{"id":34725,"date":"2021-12-03T17:15:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T16:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evolvinglanguage.ch\/?page_id=34725"},"modified":"2026-01-13T13:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:36:05","slug":"special-interest-groups","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/evolvinglanguage.ch\/special-interest-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Special interest groups (SIGs)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last modified: 01\/07\/2024<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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The SIGs<\/b> are ad-hoc groups of PIs from at least two different research fields and possibly including further internal and\/or external collaborators. They target research questions that are relevant to the NCCR agenda but are not yet covered by existing projects and thus can be developed as projects or work packages in future phases.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n \n Cetacean communication <\/use><\/svg><\/em> <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Cetacean communication <\/span>\n\n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The <\/span>Cetacean communication SIG<\/b> is composed of NCCR PIs K. Zuberb\u00fchler<\/a> and R. Hahnloser<\/a>, and other external collaborators M. Kr\u00fctzen<\/a> (UZH), S. King<\/a> (Uni Bristol), J. Rychen<\/a> (ETHZ) and C. Baumgartner (ETHZ). The SIG intends to collaborate with research teams of the Projects Grammar, Diversification, Cooperation and Sociality to a) develop a research program on understanding the relationship between physically coordinated joint action and flexible vocal communication in cetaceans, with comparisons between humans and non-human primates; b) determine what linguistic features are present in cetacean communication systems and compare communication structures with species under similar and different social and ecological pressures; c) develop technological advancements that enable researchers to process large amounts of high-quality acoustic data, collect high-resolution tracking data of wild cetaceans and conduct field-based experiments to test the function of cetacean communication signals in the wild.<\/span><\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \n Canid cognition <\/span>\n\n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The Canid cognition<\/b><\/span> SIG<\/b> is composed of NCCR PIs Klaus Zuberb\u00fchler<\/a>, Martin Meyer<\/a>, Anne-Lise Giraud<\/a>, Simon Townsend<\/a> and Balthasar Bickel<\/a>, as well as collaborators\u00a0<\/span>Gwendolyn Wirobski<\/a> (Coordinatrice Scientifique du CiRi), Paola Cerrito<\/a><\/span> and Henning Richter<\/a> (Vetsuisse). An influential theory states that the evolution of human hyper-cooperation ultimately drove the transition from basic primate-like vocal and gestural communication to more flexible and, eventually, conventionalised language. To explore this hypothesis, this SIG studies the canid cognition, <\/span>as an interesting model for the evolution of social and referential mechanisms that may be considered adaptive traits of human language.<\/span>With this approach, they <\/span> leverage the evolutionary convergences and study the relations between cooperation, communication and perception by comparing species, which is then likely to generate crucial insights into the origins of language.<\/span>
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\n \n Models of Evolving Language <\/span>\n\n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The Models of Evolving Language (MELa)<\/span> SIG is composed of NCCR PIs Borghesani <\/a>(UNIGE), Garner <\/a>(IDIAP), Hahnloser <\/a>(ETHZ), Henderson <\/span>(IDIAP), Sennrich<\/a> (UZH), van der Plas<\/a> (USI), Merlo <\/a>(UNIGE), and many other researchers and students from various fields, including neuropsychology, neurolinguistics, cognitive science, computational neurosciences, computational linguistics, and computer science. They aim to foster interdisciplinary research on how artificial speech and language models (SpLMs) and other computational frameworks may advance our understanding of human language and its evolution. They intend to explore the implications, capabilities, and limitations of SpLMs by comparing human data (behavioral and neural) with SpLMs performance and representations. The SIG plans to harmonize methods for comparing data from artificial and biological agents, explore new methodologies and frameworks for studying SpLMs as examples of the evolution and dynamics of complex communication systems, and investigate the ethical, social, and technical implications of deploying SpLMs for the future of human communication.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \n Neuroscience of Language <\/span>\n\n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The SIG Neuroscience of Language SIG<\/strong> fosters idea exchange and collaboration among NCCR members engaged in human neuroscience research. The SIG aims to facilitate the exchange of both theoretical and practical expertise, including neuroscientific data collection, data analysis techniques, and patient recruitment and testing. Additionally, it will help integrate researchers across sub-disciplines \u2014 such as clinical, cognitive, and computational neuroscience \u2014 within the broader field of language neuroscience.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \n Great Ape Cognition <\/span>\n\n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The goal of the<\/span>\u00a0Great Ape Cognition\u00a0<\/span>SIG\u00a0\u00a0is<\/span> to establish a network of facilities house<\/span> great<\/span> apes with the purpose of getting individuals<\/span> trained for participation in experimental cognitive research with <\/span>digital technology. This will allow us<\/span> to address more complex research <\/span>questions that cannot be addressed by single sites and<\/span> to ultimately <\/span>provide<\/span> new insights into language evolution. We will create this infrastructure through an innovation grant–<\/span>funded research project, which will allow us to establish working relationships and accommodate<\/span> site–<\/span>specific needs.<\/span><\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\r\n

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