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Cited by 9Animal Vocal Communication and BehaviorNeuroscience and Music PerceptionMarine animal studies overview

Sound categorization by crocodilians

Open access
Thévenet, Julie, Kehy, Mounia, Boyer, Nicolas, Pradeau, Aurélie, Papet, Léo, Gaudrain, Etienne, Grimault, Nicolas, Mathevon, Nicolas·2023·iScience
DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106441PMC PMC10074196
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Abstract

Rapidly sorting the information contained in a stream of stimuli is a major challenge for animals. One cognitive mechanism for achieving this goal is categorization, where the receiving individual considers a continuous variation of a stimulus as belonging to discrete categories. Using playback experiments in a naturalistic setup, here we show that crocodiles confronted with an acoustic continuum ranging from a frog call to a crocodile call classify each acoustic variant into one of these two categories, establishing a meaningful boundary where no acoustic boundary exists. With GO/NO-GO experiments, we then observe that this boundary is defined along the continuum following learning. We further demonstrate that crocodilians rely on the spectral envelope of sounds to categorize stimuli. This study suggests that sound categorization in crocodilians is a pre-wired faculty allowing rapid decision-making and highlights the learning-dependent plasticity involved in defining the boundary between sound categories.

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  • Fundamental frequency, and its shape throughout the call, including measurements of energy distribution along the spectrum, have consistently been found to contain important information in crocodylian signalling.

    “Fundamental frequency, and its shape throughout the call (i.e., contour or slope), including measurements of energy distribution along the spectrum (such as F0 [max]) have consistently been found to contain important information in crocodylian signalling (Vergne et al. 2012; Thévenet et al. 2023; Jensen et al. 2024).”

    From Roars, Rumbles, and Resonance: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Crocodylian Acoustic Signals (2026) · cites this paper as Thévenet et al. 2023

    Experiment 4 (p. 10) finds that the spectral envelope carried the information caimans used to categorize the tested calls. The discussion (p. 13) says they seemed to ignore pitch and the f0 contour, contrary to attributing importance to fundamental frequency and its contour in this study. This result concerns call categorization, not every aspect of crocodilian signalling. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Thévenet, J., Kehy, M., Boyer, N., Pradeau, A., Papet, L., Gaudrain, E., Grimault, N., & Mathevon, N.
Affiliations
  • Lyon 1 Université (FR)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
ORCID
Venue
iScience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-04
Volume
26
Issue
4
Pages
106441
ISSN
2589-0042 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.isci.2023.106441
PMC
PMC10074196
OpenAlex
W4327703833
Cited by
9
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
FWCI
1.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • iScience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
  • Institut Universitaire de France
  • Centre Lyonnais d'Acoustique, Université de Lyon
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
Keywords
audio classification, crocodilians, crocodiles, sound discrimination, spectral envelope, frog vocalization, predator calls, animal cognition, auditory perception

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