% pubman genre = article @article{item_2599684, title = {{Taking turns: Bridging the gap between human and animal communication}}, author = {Pika, Simone and Wilkinson, Ray and Kendrick, Kobin H. and Vernes, Sonja C.}, language = {eng}, issn = {0962-8452}, doi = {10.1098/rspb.2018.0598}, publisher = {Royal Society}, address = {London}, year = {2018}, date = {2018-06-13}, abstract = {{Language, humans{\textquoteright} most distinctive trait, still remains a {\textquoteleft}mystery{\textquoteright} for{\textless}br{\textgreater}evolutionary theory. It is underpinned by a universal infrastructure{\textemdash}{\textless}br{\textgreater}cooperative turn-taking{\textemdash}which has been suggested as an ancient mechanism{\textless}br{\textgreater}bridging the existing gap between the articulate human species and their{\textless}br{\textgreater}inarticulate primate cousins. However, we know remarkably little about{\textless}br{\textgreater}turn-taking systems of non-human animals, and methodological confounds{\textless}br{\textgreater}have often prevented meaningful cross-species comparisons. Thus, the{\textless}br{\textgreater}extent to which cooperative turn-taking is uniquely human or represents a{\textless}br{\textgreater}homologous and/or analogous trait is currently unknown. The present{\textless}br{\textgreater}paper draws attention to this promising research avenue by providing an over-{\textless}br{\textgreater}view of the state of the art of turn-taking in four animal taxa{\textemdash}birds, mammals,{\textless}br{\textgreater}insects and anurans. It concludes with a new comparative framework to spur{\textless}br{\textgreater}more research into this research domain and to test which elements of the{\textless}br{\textgreater}human turn-taking system are shared across species and taxa.}}, journal = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}}, volume = {285}, number = {1880}, eid = {20180598}, }