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Vocalization Processes Across Age and Sex in Common Marmosets

Poster Session F - Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Constance Dollet^1,2 (), Terumi Yurimoto², Jiayue Yang¹, Erika Sasaki*², Justine Cléry*¹; ¹McGill University, ²Central Institute for Experimental Medicine and Life Science, Tokyo, Japan

Understanding the complexity of vocal communication is essential in the study of social behaviours and neurological disorders, as it provides an insight into cognitive and neural processes underlying social interactions. With their very social organization, and complex vocal repertoire, common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) are the ideal model to study vocalization and its development. In this study, I aim to understand the complexity and development of marmosets’ vocalization. To do so, I recorded groups of marmosets sharing common features (age, sex, and/or group affiliation). I developed an XGBoost algorithm-based classifier to predict the sex and age of adult marmosets based on acoustic features extracted across different call types. The model achieved good accuracy and identified key voice features contributing to sex and age discrimination. I am examining longitudinal changes in vocalization among young marmosets (4 to 24 months old) using UMAP dimensionality reduction to visualize and quantify developmental trajectories based on acoustic features. I was able to observe possible call subtypes forming cluster that become more distinct and display stronger familial signature between 4 and 10 months of age. Finally, I will perform awake fMRI paradigms in adults and young marmosets, to investigate how the marmoset brain processes others’ calls, encodes voice features, and how these evolve through development. Together, these studies aim to establish a comprehensive framework linking vocal production, development, and neural processing, to ultimately better understand communication and its alterations in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Topic Area: LANGUAGE: Development & aging