UI Alum Asif Ghazanfar Makes Scientific Discovery
Thursday, July 17 2003
July 17, 2003^MOSCOW -- Asif Ghazanfar, research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen, Germany, 1990 Moscow High School graduate and 1994 philosophy graduate from the University of Idaho, has received worldwide notice following his research publication in the June 26 issue of the science journal Nature.^Ghazanfar and his MPI colleague Nikos Logothetis found that rhesus monkeys can link their vocal sounds -- such as friendly coos or threatening calls -- to corresponding facial expressions. ^"The presence of multimodal perception in an animal's communication signals may represent an evolutionary precursor of humans' ability to make the multimodal associations necessary for speech perception," the pair wrote in Nature.^Ghazanfar’s research combines the study of primate vocal behavior with neurophysiology. He is specifically interested in how the auditory and visual components of vocal expressions are integrated at the behavioral and neural level in rhesus monkeys. Even though speech is uniquely human, his findings suggest that human communication abilities may have evolved from primate ancestors and parallel those in pre-linguistic human infants. ^The news of his scientific findings spread throughout the world through Reuters wire service to major media in the U.S. and via news features published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Boston Globe and many other global media in various languages.^Ghazanfar majored in philosophy at UI, with other interests in biology and psychology. He earned a doctoral degree in neuroscience in 1998 at Duke University and did post-doctoral work at Harvard University before joining MPI Institute of Biological Cybernetics. He has published 30 professional works, including a book last year, “Primate Audition: Ethology and Neurobiology” (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida).^He credits his early teachers in Moscow and UI “who taught me so much and encouraged me to pursue science. Particularly Lowell Kappmeyer and Larry Volkening at Moscow High School and Mark Desantis and Matthew Grober in UI’s Department of Biological Sciences showed me the beauty of nature and the power of the scientific method. In UI’s Department of Philosophy, Nick Gier and Kathy George were instrumental in teaching me how to think critically. Thanks to these wonderful purveyors of knowledge, I learned how to learn, and am really having a great time!"^Contact: Dr. Asif Ghazanfar, e-mail asifg@tuebingen.mpg.de or website (with photo) www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/~asifg; S. M. Ghazanfar, father, (208) 882-7619, ghazi@uidaho.edu or Nancy Hilliard, University Communications, (208) 885-6567, hilliard@uidaho.edu-30-^NH-7/17/03-CLASS/ALUMNI^
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