Objective
The GESTICO project will explore the developmental and evolutionary origins of gestural iconicity, by examining the spatial properties of gestures that convey meaning independently of semantic communication. The relevance of different amplitudes and lateralisation of gestures in reference to spatio-numerical and/or emotional magnitudes will be tested in non-human primates (Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Guinea baboons, and Barbary macaques) and preverbal human infants. Observational data from chimpanzees and bonobos will be used to investigate whether the amplitude and laterality of their communicative gestures are meaningful, by testing their correlation with specific social or emotional contexts, and whether they impact the responses of recipients (WP1). Movement analyses, based on newly developed deep learning tools, will be used to enable quantitative measures on gestures. Once the methodology of gesture spatialisation description is established for great apes, similar analyses will be applied to gestures of captive Guinea baboons and Barbary macaques (WP2). Finally, a habituation paradigm measuring looking times will assess the ability of human infants aged 10 to 12 months to spontaneously associate concepts of magnitude (quantities) with metaphorical manual gestures differing in their spatial amplitude (WP3).
Collaboration between the host organisation, the Wild Minds Lab (University of St Andrews), the Eco-Anthropology Lab (French National Museum of Natural History), and the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (Paris Cité University) will facilitate an interdisciplinary approach, enabling cross-species comparisons around common concepts. The complementary use of innovative observational and experimental approaches will contribute to a better understanding of the emergence of the form-function link in the gestural communication of catarrhine primates (Afro-Eurasian species, including humans), and the associated cognitive mechanisms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogyprimatology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistory
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
KY16 9AJ St Andrews
United Kingdom