Chimpanzee gestural exhanges share temporal structure with human language

Gal Badihi*, Kirsty Emma Graham, Charlotte Vicki Christina Grund, Alexandra Safryghin, Adrian Soldati, Ed Donnellan, Chie Hashimoto, Joseph G. Mine, Alex K. Piel, Fiona Stewart, Katie E. Slocombe, Claudia Wilke, Simon W. Townsend, Klaus Zuberbühler, Chiara Zulberti, Cat Hobaiter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Humans regularly engage in efficient communicative conversations, which serve to socially align individuals1 . In conversations, we take fast-paced turns using a human-universal structure of deploying and receiving signals which shows consistent timing across cultures2 . We report here that chimpanzees also engage in rapid signal-to-signal turn-taking during face-to-face gestural exchanges with a similar average latency between turns to that of human conversation. This correspondence between human and chimpanzee face-to-face communication points to shared underlying rules in communication. These structures could be derived from shared ancestral mechanisms or convergent strategies that enhance coordinated interactions or manage competition for communicative ‘space’.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)673-674
Number of pages2
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume34
Issue number14
Early online date22 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jul 2024

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