July 22, 2015

July 22, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

The following writing is my first response to the paper “Two Organizing Principles of Vocal Production: Implications for Nonhuman

and Human Primates” by Owren, Amoss & Rendall (2010). 

One of the basic principles on which the Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) distinction is build, is the fact that if the speaker focuses too much on what he or she is saying, then he or she is more likely to produce NVB, while if he or she focuses more on how he or she is sounding, then he or she is more likely to produce SVB. 

Stated differently, our verbal fixation leads to a disconnect between the speaker’s verbal and nonverbal expression. Consequently, the NVB speaker says something different verbally and non-verbally. Only in SVB can there be congruence between the speaker’s verbal and nonverbal expression. SVB congruence is effortlessly understood by the receiver. From the fact that “affect has historically been given rather short shrift in the behavioral and neural sciences”, we can learn that the communication that is creating and maintaining this neglect is one which focuses more on what we say than how we say it. In other words, in NVB verbal fixation leads to nonverbal dissociation, while in SVB our nonverbal sensitivity unites nonverbal with verbal expression. Moreover, focus on nonverbal expression includes our verbal expression, since the former developmentally gave rise to the latter.  Adoption of a “cognitively based interpretation that downplayed the role of affect” is parsimoniously explained by the SVB/NVB distinction. 

The SVB/NVB distinction is congruent with "Affect Conditioning Model" (ACM), which, “after reviewing evidence concerning development and neural control of vocalization in primates and other nonhumans”, was extended with “two interrelated principles of production” which are applicable across a variety of species. Conservation of these behaviors must play an important role in human vocalizations as well. The first one of these principles is “a distinction between production-first and reception-first vocal systems, with the former showing little role of auditory experience or motor practice, affective triggering of calls, and limited flexibility in vocal acoustics.” This describes NVB, in which the speaker talks at, not with the listener. A child does that as he or she is too young to be verbal and can only be nonverbal.

Another explanation for NVB is the hierarchical relationship between dominant and subordinate animals. Given the “little role of auditory experience or motor practice, affective triggering of calls, and limited flexibility in vocal acoustics” it can be deduced that “production-first” vocal systems lack a feedback mechanism. In NVB the conversation between the speaker and the listener is not a bi-directional, but a uni-directional phenomenon. In colloquial terms: my-way-or-the-highway. “Reception-first vocal systems”, on the other hand, have “quite different characteristics, including a central role for auditory and motor experience, cognitive control over vocalization, and flexible vocal acoustics.” Such systems are believed to mediate SVB. Given the fact that “a central role” in reception-first systems goes to “auditory and motor experience”, we can deduce that in SVB the listener listens to him or herself while he or she speaks. 

The speaker-as-own-listener is aware of the feedback of his or her voice, which is simultaneously experienced in an auditory and proprioceptive manner. Furthermore, the SVB speaker’s “cognitive control” over his or her vocalizations is facilitated by his or her private speech, which is aligned with his or her public speech, which is just another way of saying that his or her verbal and nonverbal expressions are congruent. However, it is not ”cognitive control over vocalization”, but rather vocalizational control over cognition, which is facilitated by “flexible acoustics.”

In NVB the speaker wants the listener to listen to him or to her, but he or she is not listening to him or herself; that is, a NVB speaker is outwardly oriented. As the child who cries for its mother makes clear, such a speaker is not in touch with him or herself. The mother’s touch and attention is needed to regulate his or her affect to the point that he or she is calm again and feels in touch with him or herself. Being content and calm is the opposite of feeling threatened or fearfully or stressfully aroused. In the former, we are enough unto ourselves, but in the latter, we demand attention from others. NVB demandingness characterizes an outward orientation.