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Profile
| Academic position | Full Professor |
|---|---|
| Research fields | Sensory and Behavioural Biology,Systematics and Morphology (Zoology),Psychology |
| Keywords | Communication and Cognition, Comparative approach, Corvidae, Evolution of language, Human and non-human primates |
Current contact address
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| City | Osnabrück |
| Institution | Universität Osnabrück |
| Institute | Institut für Kognitionswissenschaft |
Host during sponsorship
| Prof. Dr. Bart Kempenaers | Research Group "Comparative Gestural Signalling", Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Intelligenz, Seewiesen |
|---|---|
| Prof. Dr. Bart Kempenaers | Campus Seewiesen, Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Intelligenz, Seewiesen |
| Prof. Dr. Russell Gray | Abteilung Sprach- und Kulturevolution, Max-Planck-Institut für Geoanthropologie, Jena |
| Start of initial sponsorship | 01/10/2010 |
Programme(s)
| 2010 | Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme |
|---|
Nominator's project description
| Human speech is unique in the animal kingdom and has often been used to define what it means to 'be human'. Already during the first year of life, children start to use nascent forms of communicative skills, mainly pre-linguistic gestures. But how do these gestures differ within various human cultures or between humans and animals? Simone Pika is investigating this question by comparing the development and use of gestural communication in different human cultures as well as between closely related species such as humans, chimpanzees and bonobos and between species which live in comparable social systems like chimpanzees and ravens. This innovative approach will allow new insights into the gestural origins of human speech, its cognitive underpinnings and the interplay between ontogenetic and phylogenetic factors. |