| Post: | Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
| Location: | Pevensey 1 2C10 |
| Email: | D.Reby@sussex.ac.uk |
| Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 7334 |
| UK: | (01273) 877334 |
| International: | +44 1273 877334 |
Biography
Sussex University: Psychology Home Page
Research
My main research focuses on investigating the origin, structure and function of vocal signals in vertebrates, including humans. I work on a wide range of species and models, including loud calling in deer and gulls, growling in domestic dogs, and non verbal vocal communication in humans.
Combining anatomical analyses of the vocal apparatus, acoustical analyses, and playback experiments using re-synthesised calls I have conducted a series of studies which have shown that:
(1) red deer and fallow deer males have a descended larynx, an anatomical innovation that most mammals (including non-human primates) lack, and which was previously believed to be uniquely human, constituting a key adaptation for the production of human speech (Fitch & Reby, 2001).
(2) vocal tract resonances (or formants frequencies) provide an honest indication of body size in the rutting vocalisations of red deer males (Reby & McComb, 2003). Formants are the key acoustic parameters that provide the phonetic diversity in human speech.
(3) red deer stags use these formants frequencies in assessment during male-male contests, and that receivers adjust the vocal tract resonances in their own replies in relation to what they hear. This constitutes the first demonstration of the function of formant frequencies in the vocal communication of a non-human mammal (Reby, McComb et al. 2005).
(4) red deer females perceive size-related shifts in the vocal tract resonances of stag roars (Charlton, Reby & McComb, 2007) and oestrus red deer hinds prefer roars where lower formants indicate larger stags (Charlton, Reby & McComb, 2007).
(5) the different call types given by red deer stags contain common cues to caller identity, constituting the equivalent of an individual voice (Reby et al. 2006). This is the first evidence that the vocal repertoire of a non-primate mammal contains across-call identity information.
For details of ongoing research projects and an up-to-date list of publications, please visit the Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research pages.
Teaching
I give lectures on:
- sexual selection, animal communication and human evolution (Animal Behaviour - year 1).
- mammal vocal communication and language evolution (Psychology of Childhood and adolescence - year 1, Human Speech - year 3).
- human speech production and perception (Cognitive Psychology 2 - year 2, Human Speech - year 3, Voice Morphing, Masters level).
I supervise final year projects on human and animal vocal communication.
I am also:
- Chair of the Psychology Undergraduate Exam Board.
Publications
Taylor A. M. & Reby D. (in press). Contribution of the source-filter theory to the study of mammal vocal communication. Journal of Zoology.
Taylor A. M., Reby D. & McComb K. (in press). Size Communication in domestic dog (Canis familiaris) growls. Animal Behaviour.
Hardouin L., Bretagnolle V., Tabel P., Bavoux C., Burneleau G. and Reby D. (2009). Acoustic cues to reproductive success in male owl hoots. Animal Behaviour.
Taylor A. M., Reby D. & McComb K. (2009). Context-related variation in the vocal growling behaviour of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Ethology.
Proops L., McComb K., & Reby D. (2009). Cross-modal Individual Recognition in Domestic Horses (Equus caballus). Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences 106, 947-951.
Kidjo N., Cargnelutti B., Charlton B., Wilson C. & Reby D. (2008). Vocal behaviour in corsican deer, description and phylogenetic implications. Bioacoustics. 18, 159–181.
Charlton B., McComb K. & Reby D. (2008). Free-ranging red deer hinds show greater attentiveness to roars with formant frequencies typical of young males. Ethology. 14, 1023–1031.
Taylor A. M., Reby D. & McComb K. (2008). Human listeners attend to size information in domestic dog growls. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 123, 2903-2909.
Charlton B., Reby D. & McComb K. (2008). Effect of combined source (F0) and filter (formant) variation on red deer hind responses to male roars. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 123, 2936–2943.
Cap H., Deleporte P., Joachim J. & Reby D. (2008). Male vocal behavior and phylogeny in deer. Cladistics. 24, 917–931.
McComb K. & Reby D. (2009). Communication in terrestrial animals. In: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. (L.R. Squire, Editor). Vol. 2, pp. 1167-1171. Oxford: Academic Press.
McComb K., Reby D. & Moss C. (in press) Vocal communication and social knowledge in African Elephants. In: The Amboseli Elephants: a long-term perspective on a long-lived mammal (ed. C.J.Moss & H.J. Croze). Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Charlton B., Reby D. & McComb K. (2007). Female perception of size-related formant shifts in red deer (Cervus elaphus). Animal Behaviour. 74, 707-714.
Charlton B., Reby D. & McComb K. (2007). Female red deer prefer the roars of larger males. Biology Letters. 3: 382-385.
Hardouin L., Reby D., et al. (2007). Communication of male quality in owl hoots. American Naturalist. 169: 552-562.
Reby D., Andre-Obrecht R., Galinier A., Farinas G. & Cargnelutti B. (2006). Cepstral coefficients and hidden Markov models reveal idiosyncratic voice characteristics in red deer (Cervus elaphus) stags. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 120: 4080-4089.
Reby D., McComb K., Cargnelutti B., Darwin C, Fitch WT & Clutton-Brock TH (2005). Red deer stags use formants as assessment cues during intrasexual agonistic interactions. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, London. 272: 941-947.
McComb K. & Reby D. (2005). Vocal communication networks in large terrestrial mammals. In: Animal communication networks, p. 372-389. McGregor P.K. (Ed.).
Reby D. & McComb K. (2003). Vocal communication and reproduction in deer. Advances in the Study of Behaviour. 33: 231-264.
Reby D. & McComb K. (2003). Anatomical constraints generate honesty:acoustic cues to age and weight in the roars of red deer stags. Animal Behaviour, 65: 519-530.
McComb K., Reby D., Baker L., Moss C.& Sayialel S. (2003). Long-distance communication of social identity in African elephants. Animal Behaviour. 65: 317-329.
Reby D., Izquierdo M., Hewison A.J.M. & Pepin D. (2001). Red deer (Cervus elaphus) hinds discriminate between the roars of their current harem holder stag and those of neighbouring stags. Ethology, 107: 951-959.
Fitch W.T. & Reby D. (2001). The descended larynx is not uniquely human. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, London. 268: 1669-1675.