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Kopytin G, Ivanova M, Herrojo Ruiz M, Shestakova A. Evaluating the Influence of Musical and Monetary Rewards on Decision Making through Computational Modelling. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:124. [PMID: 38392477 PMCID: PMC10886002 DOI: 10.3390/bs14020124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
A central question in behavioural neuroscience is how different rewards modulate learning. While the role of monetary rewards is well-studied in decision-making research, the influence of abstract rewards like music remains poorly understood. This study investigated the dissociable effects of these two reward types on decision making. Forty participants completed two decision-making tasks, each characterised by probabilistic associations between stimuli and rewards, with probabilities changing over time to reflect environmental volatility. In each task, choices were reinforced either by monetary outcomes (win/lose) or by the endings of musical melodies (consonant/dissonant). We applied the Hierarchical Gaussian Filter, a validated hierarchical Bayesian framework, to model learning under these two conditions. Bayesian statistics provided evidence for similar learning patterns across both reward types, suggesting individuals' similar adaptability. However, within the musical task, individual preferences for consonance over dissonance explained some aspects of learning. Specifically, correlation analyses indicated that participants more tolerant of dissonance behaved more stochastically in their belief-to-response mappings and were less likely to choose the response associated with the current prediction for a consonant ending, driven by higher volatility estimates. By contrast, participants averse to dissonance showed increased tonic volatility, leading to larger updates in reward tendency beliefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grigory Kopytin
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, 101000 Moscow, Russia
| | - Marina Ivanova
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, 101000 Moscow, Russia
| | - Maria Herrojo Ruiz
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, London SE14 6NW, UK
| | - Anna Shestakova
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, 101000 Moscow, Russia
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2
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Henrion J, Hublin JJ, Maureille B. New Neanderthal remains from the Châtelperronian-attributed layer X of the Grotte du Renne (Arcy-sur-Cure, France). J Hum Evol 2023; 181:103402. [PMID: 37379741 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Juliette Henrion
- PACEA UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Ministère de la Culture, 33600, Pessac, France.
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, 75231, Paris, France
| | - Bruno Maureille
- PACEA UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Ministère de la Culture, 33600, Pessac, France
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3
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Ekström AG, Edlund J. Evolution of the human tongue and emergence of speech biomechanics. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1150778. [PMID: 37325743 PMCID: PMC10266234 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1150778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The tongue is one of the organs most central to human speech. Here, the evolution and species-unique properties of the human tongue is traced, via reference to the apparent articulatory behavior of extant non-human great apes, and fossil findings from early hominids - from a point of view of articulatory phonetics, the science of human speech production. Increased lingual flexibility provided the possibility of mapping of articulatory targets, possibly via exaptation of manual-gestural mapping capacities evident in extant great apes. The emergence of the human-specific tongue, its properties, and morphology were crucial to the evolution of human articulate speech.
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4
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Vyshedskiy A. Language evolution is not limited to speech acquisition: a large study of language development in children with language deficits highlights the importance of the voluntary imagination component of language. RESEARCH IDEAS AND OUTCOMES 2022. [DOI: 10.3897/rio.8.e86401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Did the boy bite the cat or was it the other way around? When processing a sentence with several objects, one has to establish ‘who did what to whom’. When a sentence cannot be interpreted by recalling an image from memory, we rely on the special type of voluntary constructive imagination called Prefrontal synthesis (PFS). PFS is defined as the ability to juxtapose mental visuospatial objects at will. We hypothesised that PFS has fundamental importance for language acquisition. To test this hypothesis, we designed a PFS-targeting intervention and administered it to 6,454 children with language deficiencies (age 2 to 12 years). The results from the three-year-long study demonstrated that children who engaged with the PFS intervention showed 2.2-fold improvement in combinatorial language comprehension compared to children with similar initial evaluations. These findings suggest that language can be improved by training the PFS and exposes the importance of the visuospatial component of language. This manuscript reflects on the experimental findings from the point of view of human language evolution. When used as a proxy for evolutionary language acquisition, the study results suggest a dichotomy of language evolution, with its speech component and its visuospatial component developing in parallel. The study highlights the radical idea that evolutionary acquisition of language was driven primarily by improvements of voluntary imagination rather than by improvements in the speech apparatus.
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Iwasaki SI, Yoshimura K, Asami T, Erdoğan S. Comparative morphology and physiology of the vocal production apparatus and the brain in the extant primates. Ann Anat 2022; 240:151887. [PMID: 35032565 DOI: 10.1016/j.aanat.2022.151887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 12/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Objective data mainly from the comparative anatomy of various organs related to human speech and language is considered to unearth clues about the mechanisms behind language development. The two organs of the larynx and hyoid bone are considered to have evolved towards suitable positions and forms in preparation for the occurrence of the large repertoire of vocalization necessary for human speech. However, some researchers have asserted that there is no significant difference of these organs between humans and non-human primates. Speech production is dependent on the voluntary control of the respiratory, laryngeal, and vocal tract musculature. Such control is fully present in humans but only partially so in non-human primates, which appear to be able to voluntarily control only supralaryngeal articulators. Both humans and non-human primates have direct cortical innervation of motor neurons controlling the supralaryngeal vocal tract but only human appear to have direct cortical innervation of motor neurons controlling the larynx. In this review, we investigate the comparative morphology and function of the wide range of components involved in vocal production, including the larynx, the hyoid bone, the tongue, and the vocal brain. We would like to emphasize the importance of the tongue in the primary development of human speech and language. It is now time to reconsider the possibility of the tongue playing a definitive role in the emergence of human speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shin-Ichi Iwasaki
- Faculty of Health Science, Gunma PAZ University, Takasaki, Japan; The Nippon Dental University, Tokyo and Niigata, Japan
| | - Ken Yoshimura
- Department of Anatomy, The Nippon Dental University School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, Niigata, Japan
| | - Tomoichiro Asami
- Faculty of Rehabilitation, Gunma Paz University, Takasaki, Japan
| | - Serkan Erdoğan
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ, Turkey.
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6
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Li P, Ross CF, Luo ZX. Morphological disparity and evolutionary transformations in the primate hyoid apparatus. J Hum Evol 2021; 162:103094. [PMID: 34808474 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2021] [Revised: 10/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The hyoid apparatus plays an integral role in swallowing, respiration, and vocalization in mammals. Most placental mammals have a rod-shaped basihyal connected to the basicranium via both soft tissues and a mobile bony chain-the anterior cornu-whereas anthropoid primates have broad, shield-like or even cup-shaped basihyals suspended from the basicranium by soft tissues only. How the unique anthropoid hyoid morphology evolved is unknown, and hyoid morphology of nonanthropoid primates is poorly documented. Here we use phylogenetic comparative methods and linear morphometrics to address knowledge gaps in hyoid evolution among primates and their euarchontan outgroups. We find that dermopterans have variable reduction of cornu elements. Cynocephalus volans are sexually dimorphic in hyoid morphology. Tupaia and all lemuroids except Daubentonia have a fully ossified anterior cornu connecting a rod-shaped basihyal to the basicranium; this is the ancestral mammalian pattern that is also characteristic of the last common ancestor of Primates. Haplorhines exhibit a reduced anterior cornu, and anthropoids underwent further increase in basihyal aspect ratio values and in relative basihyal volume. Convergent with haplorhines, lorisoid strepsirrhines independently evolved a broad basihyal and reduced anterior cornua. While a reduced anterior cornu is hypothesized to facilitate vocal tract lengthening and lower formant frequencies in some mammals, our results suggest vocalization adaptations alone are unlikely to drive the iterative reduction of anterior cornua within Primates. Our new data on euarchontan hyoid evolution provide an anatomical basis for further exploring the form-function relationships of the hyoid across different behaviors, including vocalization, chewing, and swallowing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peishu Li
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
| | - Callum F Ross
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Zhe-Xi Luo
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
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Rodrigues ED, Santos AJ, Veppo F, Pereira J, Hobaiter C. Connecting primate gesture to the evolutionary roots of language: A systematic review. Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23313. [PMID: 34358359 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Comparative psychology provides important contributions to our understanding of the origins of human language. The presence of common features in human and nonhuman primate communication can be used to suggest the evolutionary trajectories of potential precursors to language. However, to do so effectively, our findings must be comparable across diverse species. This systematic review describes the current landscape of data available from studies of gestural communication in human and nonhuman primates that make an explicit connection to language evolution. We found a similar number of studies on human and nonhuman primates, but that very few studies included data from more than one species. As a result, evolutionary inferences remain restricted to comparison across studies. We identify areas of focus, bias, and apparent gaps within the field. Different domains have been studied in human and nonhuman primates, with relatively few nonhuman primate studies of ontogeny and relatively few human studies of gesture form. Diversity in focus, methods, and socio-ecological context fill important gaps and provide nuanced understanding, but only where the source of any difference between studies is transparent. Many studies provide some definition for their use of gesture; but definitions of gesture, and in particular, criteria for intentional use, are absent in the majority of human studies. We find systematic differences between human and nonhuman primate studies in the research scope, incorporation of other modalities, research setting, and study design. We highlight eight particular areas in a call to action through which we can strengthen our ability to investigate gestural communication's contribution within the evolutionary roots of human language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelina D Rodrigues
- William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - António J Santos
- William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Flávia Veppo
- Department of Applied Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Joana Pereira
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Catherine Hobaiter
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
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8
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Dediu D, Moisik SR, Baetsen WA, Bosman AM, Waters-Rist AL. The vocal tract as a time machine: inferences about past speech and language from the anatomy of the speech organs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200192. [PMID: 33745306 PMCID: PMC8059537 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
While speech and language do not fossilize, they still leave traces that can be extracted and interpreted. Here, we suggest that the shape of the hard structures of the vocal tract may also allow inferences about the speech of long-gone humans. These build on recent experimental and modelling studies, showing that there is extensive variation between individuals in the precise shape of the vocal tract, and that this variation affects speech and language. In particular, we show that detailed anatomical information concerning two components of the vocal tract (the lower jaw and the hard palate) can be extracted and digitized from the osteological remains of three historical populations from The Netherlands, and can be used to conduct three-dimensional biomechanical simulations of vowel production. We could recover the signatures of inter-individual variation between these vowels, in acoustics and articulation. While 'proof-of-concept', this study suggests that older and less well-preserved remains could be used to draw inferences about historic and prehistoric languages. Moreover, it forces us to clarify the meaning and use of the uniformitarian principle in linguistics, and to consider the wider context of language use, including the anatomy, physiology and cognition of the speakers. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Dediu
- Laboratoire Dynamique De Langage (DDL) UMR 5596, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France
| | - Scott R. Moisik
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - W. A. Baetsen
- RAAP Archeologisch Adviesbureau b.v., Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Abel Marinus Bosman
- DFG Center for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Trajectories of the Human Past’, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- IDDS Groep b.v., Noordwijk, The Netherlands
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9
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Breyl M. Triangulating Neanderthal cognition: A tale of not seeing the forest for the trees. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2020; 12:e1545. [PMID: 32918796 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 08/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
The inference of Neanderthal cognition, including their cultural and linguistic capabilities, has persisted as a fiercely debated research topic for decades. This lack of consensus is substantially based on inherent uncertainties in reconstructing prehistory out of indirect evidence as well as other methodological limitations. Further factors include systemic difficulties within interdisciplinary discourse, data artifacts, historic research biases, and the sheer scope of the relevant research. Given the degrees of freedom in interpretation ensuing from these complications, any attempt to find approximate answers to the yet unsettled pertinent discourse may not rest on single studies, but instead a careful and comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of findings. Triangulating Neanderthals' cognition by considering the plethora of data, diverse perspectives and aforementioned complexities present within the literature constitutes the currently most reliable pathway to tentative conclusions. While some uncertainties remain, such an approach paints the picture of an extensive shared humanity between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Breyl
- Germanistik, Komparatistik, Nordistik, Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany
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10
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Vyshedskiy A. Language evolution to revolution: the leap from rich-vocabulary non-recursive communication system to recursive language 70,000 years ago was associated with acquisition of a novel component of imagination, called Prefrontal Synthesis, enabled by a mutation that slowed down the prefrontal cortex maturation simultaneously in two or more children – the Romulus and Remus hypothesis. RESEARCH IDEAS AND OUTCOMES 2019. [DOI: 10.3897/rio.5.e38546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
There is an overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. On the other hand, artifacts signifying modern imagination, such as (1) composite figurative arts, (2) bone needles with an eye, (3) construction of dwellings, and (4) elaborate burials arose not earlier than 70,000 years ago. It remains unclear (1) why there was a long gap between acquisition of modern speech apparatus and modern imagination, (2) what triggered the acquisition of modern imagination 70,000 years ago, and (3) what role language might have played in this process. Our research into evolutionary origin of modern imagination has been driven by the observation of a temporal limit for the development of a particular component of imagination. Modern children not exposed to recursive language in early childhood never acquire the type of active constructive imagination called Prefrontal Synthesis (PFS). Unlike vocabulary and grammar acquisition, which can be learned throughout one’s lifetime, there is a strong critical period for the development of PFS and individuals not exposed to recursive language in early childhood can never acquire PFS as adults. Their language will always lack understanding of spatial prepositions and recursion that depend on the PFS ability. In a similar manner, early hominins would not have been able to learn recursive language as adults and, therefore, would not be able to teach recursive language to their children. Thus, the existence of a strong critical period for PFS acquisition creates an evolutionary barrier for behavioral modernity. An evolutionary mathematical model suggests that a synergistic confluence of three events (1) a genetic mutation that extended the critical period by slowing down the prefrontal cortex development simultaneously in two or more children, (2) invention of recursive elements of language, such as spatial prepositions, by these children and (3) their dialogic communications using these recursive elements, resulted in concurrent conversion of a non-recursive communication system of their parents to recursive language and acquisition of PFS around 70,000 years ago.
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11
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Beaudet A, Du A, Wood B. Evolution of the modern human brain. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 250:219-250. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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12
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First data of Neandertal bird and carnivore exploitation in the Cantabrian Region (Axlor; Barandiaran excavations; Dima, Biscay, Northern Iberian Peninsula). Sci Rep 2018; 8:10551. [PMID: 30002396 PMCID: PMC6043621 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-28377-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Neandertals were top predators who basically relied on middle- to large-sized ungulates for dietary purposes, but there is growing evidence that supports their consumption of plants, leporids, tortoises, marine resources, carnivores and birds. The Iberian Peninsula has provided the most abundant record of bird exploitation for meat in Europe, starting in the Middle Pleistocene. However, the bird and carnivore exploitation record was hitherto limited to the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula. Here we present the first evidence of bird and carnivore exploitation by Neandertals in the Cantabrian region. We have found cut-marks in two golden eagles, one raven, one wolf and one lynx remain from the Mousterian levels of Axlor. The obtaining of meat was likely the primary purpose of the cut-marks on the golden eagle and lynx remains. Corvids, raptors, felids and canids in Axlor could have likely acted as commensals of the Neandertals, scavenging upon the carcasses left behind by these hunter-gatherers. This could have brought them closer to Neandertal groups who could have preyed upon them. These new results provide additional information on their dietary scope and indicate a more complex interaction between Neandertals and their environment.
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Xie J, Zhong X, Xiang Y, Wang R, Zhang J, Xie J, Mo L. Universal Phonological Features. Exp Psychol 2018; 65:171-182. [PMID: 29947297 DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The Theory of universal grammar suggests that human languages may share some similarities at the phonological level. Based on this hypothesis, we further propose a language generalization effect (LGE) and hypothesize that people may inherit the universal phonological features from their native languages and then transfer them to foreign languages. To test this hypothesis, in two experiments, participants listened to a pair of normal and syllable reversed recordings (Experiments 1a-1d) or normal and phonemic reversed recordings (Experiments 2a-2d) in unknown and native languages and reported their similarities. The results indicated that participants were more sensitive to the dissimilarities of normal recordings than to reversed ones. These results suggest that participants could identify the universal phonological features from normal recordings, but not reversed ones, and then adopt these features to better verify the dissimilarities of normal recordings. In sum, the current study first proposed the LGE and reported primary evidence to support it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiushu Xie
- 1 Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,2 School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Xiao Zhong
- 1 Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,2 School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Yanhui Xiang
- 4 Cognition an Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan and Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, PR China
| | - Ruiming Wang
- 1 Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,2 School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Jun Zhang
- 5 School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Jiawei Xie
- 1 Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,2 School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Lei Mo
- 1 Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,2 School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.,3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China
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Gong T, Shuai L, Wu Y. Rethinking foundations of language from a multidisciplinary perspective. Phys Life Rev 2018; 26-27:120-138. [PMID: 29709463 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2018.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 04/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The issue of language foundations has been of great controversy ever since it was first raised in Lenneberg's (1967) monograph Biological Foundations of Language. Based on a survey of recent findings relevant to the study of language acquisition and evolution, we propose that: (i) the biological predispositions for language are largely domain-general, not necessarily language-specific or human-unique; (ii) the socio-cultural environment of language serves as another important foundation of language, which helps shape language components, induce and drive language shift; and (iii) language must have coevolved with the cognitive mechanisms associated with it through intertwined biological and cultural evolution. In addition to theoretical issues, this paper also evaluates the primary approaches recently joining the endeavor of studying language foundations and evolution, including human experiments and computer simulations. Most of the evidence surveyed in this paper comes from a variety of disciplines, and methodology therein complements each other to form a global picture of language foundations. These reflect the complexity of the issue of language foundations and the necessity of taking a multidisciplinary perspective to address it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Gong
- Center for Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China; Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, United States of America.
| | - Lan Shuai
- Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, United States of America
| | - Yicheng Wu
- Department of Linguistics and Translation, School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
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15
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DUNN JACOBC. Sexual selection and the loss of laryngeal air sacs during the evolution of speech. ANTHROPOL SCI 2018. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.180309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- JACOB C. DUNN
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
- Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
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16
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Beaudet A. The Emergence of Language in the Hominin Lineage: Perspectives from Fossil Endocasts. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:427. [PMID: 28878641 PMCID: PMC5572361 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2017] [Accepted: 08/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Amélie Beaudet
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the WitwatersrandJohannesburg, South Africa.,Department of Anatomy, University of PretoriaPretoria, South Africa
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17
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Voice and Dysphagia. Dysphagia 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/174_2017_110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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18
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19
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20
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The phylogenetic system of primates—character evolution in the light of a consolidated tree. ORG DIVERS EVOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s13127-016-0279-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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21
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Vertebrate Bioacoustics: Prospects and Open Problems. VERTEBRATE SOUND PRODUCTION AND ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27721-9_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
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22
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Steele J, Clegg M, Martelli S. Comparative morphology of the hominin and African ape hyoid bone, a possible marker of the evolution of speech. Hum Biol 2015; 85:639-72. [PMID: 25078953 DOI: 10.3378/027.085.0501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
This study examines the morphology of the hyoid in three closely related species, Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, and Gorilla gorilla. Differences and similarities between the hyoids of these species are characterized and used to interpret the morphology and affi nities of the Dikika A. afarensis, Kebara 2 Neanderthal, and other fossil hominin hyoid bones. Humans and African apes are found to have distinct hyoid morphologies. In humans the maximum width across the distal tips of the articulated greater horns is usually slightly greater than the maximum length (distal greater horn tip to most anterior point of the hyoid body in the midline). A different pattern is usually found in the African ape hyoids, which have much greater maximum lengths. In humans, the hyoid body is also much more anteroposteriorly shallow in proportion to its height and width, and this is true for all age classes. The Dikika australopithecine hyoid body proportions are chimpanzeelike. A discriminant function analysis, using a larger subadult sample from the three extant species than that reported by Alemseged et al. (2006), confirms this finding. The Kebara hyoid dimensions (body alone, and articulated body and greater horns) are almost all within the observed range for human hyoids. Discriminant functions clearly distinguish human from African ape hyoids and classify the Kebara 2 hyoid as human (confirming the finding of Arensburg et al. 1989). Our virtual dissection of a chimpanzee air sac system shows its subhyoid extension into the dorsal hyoid body. Following Alemseged et al. (2006), the expanded bulla characteristic of the African ape and australopithecine hyoid body is therefore interpreted as refl ecting the presence of such a laryngeal air sac extension. Its absence in the human, Neanderthal, and H. heidelbergensis (Atapuerca SH) hyoids implicates the loss of the laryngeal air sacs as a derived Neanderthal and modern human trait, which evolved no later than the middle Pleistocene. If, as has been argued by de Boer (2012), the loss of the air sac helped to enhance perceptual discrimination of speech sounds, then this derived hyoid morphology can be added to the list of fossil markers of the capacity for speech.
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Bednarik RG. Doing with less: hominin brain atrophy. HOMO-JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE HUMAN BIOLOGY 2014; 65:433-49. [PMID: 25440983 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchb.2014.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2013] [Accepted: 06/03/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In contrast to hominin encephalization, the final Pleistocene and Holocene reduction in cranial volume has attracted very little attention and remains unexplained. Here it is examined in the light of current neuroscientific and archaeological understanding, and it is shown that the most parsimonious explanation is via the domestication hypothesis of recent humans. Accordingly, rapid atrophy of the brain is partly explained by the culturally based process of sexual selection, first detectable in late robust Homo sapiens perhaps 40,000 years ago. Furthermore it is suggested that this deleterious process of neotenization and brain atrophy was compensated for by the concurrent development of exograms, i.e. means of storing memory outside the brain. Consequently most of human memory and cultural information is now stored external to the brain, which has altered that organ significantly and facilitated a cultural complexity that would be impossible to maintain by biological memory alone. The escalating use of exograms, neotenization and reduction in cranial volume all appear to co-occur with numerous other changes to the human genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert G Bednarik
- International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), P.O. Box 216, Caulfield South, Melbourne, VIC 3162, Australia.
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Abstract
The evolution of the faculty of language largely remains an enigma. In this essay, we ask why. Language's evolutionary analysis is complicated because it has no equivalent in any nonhuman species. There is also no consensus regarding the essential nature of the language "phenotype." According to the "Strong Minimalist Thesis," the key distinguishing feature of language (and what evolutionary theory must explain) is hierarchical syntactic structure. The faculty of language is likely to have emerged quite recently in evolutionary terms, some 70,000-100,000 years ago, and does not seem to have undergone modification since then, though individual languages do of course change over time, operating within this basic framework. The recent emergence of language and its stability are both consistent with the Strong Minimalist Thesis, which has at its core a single repeatable operation that takes exactly two syntactic elements a and b and assembles them to form the set {a, b}.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan J. Bolhuis
- Cognitive Neurobiology and Helmholtz Institute, Departments of Psychology and Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department of Zoology and Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Ian Tattersall
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Noam Chomsky
- Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Robert C. Berwick
- Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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Hauser MD, Yang C, Berwick RC, Tattersall I, Ryan MJ, Watumull J, Chomsky N, Lewontin RC. The mystery of language evolution. Front Psychol 2014; 5:401. [PMID: 24847300 PMCID: PMC4019876 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2014] [Accepted: 04/16/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of language requires evidence regarding origins and processes that led to change. In the last 40 years, there has been an explosion of research on this problem as well as a sense that considerable progress has been made. We argue instead that the richness of ideas is accompanied by a poverty of evidence, with essentially no explanation of how and why our linguistic computations and representations evolved. We show that, to date, (1) studies of nonhuman animals provide virtually no relevant parallels to human linguistic communication, and none to the underlying biological capacity; (2) the fossil and archaeological evidence does not inform our understanding of the computations and representations of our earliest ancestors, leaving details of origins and selective pressure unresolved; (3) our understanding of the genetics of language is so impoverished that there is little hope of connecting genes to linguistic processes any time soon; (4) all modeling attempts have made unfounded assumptions, and have provided no empirical tests, thus leaving any insights into language's origins unverifiable. Based on the current state of evidence, we submit that the most fundamental questions about the origins and evolution of our linguistic capacity remain as mysterious as ever, with considerable uncertainty about the discovery of either relevant or conclusive evidence that can adjudicate among the many open hypotheses. We conclude by presenting some suggestions about possible paths forward.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Charles Yang
- Department of Linguistics and Computer and Information Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Robert C Berwick
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ian Tattersall
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History New York, NY, USA
| | - Michael J Ryan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas Austin, TX, USA
| | - Jeffrey Watumull
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Cambridge University Cambridge, UK
| | - Noam Chomsky
- Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Richard C Lewontin
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA, USA
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D'Anastasio R, Viciano J, Di Nicola M, Cesana DT, Sciubba M, Del Cimmuto M, Paolucci A, Fazio A, Capasso L. Estimation of sex from the hyoid body in skeletal individuals from archeological sites. HOMO-JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE HUMAN BIOLOGY 2014; 65:311-21. [PMID: 24767538 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchb.2014.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/29/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Recent forensic studies have shown that the hyoid bone is a sexually dimorphic element of the human skeleton. Given the advanced techniques of collecting human remains in archeological and forensic contexts, the recovery of hyoid bones is now more frequent in skeletal samples. For that reason the authors propose a new method for estimating sex based on hyoid bodies from archeological sites. The study has been conducted on well-preserved hyoids of skeletal remains of 64 adult individuals (44 males and 20 females) dated from the pre-Roman to the medieval periods. The authors considered 10 linear measurements of the hyoid body. The most significant measurements showing sexual dimorphism are the body height, body length, and the maximum and minimum diameter of the articular facet for the greater horn. Discriminant function analysis achieved the allocation accuracy between 75.0% and 88.0%, depending on the measurement collected. This method represents a new, useful and easy way for increasing biological information when assessing the sex of adult human remains from an archeological sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- R D'Anastasio
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - J Viciano
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy.
| | - M Di Nicola
- Laboratory of Biostatistics, Department of Biomedical Science, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Via dei Vestini, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - D T Cesana
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - M Sciubba
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - M Del Cimmuto
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - A Paolucci
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - A Fazio
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
| | - L Capasso
- University Museum, State University "G. d'Annunzio", Piazza Trento e Trieste 1, 66100 Chieti, Italy
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Orlando L. A 400,000-year-old mitochondrial genome questions phylogenetic relationships amongst archaic hominins: using the latest advances in ancient genomics, the mitochondrial genome sequence of a 400,000-year-old hominin has been deciphered. Bioessays 2014; 36:598-605. [PMID: 24706482 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201400018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
By combining state-of-the-art approaches in ancient genomics, Meyer and co-workers have reconstructed the mitochondrial sequence of an archaic hominin that lived at Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain about 400,000 years ago. This achievement follows recent advances in molecular anthropology that delivered the genome sequence of younger archaic hominins, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. Molecular phylogenetic reconstructions placed the Atapuercan as a sister group to Denisovans, although its morphology suggested closer affinities with Neanderthals. In addition to possibly challenging our interpretation of the fossil record, this study confirms that genomic information can be recovered from extremely damaged DNA molecules, even in the presence of significant levels of human contamination. Together with the recent characterization of a 700,000-year-old horse genome, this study opens the Middle Pleistocene to genomics, thereby extending the scope of ancient DNA to the last million years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ludovic Orlando
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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28
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Dating human cultural capacity using phylogenetic principles. Sci Rep 2014; 3:1785. [PMID: 23648831 PMCID: PMC3646280 DOI: 10.1038/srep01785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2012] [Accepted: 04/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans have genetically based unique abilities making complex culture possible; an assemblage of traits which we term “cultural capacity”. The age of this capacity has for long been subject to controversy. We apply phylogenetic principles to date this capacity, integrating evidence from archaeology, genetics, paleoanthropology, and linguistics. We show that cultural capacity is older than the first split in the modern human lineage, and at least 170,000 years old, based on data on hyoid bone morphology, FOXP2 alleles, agreement between genetic and language trees, fire use, burials, and the early appearance of tools comparable to those of modern hunter-gatherers. We cannot exclude that Neanderthals had cultural capacity some 500,000 years ago. A capacity for complex culture, therefore, must have existed before complex culture itself. It may even originated long before. This seeming paradox is resolved by theoretical models suggesting that cultural evolution is exceedingly slow in its initial stages.
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Micro-biomechanics of the Kebara 2 hyoid and its implications for speech in Neanderthals. PLoS One 2013; 8:e82261. [PMID: 24367509 PMCID: PMC3867335 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2013] [Accepted: 10/31/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The description of a Neanderthal hyoid from Kebara Cave (Israel) in 1989 fuelled scientific debate on the evolution of speech and complex language. Gross anatomy of the Kebara 2 hyoid differs little from that of modern humans. However, whether Homo neanderthalensis could use speech or complex language remains controversial. Similarity in overall shape does not necessarily demonstrate that the Kebara 2 hyoid was used in the same way as that of Homo sapiens. The mechanical performance of whole bones is partly controlled by internal trabecular geometries, regulated by bone-remodelling in response to the forces applied. Here we show that the Neanderthal and modern human hyoids also present very similar internal architectures and micro-biomechanical behaviours. Our study incorporates detailed analysis of histology, meticulous reconstruction of musculature, and computational biomechanical analysis with models incorporating internal micro-geometry. Because internal architecture reflects the loadings to which a bone is routinely subjected, our findings are consistent with a capacity for speech in the Neanderthals.
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Dediu D, Levinson SC. On the antiquity of language: the reinterpretation of Neandertal linguistic capacities and its consequences. Front Psychol 2013; 4:397. [PMID: 23847571 PMCID: PMC3701805 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2013] [Accepted: 06/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It is usually assumed that modern language is a recent phenomenon, coinciding with the emergence of modern humans themselves. Many assume as well that this is the result of a single, sudden mutation giving rise to the full "modern package." However, we argue here that recognizably modern language is likely an ancient feature of our genus pre-dating at least the common ancestor of modern humans and Neandertals about half a million years ago. To this end, we adduce a broad range of evidence from linguistics, genetics, paleontology, and archaeology clearly suggesting that Neandertals shared with us something like modern speech and language. This reassessment of the antiquity of modern language, from the usually quoted 50,000-100,000 years to half a million years, has profound consequences for our understanding of our own evolution in general and especially for the sciences of speech and language. As such, it argues against a saltationist scenario for the evolution of language, and toward a gradual process of culture-gene co-evolution extending to the present day. Another consequence is that the present-day linguistic diversity might better reflect the properties of the design space for language and not just the vagaries of history, and could also contain traces of the languages spoken by other human forms such as the Neandertals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Dediu
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegen, Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Stephen C. Levinson
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
- Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegen, Netherlands
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Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain): evidence from instrumental striations with ontogenetic inferences. PLoS One 2013; 8:e62797. [PMID: 23671635 PMCID: PMC3646041 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2013] [Accepted: 03/25/2013] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The developed cognitive capabilities for Homo sapiens seems to be the result of a specialized and lateralized brain, and as a result of this, humans display the highest degree of manual specialization or handedness among the primates. Studies regarding its emergence and distribution within the genus Homo show that handedness is present very early. The mode in which it was articulated and spread across the different species during the course of human evolution could provide information about our own cognitive capacities. Here we report the manual laterality attributed to eleven 49,000 old Neandertal individuals from El Sidrón cave (Spain), through the study of instrumental or cultural striations on the anterior dentition. Our results show a predominant pattern addressed to right-handers. These results fit within the modern human handedness distribution pattern and provide indirect evidence for behavior and brain lateralization on Neandertals. They support the early establishment of handedness in our genus. Moreover, the individual identified as Juvenile 1 (6–8 years old at death), displays the same striation pattern as the adult Neandertals from the sample, and thereby the ontogenic development of manual laterality in that Neandertal population seems to be similar to that of living modern humans.
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Barney A, Martelli S, Serrurier A, Steele J. Articulatory capacity of Neanderthals, a very recent and human-like fossil hominin. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:88-102. [PMID: 22106429 PMCID: PMC3223793 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Scientists seek to use fossil and archaeological evidence to constrain models of the coevolution of human language and tool use. We focus on Neanderthals, for whom indirect evidence from tool use and ancient DNA appears consistent with an adaptation to complex vocal-auditory communication. We summarize existing arguments that the articulatory apparatus for speech had not yet come under intense positive selection pressure in Neanderthals, and we outline some recent evidence and analyses that challenge such arguments. We then provide new anatomical results from our own attempt to reconstruct vocal tract (VT) morphology in Neanderthals, and document our simulations of the acoustic and articulatory potential of this reconstructed Neanderthal VT. Our purpose in this paper is not to polarize debate about whether or not Neanderthals were human-like in all relevant respects, but to contribute to the development of methods that can be used to make further incremental advances in our understanding of the evolution of speech based on fossil and archaeological evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Barney
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, University Road Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Sandra Martelli
- AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
- UCL Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Antoine Serrurier
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, University Road Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - James Steele
- AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
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de Boer B. Loss of air sacs improved hominin speech abilities. J Hum Evol 2011; 62:1-6. [PMID: 22078314 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2010] [Revised: 07/05/2011] [Accepted: 07/21/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, the acoustic-perceptual effects of air sacs are investigated. Using an adaptive hearing experiment, it is shown that air sacs reduce the perceptual effect of vowel-like articulations. Air sacs are a feature of the vocal tract of all great apes, except humans. Because the presence or absence of air sacs is correlated with the anatomy of the hyoid bone, a probable minimum and maximum date of the loss of air sacs can be estimated from fossil hyoid bones. Australopithecus afarensis still had air sacs about 3.3 Ma, while Homo heidelbergensis, some 600 000 years ago and Homo neandethalensis some 60 000 years ago, did no longer. The reduced distinctiveness of articulations produced with an air sac is in line with the hypothesis that air sacs were selected against because of the evolution of complex vocal communication. This relation between complex vocal communication and fossil evidence may help to get a firmer estimate of when speech first evolved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bart de Boer
- Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 210, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Boë LJ, Granat J, Heim JL, Schwartz JL, Badin P, Barbier G, Captier G, Serrurier A, Kielwasser N. Considérations ontogénétiques et phylogénétiques concernant l’origine de la parole1. REVUE DE PRIMATOLOGIE 2011. [DOI: 10.4000/primatologie.797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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35
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Voice and Dysphagia. Dysphagia 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/174_2011_341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Human evolution: Emergence of the group-self. Behav Brain Sci 2010. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x00032738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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40
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The gradual evolution of enhanced control by plans: A view from below. Behav Brain Sci 2010. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x00032842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Abstract
AbstractThis book proposes a theory of human cognitive evolution, drawing from paleontology, linguistics, anthropology, cognitive science, and especially neuropsychology. The properties of humankind's brain, culture, and cognition have coevolved in a tight iterative loop; the main event in human evolution has occurred at the cognitive level, however, mediating change at the anatomical and cultural levels. During the past two million years humans have passed through three major cognitive transitions, each of which has left the human mind with a new way of representing reality and a new form of culture. Modern humans consequently have three systems of memory representation that were not available to our closest primate relatives: mimetic skill, language, and external symbols. These three systems are supported by new types of “hard” storage devices, two of which (mimetic and linguistic) are biological, one technological. Full symbolic literacy consists of a complex of skills for interacting with the external memory system. The independence of these three uniquely human ways of representing knowledge is suggested in the way the mind breaks down after brain injury and confirmed by various other lines of evidence. Each of the three systems is based on aninventivecapacity, and the products of those capacities – such as languages, symbols, gestures, social rituals, and images – continue to be invented and vetted in the social arena. Cognitive evolution is not yet complete: the externalization of memory has altered the actual memory architecture within which humans think. This is changing the role of biological memory and the way in which the human brain deploys its resources; it is also changing the form of modern culture.
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From cooperative computation to man/machine symbiosis. Behav Brain Sci 2010. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x00032659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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A natural history of the mind: A guide for cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci 2010. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x00032714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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50
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Abstract
AbstractThe driving force in the evolution of language and the human mind was the advantage gained in courtship by efficient communicators. Ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny may offer an alternative to Donald's picture of the relative origins of language and mimesis. Very recent evidence is pertinent to dating the origin of language.
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