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Deep squeak: Scientists discover rats have OWN LANGUAGE with more than 20 ‘words’
24 March 2019 | https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/767313/deep-squeak-do-rats-have-language
LAB rats talk constantly and may even have their own language, scientists have revealed.
CURIOUS: Regardless how you feel about them, rats are smart (Pic: GETTY)
The humble rat shares physiology and neurology very similar to humans, which is why it has proved such a popular test subject.
In fact, around 75 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to studies which used rats or mice as test subjects.
Rats have been used to test the effectiveness of anti-depressants such as fluoxetine, otherwise known as Prozac.
They have even been used to predict human behaviour, as in the infamous Rat Utopia experiments.
And it has now emerged the secretive rodents might have been hiding language skills all this time too.
Researchers even believe the critters noises are complex enough to be described as “syntax” — which forms language.
A study published in the world-famous journal Nature explained the rats squeak at “ultrasonic” pitches — which humans can’t hear.
The exciting work, by professors Kevin Coffey, Russell Marx and John Neumaier, said the rats squeaked for a variety of reasons and when in different emotional states.
The professors invented an AI called DeepSqueak which helped interpret the critter’s calls.
SPEAKING OR SQUEAKING: The rats chatter is being investigated (Pic: GETTY)
The study stated: “Rodents engage in social communication through a rich repertoire of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs).
“Rats and mice produce complex sequences of USVs throughout development and in a variety of social and motivational contexts.
“These sequences are made up of a number of uniquely shaped syllables across a wide range of frequencies and they appear to have a form of syntax which is contextually dependent.”
The calls of male rats become even more complex when they sense a female nearby — as if they are attempting to woo with a “courtship song”.
“The animals have a rich repertoire of calls, around 20 kinds,” Kevin Coffey told Neuroscience News.
He added: “With drugs of abuse, you see both positive and negative calls,” Coffey said, highlighting the complexity of addiction.
John Neumaier hopes their work could be used to better understand how drugs change brain activity — by listening to the rats.
“If scientists can understand better how drugs change brain activity to cause pleasure or unpleasant feelings, we could devise better treatments for addiction,” he said.
24 March 2019 | https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/767313/deep-squeak-do-rats-have-language
LAB rats talk constantly and may even have their own language, scientists have revealed.
CURIOUS: Regardless how you feel about them, rats are smart (Pic: GETTY)
The humble rat shares physiology and neurology very similar to humans, which is why it has proved such a popular test subject.
In fact, around 75 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to studies which used rats or mice as test subjects.
Rats have been used to test the effectiveness of anti-depressants such as fluoxetine, otherwise known as Prozac.
They have even been used to predict human behaviour, as in the infamous Rat Utopia experiments.
And it has now emerged the secretive rodents might have been hiding language skills all this time too.
Researchers even believe the critters noises are complex enough to be described as “syntax” — which forms language.
A study published in the world-famous journal Nature explained the rats squeak at “ultrasonic” pitches — which humans can’t hear.
The exciting work, by professors Kevin Coffey, Russell Marx and John Neumaier, said the rats squeaked for a variety of reasons and when in different emotional states.
The professors invented an AI called DeepSqueak which helped interpret the critter’s calls.
SPEAKING OR SQUEAKING: The rats chatter is being investigated (Pic: GETTY)
The study stated: “Rodents engage in social communication through a rich repertoire of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs).
“Rats and mice produce complex sequences of USVs throughout development and in a variety of social and motivational contexts.
“These sequences are made up of a number of uniquely shaped syllables across a wide range of frequencies and they appear to have a form of syntax which is contextually dependent.”
The calls of male rats become even more complex when they sense a female nearby — as if they are attempting to woo with a “courtship song”.
“The animals have a rich repertoire of calls, around 20 kinds,” Kevin Coffey told Neuroscience News.
He added: “With drugs of abuse, you see both positive and negative calls,” Coffey said, highlighting the complexity of addiction.
John Neumaier hopes their work could be used to better understand how drugs change brain activity — by listening to the rats.
“If scientists can understand better how drugs change brain activity to cause pleasure or unpleasant feelings, we could devise better treatments for addiction,” he said.
