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


Zaccaroni M, Della Seta D, Farabollini F, Fusani L, Dessi-Fulgheri F. Developmental Exposure to Very Low Levels of Ethynilestradiol Affects Anxiety in a Novelty Place Preference Test of Juvenile Rats. Neurotoxicity Research. 2016 Nov;30(4):553–562. doi: 10.1007/s12640-016-9645-1

Miller R, Schwab C, Bugnyar T. Explorative Innovators and Flexible Use of Social Information in Common Ravens (Corvus corax) and Carrion Crows (Corvus corone). Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2016 Nov;130(4):328-340. doi: 10.1037/com0000039

Schwing R, Jocteur E, Wein A, Noe R, Massen JJM. Kea cooperate better with sharing affiliates. Animal Cognition. 2016 Nov;19(6):1093-1102. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-1017-y

Herbst CT, Unger J, Herzel H, Švec JG, Lohscheller J. Phasegram Analysis of Vocal Fold Vibration Documented With Laryngeal High-speed Video Endoscopy. Journal of Voice. 2016 Nov;30(6):771.e1-771.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.11.006

Höschele M, Bowling D. “Sex differences in rhythmic preferences in the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus): A comparative study with humans”. Frontiers in Psychology. 2016 Oct 4;7:1543. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01543

Horn L, Scheer C, Bugnyar T, Massen JJM. Proactive prosociality in a cooperatively breeding corvid, the azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyana). Biology Letters. 2016 Oct 1;12(6):20160649. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0649

Kotrschal K. Verwaltungsaufblähung und Verschulung? In Kellermann P, Guggenberger H, Weber K, editors, Universität nach Bologna? Hochschulkonzeptionen zwischen Kritik und Utopie. Mandelbaum Verlag. 2016

da Silva Vasconcellos A, Virányi Z, Range F, Ades C, Scheidegger JK, Möstl E et al. Training Reduces Stress in Human-Socialised Wolves to the Same Degree as in Dogs. PLoS ONE. 2016 Sept 9;11(9):e0162389. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162389

Slipogor V, Gunhold-de Oliveira T, Tadic Z, Massen JJM, Bugnyar T. Consistent inter-individual differences in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in Boldness-Shyness, Stress-Activity, and Exploration-Avoidance. American Journal of Primatology. 2016 Sept;78(9):961–973. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22566

O'Hara M, Schwing R, Federspiel I, Gajdon G, Huber L. Reasoning by exclusion in the kea (Nestor notabilis). Animal Cognition. 2016 Sept;19(5):965–975. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-0998-x

Gallup AC, Massen JJM. There is no difference in contagious yawning between men and women. The Royal Society Open Science. 2016 Sept;3(9):160174. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160174

Massen JJM, Slipogor V, Gallup AC. An Observational Investigation of Behavioral Contagion in Common Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): Indications for Contagious Scent-Marking. Frontiers in Psychology. 2016 Aug 9;7:01190. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01190

Enflo L, Herbst CT, Sundberg J, McAllister A. Comparing Vocal Fold Contact Criteria Derived From Audio and Electroglottographic Signals. Journal of Voice. 2016 Jul 1;30(4):381-388. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.05.015

Frigerio D, Cibulski L, Ludwig SC, Campderrich I, Kotrschal K, Wascher C. Excretion patterns of coccidian oocysts and nematode eggs during the reproductive season in Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita). Journal of Ornithology. 2016 Jul;157(3):839-851. doi: 10.1007/s10336-015-1317-z

Sumasgutner P, Tate GJ, Koeslag A, Amar A. Family morph matters: factors determining survival and recruitment in a long-lived polymorphic raptor. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2016 Jul;85(4):1043-1055. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12518

Kulahci IG, Rubenstein DI, Bugnyar T, Hoppitt W, Mikus N, Schwab C. Social networks predict selective observation and information spread in ravens. The Royal Society Open Science. 2016 Jul;3(7):160256. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160256

Fitch WT. Why formal semantics and primate communication make strange bedfellows. Theoretical Linguistics. 2016 Jul;42(1-2):97-109. doi: 10.1515/tl-2016-0003

Olkowicz S, Kocourek M, Lucan RK, Porteš M, Fitch WT, Herculano-Houze S et al. Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2016 Jun 28;113(26):7255–7260. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1517131113

Geambasu A, Ravignani A, Levelt CC. Preliminary Experiments on Human Sensitivity to Rhythmic Structure in a Grammar with Recursive Self-Similarity. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2016 Jun 28;10:281. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00281

Ravignani A, Fitch WT, Hanke FD, Heinrich T, Hurgitsch B, Kotz S et al. What Pinnipeds Have to Say about Human Speech, Music, and the Evolution of Rhythm. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2016 Jun 20;10(JUN):274. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00274

Garcia M, Wondrak M, Huber L, Fitch WT. Honest signaling in domestic piglets (Sus scrofa domesticus): vocal allometry and the information content of grunt calls. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2016 Jun 15;219(12):1913-1921. doi: 10.1242/jeb.138255

Stöger-Horwath A, Baotic A. Information content and acoustic structure of male African elephant social rumbles. Scientific Reports. 2016 Jun 8;6: 27585 . doi: 10.1038/srep27585

Maier P. Diskussion um Bienenrassen. Bienen aktuell. 2016 Jun;33 - 35.

Asakawa-Haas K, Schiestl M, Bugnyar T, Massen JJM. Partner Choice in Raven (Corvus corax) Cooperation. PLoS ONE. 2016 Jun;11(6):e0156962. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156962

Reber S, Böckle M, Szipl G, Janisch J, Bugnyar T, Fitch WT. Territorial raven pairs are sensitive to structural changes in simulated acoustic displays of conspecifics. Animal Behaviour. 2016 Jun;116:153–162. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.04.005

Kavcik-Graumann N, Nagel D, Rabeder G, Ridush B, Withalm G. The bears of Illinka cave near Odessa (Ukraine). Cranium. 2016 Jun;18-25.

Pasukonis A, Trenkwalder K, Ringler M, Ringler E, Mangione R, Steininger J et al. The significance of spatial memory for water finding in a tadpole-transporting frog. Animal Behaviour. 2016 Jun;116:89–98. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.02.023