Harold Gouzoules

• Emory University

We use screams to explore ideas presented in the target article. Evolving first in animals as a response to predation, screams reveal more complex social use in nonhuman primates and, in humans, uniquely, are associated with a much greater variety of emotional contexts including fear, anger, surprise, and happiness. This expansion, and the potentia...

Humans and other mammalian species communicate emotions in ways that reflect evolutionary conservation and continuity, an observation first made by Darwin. One approach to testing this hypothesis has been to assess the capacity to perceive the emotional content of the vocalizations of other species. Using a binary forced choice task, we tested perc...

Did loss of vocal fold membranes typical of nonhuman primates enable human speech?

As Darwin first recognized, the study of emotional communication has the potential to improve scientific understanding of the mechanisms of signal production as well as how signals evolve. We examined the relationships between emotional arousal and selected acoustic characteristics of coo and scream vocalizations produced by female rhesus macaques,...

Screams occur across taxonomically widespread species, typically in antipredator situations, and are strikingly similar acoustically, but in nonhuman primates, they have taken on acoustically varied forms in association with more contextually complex functions related to agonistic recruitment. Humans scream in an even broader range of contexts, but...

Human screams have been suggested to comprise a salient and readily identified call type, yet few studies have explored the degree to which people agree on what constitutes a scream, and the defining acoustic structure of screams has not been fully determined. In this study, participants listened to 75 human vocal sounds, representing both a broad...

The last four decades have seen major advances in the study of the cognitive bases of animal vocal communication. The conceptual delineation of senders and receivers has led to a focus on the cognitive processes involved in call production and usage, and those concerning call perception. We review selected relevant literature and discuss how recent...

Screams are phylogenetically widespread and typically associated with emotionally intense contexts, and thus present a window into the evolution of vocal emotion expression. Screams are distinct from other vocalizations, but nonetheless exhibit acoustic variation. The purpose of this study was to assess whether humans are sensitive to this variatio...

The recognition of individuals through vocalizations is a highly adaptive ability in the social behavior of many species, including humans. However, the extent to which nonlinguistic vocalizations such as screams permit individual recognition in humans remains unclear. Using a same-different vocalizer discrimination task, we investigated participan...

Recent research suggests that human screams comprise an innate call type, yet the defining acoustic structure of screams has not been determined. In this study, participants listened to 75 human vocal sounds, representing both a broad acoustical range and array of emotional contexts, and were asked to classify each as either a scream or a non-screa...

Researchers have long relied on acted material to study emotional expression and perception in humans. It has been suggested, however, that certain aspects of natural expressions are difficult or impossible to produce voluntarily outside of their associated emotional contexts, and that acted expressions tend to be overly intense caricatures. From a...

Although evolution has shaped human infant crying and the corresponding response from caregivers, there is marked variation in paternal involvement and caretaking behavior, highlighting the importance of understanding the neurobiology supporting optimal paternal responses to cries. We explored the neural response to infant cries in fathers of child...

Categorical perception (CP) occurs when continuously varying stimuli are perceived as belonging to discrete categories. Thereby, perceivers are more accurate at discriminating between stimuli of different categories than between stimuli within the same category (Harnad, 1987; Goldstone, 1994). The current experiments investigated whether the struct...

Scream vocalizations produced by pigtail macaques during agonistic encounters were classified according to caller body weight (small, medium, large) on the basis of six frequency-related acoustic variables using direct discriminant analysis. Separate discriminant analyses were run for: 1. calls produced when the attack involved an opponent higher-r...

In this commentary, we review evidence that production-based (perceiver-independent) measures reveal few consistent sex differences in emotion. Further, sex differences in perceiver-based measures can be attributed to retrospective or dispositional biases. We end by discussing an alternative view that women might appear to be more emotional because...

Vocalizations are among the diverse cues that animals use to recognize individual conspecifics. For some calls, such as noisy screams, there is debate over whether such recognition occurs. To test recognition of rhesus macaque noisy screams, recorded calls were played back to unrelated and related conspecific group members as either single calls or...

Brown capuchins give distinct calls upon encountering food. Based on studies on other species that point at divisibility of food and audience as critical variables, we predicted that capuchins would adjust their food calling for both the amount of food and the nature of their audience. We predicted that the food-associated call serves to attract co...

This study investigated sex differences in juvenile rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) vocal behavior during agonistic contexts, and the effects of prenatal androgens on these differences. A total of 59 subjects (5-8 per treatment group) received exogenous androgen (testosterone enanthate), an anti-androgen (flutamide) or vehicle injections (DMSO) for...

We review evolutionary views on honesty and deception and their application to studies of nonhuman primate communication. There is evidence that some primate signals are likely to be accurate on the basis of costliness. They appear most often in contexts that include overtly competitive interactions in which unrelated individuals have limited acces...

Infant and juvenile rhesus macaques exhibit many sexually dimorphic behaviors, including rough and tumble play, mounting, and time spent with nonmother females. This study investigated sex differences in infant rhesus monkey separation-rejection vocalizations (SRVs), and the effects of altering the prenatal hormone environment on these differences....

This study explored the effects of restraint by females other than the mother on the vocalizations of infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in a captive social setting. In this species, females are very attracted to young infants and will frequently approach, groom, and hold the infant. Incompetent handling, abusive behavior, or extended periods...

Screams of four species of macaques (Macaca mulatta, M. nemestrina, M. nigra, M. arctoides) were compared for similarities and differences with respect to predictions of Morton?s motivation?structural rules [Morton, Am. Nat. 111, 855?869 (1977)]. Screams from victims of attack that involved contact aggression (pulling, pushing, slapping, grappling,...

We compared screams of four species of macaques (rhesus monkey, Macaca mulatta; pigtailed monkey, M. nemestrina; Sulawesi crested black macaque, M. nigra; stumptailed macaque, M. arctoides) with respect to predictions of Morton's motivation-structural rules (Morton 1977, American Naturalist, 111, 855-869). We examined screams produced by victims of...

This study investigated the relation between crying and infant abuse in group-living rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The subjects were 10 abusive mothers with their infants and 10 control mother – infant pairs. Abused infants cried more frequently than controls in the first 12 weeks of life, even when cries immediately following abuse were exclude...

Vocalizations of sexually receptive females in two primate species, the sooty mangabey (Cercocebus torquatus atys) and the pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina), were compared with respect to the acoustical features of calls as well as the reproductive and social factors that were associated with calling behavior. Sixty-two bouts of calling were reco...

Scream vocalizations of group-living rhesus macaques provoked by higher-ranking aggressors were examined in two contexts: encounters in which the rank difference between opponents was either large or small. Such vocalizations are important in eliciting support from the caller's allies in the group (usually matrilineal kin). Five acoustically distin...

Signalers that misinform sufficiently open may become devalued as sources of information; however, “skepticism” and any comparison involved in testing reliability entail a cost that involves delays and energy expenditure. Skepticism may be less costly though, if, as a rule, animals are not equally skeptical of the signals of all conspecifics. Anima...

In several species of nonhuman primates screams given by victims of attack elicit interventions from allies in the social group. In the present study, the screams of 16 pigtail macaques (M. nemesirina) under three years of age were assessed with respect to production and contextual usage. Data obtained from these animals three years later were comp...

Knowledge about non-human primate vocal communication has grown substantially in recent years and has resulted in a radically different view of the role vocalizations play in animals’ lives. Some 25 years ago, anthropologist Jane Lancaster summarized the then prevalent view by noting that, “.... field and laboratory workers have emphasized that voc...

Without Abstract

In macaques and baboons, scream vocalizations play a major role in the recruitment of allies against agonistic opponents. Pigtail macaques make use of 4 acoustically distinct scream types, with each associated with a particular agonistic context (defined in terms of the opponent's relative dominance rank and the intensity of the aggression). Inform...

Scream vocalizations produced by pigtail macaques during agonistic encounters were studied using spectrographic and multivariate analyses. These calls are important in the recruitment of support from allies against opponents. Direct discriminant analysis was used to classify screams recorded from 45 monkeys living in a stable captive group at the Y...

Previous study of captive pigtail monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) revealed that victims of an attack by a group member employed one of four acoustically different recruitment calls (Gouzoules&Gouzoules: Animal Behaviour 37:383–401, 1989). The calls appear to provide allies with information pertinent to decisions about fight intervention. Each call was...

Lifetime reproductive success, measured by the number of offspring surviving to age five, varied from 0 to 10 in a group of 33 provisioned female Japanese macaques. Of the three contributors to reproductive success, the number of reproductive years, fecundity per year and survivorship of offspring to reproductive age, the first accounted for two-th...

The present survey concentrates on what has been learned about kinship and kinship organization through systematic comparative research. It is necessarily selective because the anthropological literature on kinship is immense. Other reviews touching upon additional aspects of kinship organizations are Marsh (1967), Naroll (1970, 1973), and Pasterna...

Free-ranging rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago (Puerto Rico) give five acoustically distinct scream vocalizations during agonistic encounters. These calls are thought to be an important mechanism in the recruitment of support from allies against opponents. Alliance formation during agonistic encounters is known to vary with the dominance rank and mat...

Demographic data have been collected on the Arashiyama Japanese macaque population from 1954 until the present, through the fissioning of the original group into two parts in 1966, and through the translocation of one of the two groups to Texas in 1972. Population dynamics are reported for the Arashiyama West group in Texas during 1972 to 1979 and...

Female mounting behavior was studied in a troop of Japanese macaques during one breeding season. Of 79 sexually active females, mounting behavior during consortships was shown by 50 females; 13 only with males, 20 with both males and females, and 17 only with females. Several factors associated with reproductive state influenced the expression of m...

Eight years of reproductive data (including 248 births) from a translocated troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) living in a 42-ha enclosure provided three measures of female reproductive success: fecundity, survival of infants to 1 year of age, and age at first parturition. No significant relationship was found between social dominance and t...

A 150-member troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata)was translocated from its temperate native habitat, near Kyoto, Japan, to a 42-ha enclosure near Laredo, Texas, in February 1972. The seasonal timing and distribution of 430 births recorded over the period 1954–1971 were compared to those of 186 births recorded in Texas from 1973 to 1979. Despi...

Rank changes among females of a troop of 154 Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) are described. A medium ranking female, with support from the alpha male, successfully challenged the alpha female. Following this dominance shift, almost all members of the two genealogical groups underwent rank changes. The observations provide some evidence that the r...

In an 11-month study, data on the establishment of dominance and grooming relations were collected over a 3-month period on an all-female pigtail monkey group. Subsequently, 3 adult males were introduced singly to the females and remained in the group for 1 month each. Data on social relations were collected to examine stability among female relati...

Based on an evaluation of the populations of primates in Northern Colombia, and upon data showing dramatically different abilities of the different species to survive in small forest remnants or radically altered forest environments, we urge the immediate establishment of adequately sized forest areas to insure the long term survival of vulnerable...

A population survey of nonhuman primates in an area of northern Colombia was conducted using repeated systematic census techniques as well as exploratory transects. Both remnant forest patches and more extensive forests were examined for comparison. WhereasLagothrix andAteles were most numerous in extensive forests,Lagothrix was virtually absent in...

A series of encounters between a transplanted troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) and one or more bobcats (Lynx rufus) is described. One incident of predation was observed and four additional cases assumed. Reactions of identified individuals and groups of monkeys as well as general troop reactions are noted. The effects of breeding season b...

The social interactions of six infant stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) in a captive colony at the Yerkes Field Station in Lawrenceville, Georgia, were studied for the first six months of life. The social interactions of the infants are described and attention is paid to male care, or paternal behavior, directed toward infants. Episodes in whic...

The birth of an infant to the highest ranking female in a captive social group of stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) is described. Along with certain details of delivery behavior, the responses of group members to the birth are given. The alpha male and two juvenile males were sexually aroused just prior to and during parturition. Adult females...

Harassment of copulation by members of a group of Macaca arctoides is described. Data on 88 mounts is analyzed and an age-sex breakdown of the harassing monkeys is provided. A possible function of the harassment pattern in this species is discussed.Copyright © 1974 S. Karger AG, Basel

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1980. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-218). Photocopy.