From monkey calls to human words? An evolutionary perspective on the neural basis of the conceptual representation and vocal communication systems

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event From monkey calls to human words? An evolutionary perspective on the neural basis of the conceptual representation and vocal communication systems Ricardo Gil-da-Costa1* 1 The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Vision Center Laboratory, United States Mental representation of objects and events is a fundamental component of our cognitive processes. The very act of thinking needs implicit content that can be acquired both by ontogeny, and by phylogeny through species evolution. Non-human primates produce a diverse repertoire of species-specific calls and have rich conceptual systems. These calls are designed to convey information about concepts such as predators, food, and social relationships, as well as the affective state of the caller, making vocal communication a powerful ‘tool’ to probe their conceptual representation system. We reported neurophysiological evidence for the evolution of the conceptual representation system. Our results indicate differential activation by categorical association with recall-related activity in higher-order visual areas by auditory meaningful stimuli. These areas included regions in the inferior temporal lobe associated with the visual perception of object form (TE/TEO) and motion (STS, MT) and in storing visual object information into long-term memory (TE). Brain patterns of selective activity were also found in limbic (the amygdala and hippocampus), and paralimbic regions (ventromedial prefrontal cortex) associated with the interpretation and memory encoding of highly salient and affective material and knowledge of conspecifics. This neural circuitry strongly corresponds to the network shown in humans. These findings advance our understanding on the evolution of conceptual representation and long-term memory systems, suggesting that monkeys and humans have a common neural substrate for representing object concepts. Moreover, we have found that such vocalizations, but not control stimuli, evoke distinct patterns of brain activity in ventrolateral frontal cortex (PmV) and Tpt, areas previously reported as the structural homologues of Broca’s and Wernicke’s, the human perisylvian language areas. The activation of these homologue areas may represent a way of coupling meaning encoded in sound to the more general conceptual system. These findings support the hypothesis that the common ancestor of macaques and humans, 25-30 million years ago already possessed the key neural mechanisms later exapted for the evolution of language. Lastly, the knowledge gained by the integration of findings in the macaque with correlated findings in humans should help us move towards the use of these primates as an animal model for human disorders in which the semantic system is affected. Conference: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Braga, Portugal, 4 Jun - 6 Jun, 2009. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 2 – Brain Networks Citation: Gil-da-Costa R (2009). From monkey calls to human words? An evolutionary perspective on the neural basis of the conceptual representation and vocal communication systems. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.11.016 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 05 Aug 2009; Published Online: 05 Aug 2009. * Correspondence: Ricardo Gil-da-Costa, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Vision Center Laboratory, La Jolla, United States, ricardo@salk.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Ricardo Gil-da-Costa Google Ricardo Gil-da-Costa Google Scholar Ricardo Gil-da-Costa PubMed Ricardo Gil-da-Costa Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.