Abstract
Different disciplines converge to trace language evolution from motor skills. The human ability to use tools has been advocated as a fundamental step toward the emergence of linguistic processes in the brain. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging research has established that linguistic functions and tool-use are mediated by partially overlapping brain networks. Yet, scholars still theoretically debate whether the relationship between tool-use and language is contingent or functionally relevant, since empirical evidence is critically missing. Here, we measured both linguistic production and tool-use abilities in the same participants, as well as manual and linguistic motor skills. A path analysis ruling out unspecific contributions from manual or linguistic motor skills, showed that motor proficiency using a tool lawfully predicts differences in individual linguistic production. In addition, more complex tool-use reveals stronger association between linguistic production and tool mastery. These findings establish the existence of shared cognitive processes between tool-use and language.
Highlights
Longstanding theories have linked language and motor skills during development (Greenfield, 1991) and evolution (Darwin, 1871; Hewes, 1973; Rizzolatti and Arbib, 1998; Pulvermüller, 2005)
It has been claimed that complex motor control needed for early advances in human tool-use played a crucial role in the emergence of language (Hopkins et al, 2007; Stout and Chaminade, 2012; Morgan et al, 2015)
With a path model controlling for the explanatory contribution of manual and linguistic motor skills, we revealed that tool-use proficiency predicts individual linguistic abilities
Summary
Longstanding theories have linked language and motor skills during development (Greenfield, 1991) and evolution (Darwin, 1871; Hewes, 1973; Rizzolatti and Arbib, 1998; Pulvermüller, 2005). The motorcognitive complexity necessary for the use of tools (Vaesen, 2012), relies on structures lateralized to the left hemisphere, in parietal (Supramarginal gyrus, SMG) and premotor cortices (Inferior Frontal Gyrus, IFG; Lewis, 2006; Higuchi et al, 2009; Valyear et al, 2012; Gallivan et al, 2013; Peeters et al, 2013). The involvement of those regions in linguistic tasks has been shown both
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