Contextual Sensitivity and Bird Song: A Basis for Social Life
Résumé
This chapter presents evidence from songbirds of evolutionary convergence with certain features of the vocal flexibility found in humans, addresses human communication skills as a reference, and analyzes the possible convergences in animal species, highlighting a particular social songbird species. It suggests that animal communication may offer a useful reminder that the evolution of most basic principles of communication rules and contextual sensitivity may not have required higher cognitive processes. The chapter also proposes that regulations of vocal interactions, their contextual sensitivity, and dependency upon social experience indicate further convergence with human communication.