The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Benjamin Bayliss <ctrkgrendel AT yahoo.com>]

  A recent news story - video - interviewing the Chimp Haven folks 
   
  http://www.ktbs.com/player/player.cfm?video_id=6055



Check out my Yahoo! 360 page: 
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1Pk_jW0yb7Sik7.iWEgxza4IZg--;_ylt=Aqv8x86.Tz4Acvz6sV0hpe2sAOJ3?cq=1
       
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
>From josh.greenman AT gmail.com  Thu Feb 28 15:41:26 2008
Return-Path: <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>
X-Original-To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix, from userid 3002)
        id 298F64C017; Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:41:26 -0500 (EST)
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on malecky
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled
        version=3.2.3
Received: from wa-out-1112.google.com (wa-out-1112.google.com 
[209.85.146.178])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D8CC4C01A
        for <monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>;
        Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:41:25 -0500 (EST)
Received: by wa-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id k34so4818133wah.10
        for <monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>;
        Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:41:24 -0800 (PST)
Received: by 10.115.18.1 with SMTP id v1mr10148767wai.81.1204231284627;
        Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:41:24 -0800 (PST)
Received: by 10.114.241.4 with HTTP; Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:41:24 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <70ee28bc0802281241v47123ef0qfc7089de5a0252b8 AT mail.gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:41:24 -0500
From: "Josh Greenman" <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>
To: Monkeywire <monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
X-Mailman-Approved-At: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:47:54 -0500
Subject: [monkeywire] Chimps May Have A 'Language-ready' Brain
X-BeenThere: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes
        <monkeywire.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/monkeywire>,
        <mailto:monkeywire-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/monkeywire>
List-Post: <mailto:monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/monkeywire>,
        <mailto:monkeywire-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:41:26 -0000

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228124415.htm

Chimps May Have A 'Language-ready' Brain

ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008) =97 An area of the brain involved in the
planning and production of spoken and signed language in humans plays
a similar role in chimpanzee communication, researchers report.

"Chimpanzee communicative behavior shares many characteristics with
human language," said Jared Taglialatela of the Yerkes National
Primate Research Center. "The results from this study suggest that
these similarities extend to the way in which our brains produce and
process communicative signals."

The results also suggest that the "neurobiological foundations" of
human language may have been present in the common ancestor of modern
humans and chimpanzees, he said.

Scientists had identified Broca's area, located in part of the human
brain known as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), as one of several
critical regions that light up with activity when people plan to say
something and when they actually talk or sign. Anatomically, Broca's
area is most often larger on the left side of the brain, and imaging
studies in humans had shown left-leaning patterns of brain activation
during language-related tasks, the researchers said.

"We didn't know if or to what extent other primates, and particularly
humans' closest ancestor, the chimpanzees, possess a comparable region
involved in the production of their own communicative signals,"
Taglialatela said.

In the new study, the researchers non-invasively scanned the brains of
three chimpanzees as they gestured and called to a person in request
for food that was out of their reach. Those chimps showed activation
in the brain region corresponding to Broca's area and in other areas
involved in complex motor planning and action in humans, the
researchers found.

The findings might be interpreted in one of two ways, Taglialatela said.

"One interpretation of our results is that chimpanzees have, in
essence, a 'language-ready brain,' " he said. "By this, we are
suggesting that apes are born with and use the brain areas identified
here when producing signals that are part of their communicative
repertoire.

"Alternatively, one might argue that, because our apes were
captive-born and producing communicative signals not seen often in the
wild, the specific learning and use of these signals 'induced' the
pattern of brain activation we saw. This would suggest that there is
tremendous plasticity in the chimpanzee brain, as there is in the
human brain, and that the development of certain kinds of
communicative signals might directly influence the structure and
function of the brain."

This research is reported online on February 28th in the journal
Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press.

The researchers include Jared P. Taglialatela, Yerkes National Primate
Research Center, Atlanta, GA, Department of Natural Sciences, Clayton
State University, Morrow, GA; Jamie L. Russell, Yerkes National
Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA; Jennifer A. Schaeffer, Yerkes
National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA; and William D. Hopkins,
Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, Department of
Psychology, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA.