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


Echternach M, Burk F, Köberlein M, Herbst CT, Döllinger M, Burdumy M et al. Oscillatory Characteristics of the Vocal Folds Across the Tenor Passaggio. Journal of Voice. 2017 May;31(3):381.e5-381.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.06.015

Stoeger AS, Baotic A. Male African elephants discriminate and prefer vocalizations of unfamiliar females. Scientific Reports. 2017 Apr 19;7:46414. doi: 10.1038/srep46414

Kepinska O, Schiller NO. Possible neural oscillatory mechanisms underlying learning. Cognitive Neuroscience. 2017 Apr 3;8(2):128-129. Epub 2016 Jul 22. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2016.1205578

Oh J, Hofer R, Fitch WT. An open source automatic feeder for animal experiments. HardwareX. 2017 Apr;1:13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2016.09.001

Ravignani A, Sonnweber RS. Chimpanzees process structural isomorphisms across sensory modalities. Cognition. 2017 Apr;161:74-79. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.005

Dias Martins MDJ, Gingras B, Puig-Waldmüller ES, Fitch WT. Cognitive representation of “musical fractals”: Processing hierarchy and recursion in the auditory domain. Cognition. 2017 Apr;161:31–45. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.001

Herbst CT, Hertegard S, Zangger-Borch D, Lindestad PÅ. Freddie Mercury-acoustic analysis of speaking fundamental frequency, vibrato, and subharmonics. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology. 2017 Apr;42(1):29-38. doi: 10.3109/14015439.2016.1156737

Loretto MC, Schuster R, Itty C, Marchand P, Genero F, Bugnyar T. Fission-fusion dynamics over large distances in raven non-breeders. Scientific Reports. 2017 Mar 23;7(1):380. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-00404-4

Ringler E, Beck KB, Weinlein S, Huber L, Ringler M. Adopt, ignore, or kill? Male poison frogs adjust parental decisions according to their territorial status. Scientific Reports. 2017 Mar 6;7:43544. doi: 10.1038/srep43544

Kepinska O, de RM, Caspers J, Schiller NO. Whole-brain functional connectivity during acquisition of novel grammar: Distinct functional networks depend on language learning abilities. Behavioural Brain Research. 2017 Mar 1;320:333-346. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.12.015

Herbst CT. A Review of Singing Voice Subsystem Interactions-Toward an Extended Physiological Model of "Support". Journal of Voice. 2017 Mar;31(2):249.e13-249.e19. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.07.019

Toro JM, Hoeschele M. Generalizing prosodic patterns by a non-vocal learning mammal. Animal Cognition. 2017 Mar;20(2):179-185. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-1036-8

Szabo B, Bugnyar T, Auersperg A. Within-group relationships and lack of social enhancement during object manipulation in captive Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). Learning and Behavior. 2017 Mar;45(1):7-19. Epub 2016. doi: 10.3758/s13420-016-0235-0

Goymann W, Lupi S, Kaiya H, Cardinale M, Fusani L. Ghrelin affects stopover decisions and food intake in a long-distance migrant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2017 Feb 21;114(8):1946–1951. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1619565114

Schöberl GI, Wedl M, Beetz A, Kotrschal K. Psychobiological Factors Affecting Cortisol Variability in Human-Dog Dyads. PLoS ONE. 2017 Feb 8;12(2):e0170707. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170707

Munteanu MA, Stocker M, Stöwe M, Massen JJM, Bugnyar T. Behavioural and Hormonal Stress Responses to Social Separation in Ravens, Corvus corax. Ethology. 2017 Feb;123(2):123–135. doi: 10.1111/eth.12580

Oh J, Fitch WT. CATOS (Computer Aided Training/Observing System): Automating animal observation and training. Behavior Research Methods. 2017 Feb;49:13-23. Epub 2016 Jan 7. doi: 10.3758/s13428-015-0694-9

Fitch WT. Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2017 Feb;24(1):3–33. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1236-5

Bowling DL. The continuing legacy of nature versus nurture in biolinguistics. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2017 Feb;24(1):140-141. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1202-7

Bowling D, Garcia M, Dunn JC, Ruprecht R, Stewart A, Frommolt KH et al. Body size and vocalization in primates and carnivores. Scientific Reports. 2017 Jan 24;7:41070. doi: 10.1038/srep41070

Frigerio D, Ludwig SC, Hemetsberger J, Kotrschal K, Wascher C. Social and environmental factors modulate leucocyte profiles in free-living Greylag geese (Anser anser). PeerJ. 2017 Jan 3;5:e2792. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2792

Griffin AS, Tebbich S, Bugnyar T. Animal cognition in a human-dominated world. Animal Cognition. 2017 Jan 1;20(1):1-6. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-1051-9

Federspiel IG, Garland A, Guez D, Bugnyar T, Healy SD, Güntürkün O et al. Erratum to: Adjusting foraging strategies: a comparison of rural and urban common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) (Animal Cognition, (2017), 20, 1, (65-74), 10.1007/s10071-016-1045-7). Animal Cognition. 2017 Jan 1;20(1):75-75. doi: 10.1007/s10071-017-1070-1

Federspiel IG, Garland A, Guez D, Bugnyar T, Healy SD, Guentuerkuen O et al. Adjusting foraging strategies: A comparison of rural and urban common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) (vol 20, pg 65, 2017). Animal Cognition. 2017 Jan;20(1):75-75.

Federspiel I, Garland A, Guez D, Bugnyar T, Healy SD, Güntürkün O et al. Adjusting foraging strategies: a comparison of rural and urban common mynahs (Acridotheres tristis). Animal Cognition. 2017 Jan;20(1):65–74. doi: 10.1007/s10071-016-1045-7

Lambert M, Massen JJM, Seed A, Bugnyar T, Slocombe K. An ‘unkindness’ of ravens? Measuring prosocial preferences in Corvus corax. Animal Behaviour. 2017 Jan;123:383–393. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.018

Fitch WT. Cultural evolution: Lab-cultured musical universals. Nature Human Behaviour. 2017 Jan;1(1):0018. doi: 10.1038/s41562-016-0018