Events

McGill University CRBLM Earth Species Project

Computational and Mechanistic Analyses of Communicative Interactions

Organized by Logan S. James, Jon T. Sakata, & Sarah C. Woolley

McGill University, Montréal

May 29, 2026

Vocal interactions are pervasive across animals, and it is important to understand the extent to which the "rules" governing vocal interactions are shared amongst animals as well as with humans. This conference will bring together researchers using mathematical and computational approaches to model vocal interactions, facilitating the sharing of data and resources to detect, classify, and analyze vocalizations.

Register Here

Registration is free but required.

Refreshments

Lunch and coffee breaks provided for all attendees.

Visiting Montréal?

Things to eat, explore, and see in the city.

Schedule (tentative)

9:00 Coffee
9:30 Introduction to the symposium on vocal interactions
Session 1 · 9:35–11:00 Calls
Zebra finch
Logan James “Vocal exchanges of female zebra finches and interactive playbacks”
Marmoset
Daniel Takahashi “Modeling vocal interactions in marmoset monkeys”
Crow
Maddie Cusimano “Repertoire-behaviour mapping reveals signal functions in cooperatively breeding crows”
11:00–11:30 Coffee break
Session 2 · 11:30–13:00 Songs
Singing mouse
Arkarup Banerjee
Nightingale
Daniela Vallentin “Vocal interactions in nightingales”
Cowbird
Michael Long “Compositional control of vocal production in the cowbird”
13:00–14:00 Lunch
Session 3 · 14:00–15:30 Humans
Speech
Gregg Castellucci “Neural modularity during spoken interactions”
Music
Simone Falk “From laboratory tasks to real‑world talk: current questions about speech interaction during development”
Music
Caroline Palmer “Group dynamics influence vocal communication in (human) music and speech”
15:30–16:30
Synthesis & Future Directions

Woolley, Sakata, James, Cusimano

Discussion & Social

Confirmed Speakers

Logan James

Logan James

McGill University | Earth Species Project
Daniel Takahashi

Daniel Takahashi

Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
Maddie Cusimano

Maddie Cusimano

Earth Species Project
Arkarup Banerjee

Arkarup Banerjee

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Daniela Vallentin

Daniela Vallentin

Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
Michael Long

Michael Long

NYU School of Medicine
Gregg Castellucci

Gregg Castellucci

University of Rochester
Simone Falk

Simone Falk

Université de Montréal
Caroline Palmer

Caroline Palmer

McGill University