These are done, among others, in collaborative projects within the NWO-Gravity consortium ‘Language in Interaction’. This involves both behavioural and neurogenomic studies. We examine whether birds are able to discriminate, categorize and generalize vocalizations ranging from conspecific ones (songs) to various speech or speech-like sounds and how this relates to mechanisms involved in human auditory and speech perception. It has been suggested that the processing of speech sounds in humans is enabled by the presence of specialized speech perception mechanisms (the ‘speech is special’ hypothesis) that evolved in consort with the evolution of language. Human speech perception requires the rapid processing and categorization of speech sounds and their identification irrespective of speaker variability. The perception of conspecific vocalizations and human speech by birds In this book, a range of experts from all over the world provide first-hand insights into the full range of avian cognitive abilities, the mechanisms behind them and how they are linked to the ecology of the species. I was editor of the book ‘Avian Cognition’ together with my colleague Susan Healy (University of StAndrews, UK). Most studies are supported by external funding from various sources. They aim at providing insights in the biological origins and mechanisms of human linguistic rule learning, language development, speech perception, musicality and the neural bases of these processes. Many projects involve collaboration with linguists, psychologists and others and are at the interface of biology, cognitive science, psychology and linguistics. This includes comparative research on auditory perception and auditory pattern learning in animals (in particular birds) and humans. I am particularly interested in the cognitive mechanisms involved in the learning and processing of vocal and visual signals in species ranging from birds and fish to humans. My core research is on animal communication and cognition. I am also affiliated with the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition ( LIBC). At Leiden University I served as Scientific Director of the Institute of Biology and as Director of Education in Biology. I serve/served on the editorial board of several journals and am/was council member of various national and international scientific organizations. Thereafter I moved to Leiden to take up the chair in Animal Behaviour (Ethology). Behavioural development (imprinting, song learning) and vocal communication in birds were the topics of two subsequent postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Cambridge (UK), a brief appointment at Utrecht University (NL) and of my Senior Research Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, again at Groningen University. I obtained my PhD at the University of Groningen (NL) with a study on the development of sexual preferences in birds.
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