6 EC
Semester 1, period 2
5102EVTM6Y
| Owner | Bachelor Psychobiologie |
| Coordinator | dr. Jelle Zuidema |
| Part of | Minor Evolutionary Psychobiology, year 1Bachelor Psychobiologie, year 3 |
Most animals produce sounds and communicate, but only humans have music and language. Why do children learn natural language spontaneously and reliably, while other animals fail at even the most basic language tasks? What allows humans to appreciate complex rhythms and melodies, predict from a few notes how a tune will continue, and why has music such profound effects and human emotion? Why do the differences between humans and other animals seem so profound at the level of the music and language system, while we see so many commonalities at the level of perception, pattern recognition and brain functions? In this course we survey different theories of the origins of music and language. We discuss evidence for and against these theories from a variety of sources, including from the archaeological record, linguistic theory, behavioural biology, animal cognition and human and animal genetics. We focus on recent developments in these fields. One such development is a massive effort to gather data on vocal imitation learning in a variety of species, allowing a reconstruction of the evolutionary origins of this ability in birds and mammals. A second development is a series of computational models and experiments revealing a role for cultural evolution in the evolution of language and music. A third is the discovery of the FoxP2-gene, its supposed role in language and speech, and the variants of this gene in the Neanderthal and songbird genome.
The student will be able:
The course will consists of lectures, tutorials and 3-6 computer labs.
In the final week of the course a mini-conference takes place where all students present a small literature study. To prepare for this presentation, each student pitches their presentation idea in week 4 and hands in a first version of an extended abstract of their talk at the beginning of week 5, commentaries on the extended abstracts of three fellow students at the end of week 5 (peer review), and a revised final version of the extended abstract in week 6.
Attendance of the tutorials, computer labs and mini-conference is compulsory.
|
Activiteit |
Aantal uur |
|
Computerpracticum |
10 |
|
Hoorcollege |
30 |
|
Presentatie |
8 |
|
Tentamen |
3 |
|
Werkcollege |
12 |
|
Zelfstudie |
105 |
|
Totaal 28 * 6 EC |
168 |
Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):
Additional requirements for this course:
Additional requirements for this course:
Attending at least 80% of all meetings is essential. Failure to meet this requirement leads to the grade 'NAV'.
| Item and weight | Details |
|
Final grade | |
|
0.1 (10%) Assignment | |
|
0.4 (40%) Presentatie | |
|
0.5 (50%) Tentamen |
Handing in the two versions of the abstract and the two peer reviews on time. Failure to meet this requirement leads to the grade 'NAV'.
In week 7, students present the results of a small individual literature study on a topic of their own choice. The presentation is graded on a 10-point scale, and counts for 40% of the final grade. In preparation of the presentation, students pitch their idea in the Friday sessions of week 4, and submit a first version of an extended abstract of their talk at a date specified in class and on Blackboard.
At the end of week 5, each student submits 2 peer reviews on 2 abstracts of fellow students. Peer reviews are graded on a pass/fail basis.
In week 6, students submit a revised version of the abstract, incorporating the comments received. Both versions of the abstract and the peer reviews are graded on a pass/fail basis.
In week 8, there is an exam assessing all lectures, labs, tutorials and students presentations, based largely on the computer lab exercises and reading questions (in particular, those marked with an *). It is graded on a 10-point scale, and counts for 50% of the final grade.
At the end of week 2 / beginning of week 3 students hand in answers to a selection of exam-style questions about the literature, lectures and computerlabs. It will be graded on a 10-point scale, and counts for 10% of the final grade.
An extended abstract of the presentation. Graded on a pass/fail basis.
Onderstaande opdrachten komen aan bod in deze cursus:
Dit vak hanteert de algemene 'Fraude- en plagiaatregeling' van de UvA. Hier wordt nauwkeurig op gecontroleerd. Bij verdenking van fraude of plagiaat wordt de examencommissie van de opleiding ingeschakeld. Zie de Fraude- en plagiaatregeling van de UvA: www.uva.nl/plagiaat
| Weeknummer | Onderwerpen | Studiestof |
| 1 |
Lecture 1L (Zuidema): Evolution of language - Introduction Lecture 1M (Honing): Evolution of Music - Introduction and Overview Tutor-groups Computer lab: Bioacoustics |
Literature: 1L. Mechanisms of Evolution & the 1M: Honing (2013), pp. 1-83 |
| 2 |
Lecture 2L (Zuidema): Comparative biology of language Computer lab: Simulated Evolution & Evolution of Communication Tutor-groups Lecture 2M (Honing): Building Blocks of Music Deadline Assignment |
Literature: 2L. Evolution & the Comparative Method: Fitch 2010, ch. 2,6, pp. 35-72, 234-249 2M. Honing (2013), pp. 84-154 |
| 3 |
Lecture 3L (Zuidema): Syntax Computer lab: Phylogenetic Trees - genes, languages, simulated data Tutor-groups |
Literature: 3L. Building blocks of language: Fitch 2010, ch. 3, pp 73-1423M. Honing & Ploeger (2012); Fitch (2010), ch.14. |
| 4 |
Lecture 4M (Honing): Evolution and the structure of music [N.B. deze week geen computerlab] Tutor-groups Lecture 4L (Zuidema): Theories of language evolution Presentation Pitch Sessions Deadline first version extended abstract. |
Literature: 4L. Language evolution theories: Fitch 2010, ch. 12, pp 401-432 4M. Savage et al. (2015) Both paper & |
| 5 |
Lecture 5L (Zuidema): Genetics & the Evolution of Language Computer lab: Phylogenetic Trees - language & music universals Tutor-groups Lecture 5M (Honing):Evolution and the structure of musicality Deadline two peer reviews per student |
Literature: 5L. The evolution of vocal control: Fitch 2010, ch. 9, pp. 338-3635M. Honing et al. (2015) |
| 6 |
Lecture 6L (Zuidema): Neuroscience & the Evolution of Language Computer lab: Evolutionary reconstruction Tutor-groups. Lecture 6M (Honing): Biological basis of musicality Deadline final version extended abstract
|
Literature: 6L. Constraints on language evolution theories (Zuidema, 2013) 6M. Patel & Demorest (2013); Gingras et al. |
| 7 |
Miniconference (Student Presentations) |
|
| 8 | Exam |
Tecumseh Fitch, The Evolution of Language (2010)
Henkjan Honing (2013). Musical Cognition. A Science of Listening. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Willem Zuidema (2013), Language in Nature: on the evolutionary origin of a cultural phenomenon. ILLC Preprint Series, University of Amsterdam. PP-2012-13 http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/Publications/Reports/PP-2012-13.text.pdf
Honing, H., & Ploeger, A. (2012). Cognition and the Evolution of Music: Pitfalls and Prospects. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4, 513-524. doi: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01210.x
Honing, H. , ten Cate, C., Peretz, I., & Trehub, S. (2015). Without it no music: Cognition, biology, and evolution of musicality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370 (1664). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0088
Savage, P. E., Brown, S., Sakai, E., & Currie, T. E. (2015). Statistical universals reveal the structures and functions of human music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(29), 8987–8992. doi:10.1073/pnas.1414495112 & Supporting Information (pp. 1-16).
Gingras, B., Honing, H. , Peretz, I., Trainor, L., & Fisher, S. (2015). Defining the biological bases of individual differences in musicality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370 (1664). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0092
Patel, A. P., & Demorest, S. (2013). Comparative music cognition: cross-species and cross-cultural studies, In D. Deutsch (Ed.), The Psychology of Music (third ed.), Academic Press/Elsevier, London, pp. 647–681. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-381460-9.00016-X
No prior knowledge is assumed, but a real interest in language and music, modern cognitive science and evolutionary biology is required, as well as the willingness to analyse data from various sources using computer tools.
2nd year of Psychobiology.
Max. 40