The evolution of enhanced conceptual complexity and of Broca’s area
Language preadaptations
Evolutionary change occurs most often through the modification of pre-existing structures. What were the pre-existing circuits
in our primate ancestors that paved the way for human language, and how did they change in the lineages leading to our present
condition? Among the neural modifications that were critical for human language, there are two of special interest: The origin
and evolution of the remarkably rich conceptual world that humans share to the exclusion of other primates (which made
possible increasingly sophisticated communication systems), and the origin of neural circuitry that underlies various
sequential and hierarchical aspects of language, as utilized for example in syntax and word morphology. The fossil record of
brain evolution and the archaeological record provide intriguing clues about these processes.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Conceptual complexity
- Sequence processing
- Toward a new road map
-
Acknowledgements
-
References
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