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Walkie-talkie evolution: Bipedalism and vocal production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2005

Robert R. Provine
Robert R. Provine*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250
*
provine@umbc.edu
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Abstract:

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A converging pattern of evidence from laughter, tickling, and motherese suggests that bipedal locomotion plays a critical and unanticipated role in vocal evolution. Bipedalism frees the thorax of its support role during quadrupedal locomotion, which permits the uncoupling of breathing and striding necessary for the subsequent selection for vocal virtuosity and speech.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , August 2004, pp. 520 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004