1. Neuroscience

Vocal development in a Waddington landscape

  1. Yayoi Teramoto
  2. Daniel Takahashi
  3. Philip Holmes
  4. Asif A Ghazanfar  Is a corresponding author
  1. Oxford University, United Kingdom
  2. Princeton University, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20782
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  1. Yayoi Teramoto
  2. Daniel Takahashi
  3. Philip Holmes
  4. Asif A Ghazanfar
(2017)
Vocal development in a Waddington landscape
eLife 6:e20782.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20782
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Abstract

Vocal development is the adaptive coordination of the vocal apparatus, muscles, the nervous system, and social interaction. Here, we use a quantitative framework based on optimal control theory and Waddington’s landscape metaphor to provide an integrated view of this process. With a biomechanical model of the marmoset monkey vocal apparatus and behavioral developmental data, we show that only the combination of the developing vocal tract, vocal apparatus muscles and nervous system can fully account for the patterns of vocal development. Together, these elements influence the shape of the monkeys’ vocal developmental landscape, tilting, rotating or shifting it in different ways. We can thus use this framework to make quantitative predictions regarding how interfering factors or experimental perturbations can change the landscape within a species or to explain comparative differences in vocal development across species.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Yayoi Teramoto

    Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3419-0351

  2. Daniel Takahashi

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Philip Holmes

    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Asif A Ghazanfar

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    For correspondence
    asifg@princeton.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1960-7470

Funding

National Science Foundation (DMS-1430077)

  • Philip Holmes

National Institutes of Health (R01NS054898)

  • Asif A Ghazanfar

James S. McDonnell Foundation (220020238)

  • Asif A Ghazanfar

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. David Kleinfeld, University of California, San Diego, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (#1908-15) of Princeton University.

Version history

  1. Received: August 18, 2016
  2. Accepted: January 15, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: January 16, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: February 15, 2017 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2017, Teramoto et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Yayoi Teramoto
  2. Daniel Takahashi
  3. Philip Holmes
  4. Asif A Ghazanfar
(2017)
Vocal development in a Waddington landscape
eLife 6:e20782.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20782

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20782

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