“(Dis)Honest Communication”: Tomás Arias Receives ISF-DFG Grant for Research on the Vocalizations of Rock Hyraxes
Awawah! In the animal world, the ability to evaluate conspecifics in social interactions is vital for survival. For instance, male-male counter-singing and choruses may allow for the assessment of opponents and avoid fighting, settle territorial disputes, attract potential mates, or block competitor signals. Consequently, social animals’ brains are wired to extract honest information on identity, personality characteristics, internal state, social status, and motivation from vocal and other cues, and to respond accordingly.
In the context of a joint project call between Israeli and German researchers [https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-opportunities/countries-regions/il-isf], the DFG and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) have granted Dr. Tomás Arias-Vergara (Postdoc at PRL) and Prof. Dr. Lee Koren (Bar IIan University, Israel) a research grant on applying AI-based audio technology for understanding the function and dynamics of hyrax counter-singing to determine whether the encoded information is reliable and honestly represents the singers’ traits. With this research, the team seek to understand whether, why, and how information reliability varies as a function of social interactions, using the complex vocal signaling system of the rock hyrax.
The project, which will last 36 months, is titled “The effect of social interactions on (dis)honest communication“ will focus on the vocal singaling system of the Rock Hyraxes; however, the findings are expected to provide new insight into the evolution of vocal communication in other social animals, including humans.