Variant forms of conformity and over-imitation have become prominent in the research
literatures on the transmission of culture, because each displays particularly high levels of …

The complex and melodic nature of many birds' songs has raised interest in potential
parallels between avian vocal sequences and human speech. The similarities between …

Complex vocal learning, a critical component of human spoken language, has been
assumed to be associated with more-advanced cognitive abilities. Tests of this hypothesis …

Individual recognition is critical in social animal communication, but it has not been
demonstrated for a complete vocal repertoire. Deciphering the nature of individual …

The study of non‐human animals, in particular primates, can provide essential insights into
language evolution. A critical element of language is vocal production learning, ie learning …

Vocal dialects have fascinated biologists for over 50 years. This mosaic pattern of
geographic variation in learned vocalisations was first described in a songbird, and since …

Primates rarely learn new vocalizations, but they can learn to use their vocalizations in
different contexts. Such" vocal usage learning," particularly in vocal sequences, is a hallmark …

Despite longstanding interest in the evolutionary origins and maintenance of vocal learning,
we know relatively little about how social dynamics influence vocal learning processes in …

In animal societies, identity signals are common, mediate interactions within groups, and
allow individuals to discriminate group-mates from out-group competitors. However …

We compare and contrast the 60 commentaries by 109 authors on the pair of target articles
by Mehr et al. and ourselves. The commentators largely reject Mehr et al.'s fundamental …