Comparative Cognitive Approach onto Crossmodal Correspondences and Sound Symbolism

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25730093
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Adachi Ikuma 京都大学, 霊長類研究所, 助教 (80543214)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 感覚間一致 / 言語進化 / 系列処理 / 空間表彰 / 比較認知科学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the current project, I have focused on crossmodal correspondences which thought to be one of the important factors for acquisition of language, especially "labels", in our evolution as well as in our development. Specifically I have conducted comparative studies of crossmodal correspondences between "order" and "space". I have found that chimpanzees, orangutans, rhesus monkeys share similar crossmodal correspondences between "order" and "space" with us human and spontaneously map "order" information onto "space". Further study in chimpanzees suggested that these crossmodal correspondences are modulated by the brain hemispheric laterality. Also I have confirmed that the cognitive resources processing "order" and "space" do overlap as suggested by studies in humans. Therefore, the observed cross-modal correspondences between "order" and "space" in nonhuman primates seem to be very similar phenomenon to those observed in humans.

Free Research Field

比較認知科学