2021. Emotion recognition in nonhuman primates: How experimental research can contribute to a better understanding of underlying mechanisms. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 123 ► pp. 24 ff. Crossref logo
Prieur, Jacques, Stéphanie Barbu, Catherine Blois‐Heulin & Alban Lemasson
2020. The origins of gestures and language: history, current advances and proposed theories. Biological Reviews 95:3 ► pp. 531 ff. Crossref logo
Roberts, Anna I. & Sam G. B. Roberts
2020. Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition. Biological Reviews 95:1 ► pp. 51 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.