1
|
Becker Y, Phelipon R, Marie D, Bouziane S, Marchetti R, Sein J, Velly L, Renaud L, Cermolacce A, Anton JL, Nazarian B, Coulon O, Meguerditchian A. Planum temporale asymmetry in newborn monkeys predicts the future development of gestural communication's handedness. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4791. [PMID: 38839754 PMCID: PMC11153489 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47277-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The planum temporale (PT), a key language area, is specialized in the left hemisphere in prelinguistic infants and considered as a marker of the pre-wired language-ready brain. However, studies have reported a similar structural PT left-asymmetry not only in various adult non-human primates, but also in newborn baboons. Its shared functional links with language are not fully understood. Here we demonstrate using previously obtained MRI data that early detection of PT left-asymmetry among 27 newborn baboons (Papio anubis, age range of 4 days to 2 months) predicts the future development of right-hand preference for communicative gestures but not for non-communicative actions. Specifically, only newborns with a larger left-than-right PT were more likely to develop a right-handed communication once juvenile, a contralateral brain-gesture link which is maintained in a group of 70 mature baboons. This finding suggests that early PT asymmetry may be a common inherited prewiring of the primate brain for the ontogeny of ancient lateralised properties shared between monkey gesture and human language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yannick Becker
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Romane Phelipon
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Damien Marie
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Siham Bouziane
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Rebecca Marchetti
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Julien Sein
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Lionel Velly
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Luc Renaud
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | | | - Jean-Luc Anton
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Bruno Nazarian
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Coulon
- INT, UMR7289, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Adrien Meguerditchian
- LPC UMR7290 & CRPN UMR7077 Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France.
- Station de Primatologie UAR 846, CNRS, CELPHEDIA, Rousset, France.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Nelson EL. Developmental cascades as a framework for primate handedness. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:1063348. [PMID: 36419909 PMCID: PMC9676354 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1063348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
|
3
|
Hopkins WD. Neuroanatomical asymmetries in nonhuman primates in the homologs to Broca's and Wernicke's areas: a mini-review. Emerg Top Life Sci 2022; 6:ETLS20210279. [PMID: 36073786 PMCID: PMC9472819 DOI: 10.1042/etls20210279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2022] [Revised: 07/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Population-level lateralization in structure and function is a fundamental measure of the human nervous system. To what extent nonhuman primates exhibit similar patterns of asymmetry remains a topic of considerable scientific interest. In this mini-review, a brief summary of findings on brain asymmetries in nonhuman primates in brain regions considered to the homolog's to Broca's and Wernicke's area are presented. Limitations of existing and directions for future studies are discussed in the context of facilitating comparative investigations in primates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William D. Hopkins
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Michale E Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, M D Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX 78602, U.S.A
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Johansson C, Folgerø PO. Is Reduced Visual Processing the Price of Language? Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12060771. [PMID: 35741656 PMCID: PMC9221435 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12060771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
We suggest a later timeline for full language capabilities in Homo sapiens, placing the emergence of language over 200,000 years after the emergence of our species. The late Paleolithic period saw several significant changes. Homo sapiens became more gracile and gradually lost significant brain volumes. Detailed realistic cave paintings disappeared completely, and iconic/symbolic ones appeared at other sites. This may indicate a shift in perceptual abilities, away from an accurate perception of the present. Language in modern humans interact with vision. One example is the McGurk effect. Studies show that artistic abilities may improve when language-related brain areas are damaged or temporarily knocked out. Language relies on many pre-existing non-linguistic functions. We suggest that an overwhelming flow of perceptual information, vision, in particular, was an obstacle to language, as is sometimes implied in autism with relative language impairment. We systematically review the recent research literature investigating the relationship between language and perception. We see homologues of language-relevant brain functions predating language. Recent findings show brain lateralization for communicative gestures in other primates without language, supporting the idea that a language-ready brain may be overwhelmed by raw perception, thus blocking overt language from evolving. We find support in converging evidence for a change in neural organization away from raw perception, thus pushing the emergence of language closer in time. A recent origin of language makes it possible to investigate the genetic origins of language.
Collapse
|
5
|
Structural Brain Asymmetries for Language: A Comparative Approach across Primates. Symmetry (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/sym14050876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are the only species that can speak. Nonhuman primates, however, share some ‘domain-general’ cognitive properties that are essential to language processes. Whether these shared cognitive properties between humans and nonhuman primates are the results of a continuous evolution [homologies] or of a convergent evolution [analogies] remain difficult to demonstrate. However, comparing their respective underlying structure—the brain—to determinate their similarity or their divergence across species is critical to help increase the probability of either of the two hypotheses, respectively. Key areas associated with language processes are the Planum Temporale, Broca’s Area, the Arcuate Fasciculus, Cingulate Sulcus, The Insula, Superior Temporal Sulcus, the Inferior Parietal lobe, and the Central Sulcus. These structures share a fundamental feature: They are functionally and structurally specialised to one hemisphere. Interestingly, several nonhuman primate species, such as chimpanzees and baboons, show human-like structural brain asymmetries for areas homologous to key language regions. The question then arises: for what function did these asymmetries arise in non-linguistic primates, if not for language per se? In an attempt to provide some answers, we review the literature on the lateralisation of the gestural communication system, which may represent the missing behavioural link to brain asymmetries for language area’s homologues in our common ancestor.
Collapse
|
6
|
Meguerditchian A. On the gestural origins of language: what baboons’ gestures and brain have told us after 15 years of research. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2022.2044388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Adrien Meguerditchian
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (LPC) UMR7290, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Language, Communication and the Brain (ILCB), Marseille, France
- Station de Primatologie UAR846, CNRS-CELPHEDIA, Rousset, France
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Becker Y, Claidière N, Margiotoudi K, Marie D, Roth M, Nazarian B, Anton JL, Coulon O, Meguerditchian A. Broca area homologue's asymmetry reflects gestural communication lateralisation in monkeys (Papio anubis). eLife 2022; 11:70521. [PMID: 35108197 PMCID: PMC8846582 DOI: 10.7554/elife.70521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Manual gestures and speech recruit a common neural network, involving Broca’s area in the left hemisphere. Such speech-gesture integration gave rise to theories on the critical role of manual gesturing in the origin of language. Within this evolutionary framework, research on gestural communication in our closer primate relatives has received renewed attention for investigating its potential language-like features. Here, using in vivo anatomical MRI in 50 baboons, we found that communicative gesturing is related to Broca homologue’s marker in monkeys, namely the ventral portion of the Inferior Arcuate sulcus (IA sulcus). In fact, both direction and degree of gestural communication’s handedness – but not handedness for object manipulation are associated and correlated with contralateral depth asymmetry at this exact IA sulcus portion. In other words, baboons that prefer to communicate with their right hand have a deeper left-than-right IA sulcus, than those preferring to communicate with their left hand and vice versa. Interestingly, in contrast to handedness for object manipulation, gestural communication’s lateralisation is not associated to the Central sulcus depth asymmetry, suggesting a double dissociation of handedness’ types between manipulative action and gestural communication. It is thus not excluded that this specific gestural lateralisation signature within the baboons’ frontal cortex might reflect a phylogenetical continuity with language-related Broca lateralisation in humans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yannick Becker
- UMR7290, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Nicolas Claidière
- UMR7290, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Konstantina Margiotoudi
- UMR7290, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Damien Marie
- UMR7290, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Muriel Roth
- Centre IRMf Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Bruno Nazarian
- Centre IRM Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Jean-Luc Anton
- Centre IRM Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Coulon
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Adrien Meguerditchian
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Limb Preference in Animals: New Insights into the Evolution of Manual Laterality in Hominids. Symmetry (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/sym14010096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Until the 1990s, the notion of brain lateralization—the division of labor between the two hemispheres—and its more visible behavioral manifestation, handedness, remained fiercely defined as a human specific trait. Since then, many studies have evidenced lateralized functions in a wide range of species, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In this review, we highlight the great contribution of comparative research to the understanding of human handedness’ evolutionary and developmental pathways, by distinguishing animal forelimb asymmetries for functionally different actions—i.e., potentially depending on different hemispheric specializations. Firstly, lateralization for the manipulation of inanimate objects has been associated with genetic and ontogenetic factors, with specific brain regions’ activity, and with morphological limb specializations. These could have emerged under selective pressures notably related to the animal locomotion and social styles. Secondly, lateralization for actions directed to living targets (to self or conspecifics) seems to be in relationship with the brain lateralization for emotion processing. Thirdly, findings on primates’ hand preferences for communicative gestures accounts for a link between gestural laterality and a left-hemispheric specialization for intentional communication and language. Throughout this review, we highlight the value of functional neuroimaging and developmental approaches to shed light on the mechanisms underlying human handedness.
Collapse
|
9
|
Becker Y, Loh KK, Coulon O, Meguerditchian A. The Arcuate Fasciculus and language origins: Disentangling existing conceptions that influence evolutionary accounts. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 134:104490. [PMID: 34914937 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The Arcuate Fasciculus (AF) is of considerable interdisciplinary interest, because of its major implication in language processing. Theories about language brain evolution are based on anatomical differences in the AF across primates. However, changing methodologies and nomenclatures have resulted in conflicting findings regarding interspecies AF differences: Historical knowledge about the AF originated from human blunt dissections and later from monkey tract-tracing studies. Contemporary tractography studies reinvestigate the fasciculus' morphology, but remain heavily bound to unclear anatomical priors and methodological limitations. First, we aim to disentangle the influences of these three epistemological steps on existing AF conceptions, and to propose a contemporary model to guide future work. Second, considering the influence of various AF conceptions, we discuss four key evolutionary changes that propagated current views about language evolution: 1) frontal terminations, 2) temporal terminations, 3) greater Dorsal- versus Ventral Pathway expansion, 4) lateralisation. We conclude that new data point towards a more shared AF anatomy across primates than previously described. Language evolution theories should incorporate this continuous AF evolution across primates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yannick Becker
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7290, Marseille, France; Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7289, Marseille, France.
| | - Kep Kee Loh
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7290, Marseille, France; Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7289, Marseille, France; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille Univ, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Coulon
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7289, Marseille, France; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille Univ, Marseille, France
| | - Adrien Meguerditchian
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS UMR 7290, Marseille, France; Institute for Language, Communication, and the Brain, Aix-Marseille Univ, Marseille, France; Station de Primatologie CNRS, Rousset, France
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Asymmetry of brain structure and function: 40 years after Sperry's Nobel Prize. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:421-424. [PMID: 34779912 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02426-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
|