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Zebra finch songs do not assist human infants in developing their nascent cognitive skills. Credit: Getty Images
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The ability to link language to the world around us is a crowning feature of our species. For very young infants, it is not yet about learning the meaning of words like “cat” or “dog.” Rather, the acoustic signals in speech help foster infants fundamental cognitive capacities, including the formation of categories of objects, such as cats or dogs.
The sounds that activate this key step in development can come not just from human language but also from vocalizations made by nonhuman primates. A new study shows that babies do not use just any natural sound to build cognition, however. While primate calls and human language pass the test, birdsongs do not.