NDLI: Chimpanzee Vocal Signaling Points to a Multimodal Origin of Human Language

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Taglialatela, Jared P. Russell, Jamie L. Schaeffer, Jennifer A. Hopkins, William D.
Editor	Hausberger, Martine
Abstract	The evolutionary origin of human language and its neurobiological foundations has long been the object of intense scientific debate. Although a number of theories have been proposed, one particularly contentious model suggests that human language evolved from a manual gestural communication system in a common ape-human ancestor. Consistent with a gestural origins theory are data indicating that chimpanzees intentionally and referentially communicate via manual gestures, and the production of manual gestures, in conjunction with vocalizations, activates the chimpanzee Broca’s area homologue – a region in the human brain that is critical for the planning and execution of language. However, it is not known if this activity observed in the chimpanzee Broca’s area is the result of the chimpanzees producing manual communicative gestures, communicative sounds, or both. This information is critical for evaluating the theory that human language evolved from a strictly manual gestural system. To this end, we used positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the neural metabolic activity in the chimpanzee brain. We collected PET data in 4 subjects, all of whom produced manual communicative gestures. However, 2 of these subjects also produced so-called attention-getting vocalizations directed towards a human experimenter. Interestingly, only the two subjects that produced these attention-getting sounds showed greater mean metabolic activity in the Broca’s area homologue as compared to a baseline scan. The two subjects that did not produce attention-getting sounds did not. These data contradict an exclusive “gestural origins” theory for they suggest that it is vocal signaling that selectively activates the Broca’s area homologue in chimpanzees. In other words, the activity observed in the Broca’s area homologue reflects the production of vocal signals by the chimpanzees, suggesting thast this critical human language region was involved in vocal signaling in the common ancestor of both modern humans and chimpanzees.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018852
Starting Page	18852
File Format	PDF
ISSN	19326203
e-ISSN	19326203
Journal	PLoS ONE
Issue Number	4
Volume Number	6
Language	English
Publisher	Public Library of Science
Publisher Date	2011-04-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	Public Library of Science
Subject Keyword	Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all) Medicine(all) Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Multidisciplinary

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Chimpanzee Vocal Signaling Points to a Multimodal Origin of Human Language

Human Cells Display Reduced Apoptotic Function Relative to Chimpanzee Cells

Chimpanzee Autarky

An Effort to Use Human-Based Exome Capture Methods to Analyze Chimpanzee and Macaque Exomes

Chromosomal Inversions between Human and Chimpanzee Lineages Caused by Retrotransposons

Molecular Mapping of Movement-Associated Areas in the Avian Brain: A Motor Theory for Vocal Learning Origin

Chimpanzee-Specific Endogenous Retrovirus Generates Genomic Variations in the Chimpanzee Genome

Correction: An Effort to Use Human-Based Exome Capture Methods to Analyze Chimpanzee and Macaque Exomes

Modeling Coevolution between Language and Memory Capacity during Language Origin

Chimpanzee Vocal Signaling Points to a Multimodal Origin of Human Language

Similar Documents

Chimpanzee Vocal Signaling Points to a Multimodal Origin of Human Language

Human Cells Display Reduced Apoptotic Function Relative to Chimpanzee Cells

Chimpanzee Autarky

An Effort to Use Human-Based Exome Capture Methods to Analyze Chimpanzee and Macaque Exomes

Chromosomal Inversions between Human and Chimpanzee Lineages Caused by Retrotransposons

Molecular Mapping of Movement-Associated Areas in the Avian Brain: A Motor Theory for Vocal Learning Origin

Chimpanzee-Specific Endogenous Retrovirus Generates Genomic Variations in the Chimpanzee Genome

Correction: An Effort to Use Human-Based Exome Capture Methods to Analyze Chimpanzee and Macaque Exomes

Modeling Coevolution between Language and Memory Capacity during Language Origin

Chimpanzee Vocal Signaling Points to a Multimodal Origin of Human Language