Language acquisition
Evolutionary precursors of speech perceptual capacities
A collaboration with Marc Hauser (Harvard) has allowed me to compare the perceptual capacities of human newborns with those of monkeys. Our results were rather unexpected:
Ramus, F., Hauser, M. D., Miller, C., Morris, D., & Mehler, J. (2000). Language discrimination by human newborns and by cotton-top tamarin monkeys. Science, 288, 349-351. (abstract and reprint)(supplementary material)
Such comparative work has continued with the help of Ruth Tincoff and others:
Tincoff,
R., Hauser, M., Tsao,
F., Spaepen, G.,
Ramus, F., & Mehler, J. (2005). The role of speech rhythm in
language discrimination: Further tests with a nonhuman primate. Developmental Science,
8(1), 26-35. 
The Neurocom project went on to investigate the neural basis of the evolutionary precursors of speech perceptual capacities.
