News & Events

21.11.2025
 

What enables human language? A biocultural framework

 

Inbal Arnon, Liran Carmel, Nicolas Claidière, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Simon...

22.09.2025
 

Brain activation for language and its relationship to cognitive and linguistic measures

Irene Balboni, Alessandra Rampinini, Olga Kepinska, Raphael...

26.08.2025
 

"Startling ravens Corvus corax at foraging: differences in anti-predator behaviour can be explained by age rather than personality"

by: Janina Anna...

21.07.2025
 

A nice press release on gestures in elephants. Well done!

 

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/science/elephants-gesturing-trunk.html

 

09.07.2025
 

Congratulations to Prof. Leonida Fusani for receiving a further FWF grant for the project "Mating and bonding decisions in a challenging environment"

05.05.2025
 

Publications


Geissler A, Matt E, Fischmeister F, Wurnig M, Dymerska B, Knosp E et al. Differential functional benefits of ultra highfield MR systems within the language network. NeuroImage. 2014 Dec;103:163-170. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.036

Ravignani A, Martins M, Fitch WT. Vocal learning, prosody, and basal ganglia: Don't underestimate their complexity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences: an international journal of current research and theory with open peer commentary. 2014 Dec;37(6):570-571. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X13004184

Pasukonis A, Warrington I, Ringler M, Hödl W. Poison frogs rely on experience to find the way home in the rainforest. Biology Letters. 2014 Nov 1;10(11):20140642. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0642

Stöger-Horwath A, Manger P. Vocal learning in elephants: neural bases and adaptive context. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2014 Oct 28;28:101-107. Epub 2014 Jul 23. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.07.001

Auersperg A, von Bayern A, Weber S, Szabadvari A, Bugnyar T, Kacelnik A. Social transmission of tool use and tool manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 2014 Oct 22;281(1793):20140972. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0972

Brainard MS, Fitch WT. Editorial overview: Communication and language: Animal communication and human language. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2014 Oct;28:V-VIII. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.07.015

Dias Martins MDJ, Laaha S, Freiberger EM, Choi S, Fitch WTS. How children perceive fractals: Hierarchical self-similarity and cognitive development. Cognition. 2014 Oct;133(1):10-24. Epub 2014 Jun 20. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.05.010

Garcia M, Wyman MT, Charlton BD, Fitch WT, Reby D. Response of red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) to playback of harsh versus common roars. Naturwissenschaften. 2014 Oct;101(10):851-854. 10.1007/s00114-014-1217-8. Epub 2014 Aug 14. doi: 10.1007/s00114-014-1217-8

Stöger-Horwath A, Zeppelzauer M, Baotic A. Age-group estimation in free-ranging African elephants based on acoustic cues of low-frequency rumbles. Bioacoustics : the international journal of animal sound and its recording. 2014 Sept 2;23(3):231-246. doi: 10.1080/09524622.2014.888375

Gunhold-de Oliveira T, Whiten A, Bugnyar T. Video demonstrations seed alternative problem-solving techniques in wild common marmosets. Biology Letters. 2014 Sept 1;10(9):20140439. 20140439. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0439

Westphal Fitch G, Fitch WT. FlexTiles: A Software for Studying Geometrical Pattern Production and Preference. 2014. Paper presented at 23rd IAEA Congress on Empirical Aesthetics, New York, United States.

Fischer S, Zöttl M, Groenewoud F, Taborsky B. Group-size-dependent punishment of idle subordinates in a cooperative breeder where helpers pay to stay. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 2014 Aug 22;281(1789):20140184. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0184

Ringler M, Pasukonis A, Ringler E. Island of the frogs: Population experiments with the Poison Frog Allobates Femoralis. 2014. Paper presented at XV Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology (ISBE 2014), New York, United States.

Martins M, Fischmeister F, Puig-Waldmüller ES, Oh J, Geißler A, Robinson S et al. Fractal Image Perception provides Novel Insights into Hierarchical Cognition. NeuroImage. 2014 Aug 1;96:300-308. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.03.064

Wilkins AS, Wrangham RW, Fitch WT. The “Domestication Syndrome” in Mammals: A Unified Explanation Based on Neural Crest Cell Behavior and Genetics. Genetics: a periodical record of investigations bearing on heredity and variation. 2014 Jul;197(3):795-808. doi: 10.1534/genetics.114.165423

Mueller-Paul JS, Wilkinson A, Aust U, Steurer M, Hall G, Huber L. Touchscreen performance and knowledge transfer in the red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria). Behavioural Processes. 2014 Jul;106:187–192. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.06.003

Srinivasan N, Gingras B. Emotional intelligence predicts individual differences in proneness for flow among musicians: The role of control and distributed attention. Frontiers in Psychology. 2014 Jun 17;5:608. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00608

Massen JJM, Dusch K, Eldakar O, Gallup A. A thermal window for yawning in humans: Yawning as a Brain Cooling Mechanism. Physiology & Behavior. 2014 May 10;130:145-148. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.03.032

Schwab C. Unheimlich schlau: Mögen Sie Krähen Bayerischer Rundfunk. 2014.

Charlton BD, Wyman MT, Locatelli Y, Fitch WT, Reby D. Do red deer hinds prefer stags that produce harsh roars in mate choice contexts? Journal of Zoology. 2014 May;293(1):57-62. doi: 10.1111/jzo.12120

Martins M, Fitch WT. Hierarchical processing in music, language, and action: Lashley revisited. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2014 May;1316(1):87–104. doi: 10.1111/nyas.12406

Massen JJM, Pasukonis A, Schmidt J, Bugnyar T. Ravens notice dominance reversals among conspecifics within and outside their social group. Nature Communications. 2014 Apr 22;5:3679. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4679

Hillemann F, Bugnyar T, Kotrschal K, Wascher C. Waiting for better, not for more: corvids respond to quality in two delay maintenance tasks. Animal Behaviour. 2014 Apr;90:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.01.007

Pasukonis A, Loretto MC, Landler L, Ringler M, Hoedl W. Homing trajectories and initial orientation in a Neotropical territorial frog, Allobates femoralis (Dendrobatidae). Frontiers in Zoology. 2014 Mar 25;11(1):29. doi: 10.1186/1742-9994-11-29

Herbst C, Lohscheller J, Svec J, Henrich N, Weissengruber G, Fitch WT. Glottal opening and closing events investigated by electroglottography and super-high-speed video recordings. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2014 Mar 1;217(6):955-963. doi: 10.1242/jeb.093203

Pfuhl G, Gattermayr M, Bugnyar T. Will food-handling time influence agonistic behaviour in sub-adult common ravens (Corvus corax)? Behavioural Processes. 2014 Mar;103:67-74. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.11.003

Müllensiefen D, Gingras B, Musil J, Stewart L. The musicality of non-musicians: An index for assessing musical sophistication in the general population. PLoS ONE. 2014 Feb 26;9(2):e89642. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089642