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Multimodal concomitants of manual gesture by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Influence of food size and distance
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Abstract

It is well-established that chimpanzees vocalize more in the presence of relatively large amounts of food. The present study administered four trials in random order to each of 20 chimpanzees: (1) small piece of fruit, placed near to cage (~30 cm.), (2) large piece of fruit, placed near to cage, (3) small piece of fruit, placed far from cage (~130 cm.), and (4) large piece of fruit, placed far from cage. On arrival of an experimenter, the chimpanzees not only vocalized more in the presence of the large piece of fruit, confirming previous studies’ findings, but also exhibited more multimodal behavior (vocalizations, manual gestures, and gaze alternation between the food and the experimenter), which extends previous research. More gaze alternation was exhibited to food placed more peripherally. Arousal may be indexed in this species by the number of modalities in which they communicate.

Abstract

It is well-established that chimpanzees vocalize more in the presence of relatively large amounts of food. The present study administered four trials in random order to each of 20 chimpanzees: (1) small piece of fruit, placed near to cage (~30 cm.), (2) large piece of fruit, placed near to cage, (3) small piece of fruit, placed far from cage (~130 cm.), and (4) large piece of fruit, placed far from cage. On arrival of an experimenter, the chimpanzees not only vocalized more in the presence of the large piece of fruit, confirming previous studies’ findings, but also exhibited more multimodal behavior (vocalizations, manual gestures, and gaze alternation between the food and the experimenter), which extends previous research. More gaze alternation was exhibited to food placed more peripherally. Arousal may be indexed in this species by the number of modalities in which they communicate.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. About the Authors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Evolution of language and the role of gestural communication
  6. The syntactic motor system 7
  7. Part II. Gestural communication in nonhuman primates
  8. The gestural communication of apes 37
  9. Gestural communication in three species of macaques ( Macaca mulatta , M. nemestrina , M. arctoides ) 53
  10. Multimodal concomitants of manual gesture by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) 69
  11. Requesting gestures in captive monkeys and apes 83
  12. Cross-fostered chimpanzees modulate signs of American Sign Language 97
  13. Part III. Gestural communication in human primates
  14. Human twelve-month-olds point cooperatively to share interest with and helpfully provide information for a communicative partner 123
  15. From action to language through gesture 141
  16. The link and differences between deixis and symbols in children’s early gestural-vocal system 163
  17. A cross-cultural comparison of communicative gestures in human infants during the transition to language 183
  18. How does linguistic framing of events influence co-speech gestures? 199
  19. The two faces of gesture 219
  20. Part IV. Future directions
  21. Gestures in human and nonhuman primates 237
  22. Book Review
  23. Michael C. Corballis (2002). From hand to mouth. The origins of language 261
  24. Index 281
Gestural Communication in Nonhuman and Human Primates
This chapter is in the book Gestural Communication in Nonhuman and Human Primates
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.10.07lea

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. About the Authors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Evolution of language and the role of gestural communication
  6. The syntactic motor system 7
  7. Part II. Gestural communication in nonhuman primates
  8. The gestural communication of apes 37
  9. Gestural communication in three species of macaques ( Macaca mulatta , M. nemestrina , M. arctoides ) 53
  10. Multimodal concomitants of manual gesture by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) 69
  11. Requesting gestures in captive monkeys and apes 83
  12. Cross-fostered chimpanzees modulate signs of American Sign Language 97
  13. Part III. Gestural communication in human primates
  14. Human twelve-month-olds point cooperatively to share interest with and helpfully provide information for a communicative partner 123
  15. From action to language through gesture 141
  16. The link and differences between deixis and symbols in children’s early gestural-vocal system 163
  17. A cross-cultural comparison of communicative gestures in human infants during the transition to language 183
  18. How does linguistic framing of events influence co-speech gestures? 199
  19. The two faces of gesture 219
  20. Part IV. Future directions
  21. Gestures in human and nonhuman primates 237
  22. Book Review
  23. Michael C. Corballis (2002). From hand to mouth. The origins of language 261
  24. Index 281
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