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June 11, 2008
Tool Making, Brains and Speech
One of my abnormal interests that I don't post on very often is the origin of speech. The number of areas of competence required (anatomy, neurology, genetics, history of early art and technology, linguistics, etc) are beyond my ability to acquire and maintain in these my "golden" years. But that doesn't inhibit my interest. One of the few sites that specializes in this area of inquiry is Edmund Blair Bolles' Babel's Dawn
I'm not sure I buy everything that Bolles wants us to believe but the other day he reported on what appears to be an extremely interesting paper by Dietrich Stout, Nicholas Toth, Kathy Schick, Thierry Chaminade in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Their paper is called “Neural Correlates of Early Stone Age Toolmaking: Technology, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution”
Here's the abstract,
Archaeological and palaeontological evidence from the Early Stone Age (ESA) documents parallel trends of brain expansion and technological elaboration in human evolution over a period of more than 2Myr. However, the relationship between these defining trends remains controversial and poorly understood. Here, we present results from a positron emission tomography study of functional brain activation during experimental ESA (Oldowan and Acheulean) toolmaking by expert subjects. Together with a previous study of Oldowan toolmaking by novices, these results document increased demands for effective visuomotor coordination and hierarchical action organization in more advanced toolmaking. This includes an increased activation of ventral premotor and inferior parietal elements of the parietofrontal praxis circuits in both the hemispheres and of the right hemisphere homologue of Broca's area. The observed patterns of activation and of overlap with language circuits suggest that toolmaking and language share a basis in more general human capacities for complex, goal-directed action. The results are consistent with coevolutionary hypotheses linking the emergence of language, toolmaking, population-level functional lateralization and association cortex expansion in human evolution.
This is interesting stuff - experimental paleoanthropology! I haven't had a change to look at the Stout paper as yet but I intend to in the next couple of days. In the meantime, you may want to checkout Bolles' take on the paper.
Posted by Duane Smith at June 11, 2008 7:49 PM | Read more on Paleoanthropology |
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Comments
Great post!
But surely you meant to write:
he reported on what appears to be an extremely interesting paper
he reported on what appears to be an abnormally interesting paper
This is interesting stuff - experimental paleoanthropology!
This is abnormally interesting stuff - experimental paleoanthropology!
Posted by: Iyov at June 11, 2008 8:09 PM
Iyov,
I try not to be abnormally redundant but I was tempted!
Posted by: Duane at June 11, 2008 8:29 PM
I've been meaning to write about my thoughts on the origin of language. To me, the above is all hyperscientific babble that only states the obvious. If you really think about it, language (and usually by "language" we mean vocal communication) just can't have rationally popped up out of thin air à la Adam and Eve or Tower of Babel. Perish the thought. Inevitably, one has to conclude that vocal communication, gestural communication and body language are all interrelated.
Vocal communication is merely a kind of specialization of body language and I firmly believe that an intermediary between now and then was sign language. As our humanoid ancestors began to stand upright, few people seem to realize that this automatically opened up the possibility for sign language and the increasing sophistication of linguistic expression through these liberated hands. We're so obsessed with vocal language that we forget about the possibility of the use of sign language as a very effective tool in prehistoric communication. Unforunately, I find that people are still averse to the image of signing-capable proto-humans sitting in a cave when the hollywood image of "ughs" and other lovable grunts is so much more marketable to the masses. "Me Tarzan, you Jane, ugh." Bah humbug to pop science.
At least Koko the gorilla appreciates how great sign language is for her self-expression and proves that primates are indeed capable of this type of communication ;-)
Posted by: Glen Gordon at June 12, 2008 1:56 PM
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