Dear BERGers,

A quick reminder that today Dr Stuart Watson (University of Zurich) is giving a seminar entitled "From meaningful meerkats to pattern-processing primates: cross-species insights to the problem of language evolution".

Abstract: Language is a uniquely powerful, and uniquely human, means of communication. However, the narrow historical window of language we have access to makes determining the ‘whens’, ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of its origins challenging. A broad, cross-species comparative approach is necessary to identify precisely which features of language are indeed unique, and which are shared with our animal cousins, thereby shedding light on their evolutionary history. Towards this end, here I will present findings from two recent studies investigating: (a) the underlying ‘meaning’ of the functionally referential alarm calls in wild meerkats using a 'model predator' experiment and (b) the shared capacity to process syntax-like acoustic structures in monkeys, apes and humans using an ’artificial grammar' experiment.

See you later! The link to the meeting, as well as a list of the forthcoming speakers, are below this email.

Best wishes,

Pawel

Link to the meeting:

https://teams.microsoft.com/dl/launcher/launcher.html?url=%2F_%23%2Fl%2Fmeetup-join%2F19%3A9823d93069124396a7a40d99c8272bea%40thread.tacv2%2F1632727356535%3Fcontext%3D%257b%2522Tid%2522%253a%25224e8d09f7-cc79-4ccb-9149-a4238dd17422%2522%252c%2522Oid%2522%253a%25221a69c354-6581-4fd4-8530-c53f9ead0876%2522%257d%26anon%3Dtrue&type=meetup-join&deeplinkId=2c2c7134-d960-4963-8397-8f77c1847189&directDl=true&msLaunch=true&enableMobilePage=true&suppressPrompt=true

Forthcoming seminars:

Date Time Speaker Affiliation Seminar title

06/04/2022 16:00 Stuart Watson University of Zurich From meaningful meerkats to pattern-processing primates: cross-species insights to the problem of language evolution

13/04/2022 16:00 Bruce Rawlings Durham University TBC, cumulative culture

20/04/2022 16:00 Gema Martin-Ordas University of Stirling TBC, reporting p values in primate tool use research

27/04/2022 16:00 André Pereira University of Exeter TBC

04/05/2022 16:00 Laura Lewis Harvard University TBC, bonobo cognition

11/05/2022 16:00 Alexander Weiss University of Edinburgh TBC

18/05/2022 16:00 Sabrina Brando University of Stirling TBC

25/05/2022 16:00 Shelley Culpepper University of Stirling Interspecific Olfactory Perception of Human Emotions: From the Horses Perspective

Date	Time	Speaker	Affiliation	Seminar title
06/04/2022	16:00	Stuart Watson	University of Zurich	From meaningful meerkats to pattern-processing primates: cross-species insights to the problem of language evolution
13/04/2022	16:00	Bruce Rawlings	Durham University	TBC, cumulative culture
20/04/2022	16:00	Gema Martin-Ordas	University of Stirling	TBC, reporting p values in primate tool use research
27/04/2022	16:00	André Pereira	University of Exeter	TBC
04/05/2022	16:00	Laura Lewis	Harvard University	TBC, bonobo cognition
11/05/2022	16:00	Alexander Weiss	University of Edinburgh	TBC
18/05/2022	16:00	Sabrina Brando	University of Stirling	TBC
25/05/2022	16:00	Shelley Culpepper	University of Stirling	Interspecific Olfactory Perception of Human Emotions: From the Horses Perspective