Li Gong of the Ohio State University School of Communication has published research concluding that virtual sales people are more effective when they smile:
…the happy agent achieved greater consumption intent, more positive product evaluation, more positive attitudes towards the agent (in terms of liking, trustworthiness, and competence) and the Web-site interface, and more positive user experience than the sad agent. [Gong 2007:188]
Gong, L. (2007)”Is happy better than sad even if they are both non-adaptive? Effects of emotional expressions of talking-head interface agents”. International Journal of Human-Computer Interactions 65(3) pp183-191 doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.09.005 [Accessed via ScienceDirect]
[via Science Daily]
Science Daily have reported on new research advancing the thesis that gibbons use the syntax of their songs to communicate vital information about their environments to their conspecifics. Clarke, Reichard and Zuberbühler, commenting on their paper, “The Syntax and Meaning of Wild Gibbon Songs” remark that
This work is a really good indicator that non-human primates are able to use combinations of calls given in other contexts to relay new, and in this case, potentially life-saving information to one another. This type of referential communication is commonplace in human language, but has yet to be widely demonstrated in some of our closest living relatives - the apes. [Clarke, Reichard & Zuberbühler on Science Daily]
The principle reason it has proven difficult to demonstrate referential communication in non-human animals is that human examples of referntial information are most usually explained in terms of the semantics of language. Many theorists are still skeptical that it is possible to deploy fully referential communication without the semantics of fully articulated language. All evolutionists are, therefore, interested in behaviours which could throw light on the evolutionary precursors to- and relatives of- linguistic abilities.
There are not many audio examples of gibbon song to be found easily on the internet. These were the few I could find quickly:
Audio files emedded in Yoichi Inoue’s A preliminary report on wild gray gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) in Danum Valley, northern Borneo.
Captive gibbons on YouTube:
Ref:
Clarke, E., Reichard, U.H., Zuberbühler, K. (2006) ” The Syntax and Meaning of Wild Gibbon Songs “. PLoS ONE. 1 (1) : e73. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000073 [Online] Internet: http://www.plosone.org/ (Accessed: 26 Dec 2006)
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