Language and the human brain

Jeff Elman

Department of Cognitive Science University of California, San Diego

Animal language?

Protective coloration

Vervet alarm calls

•  Eagle alarm call

•  Snake alarm call

Kanzi

Kanzi

Is this language?

4 quick examples

1.

Where are the words, anyway?

Whereareth es il ens es b et w eew or d s Whereareth es il enc es b et w eenw or d s

Baby statisticians?

Saffran, Aslin, Newport, 1996

pabikulatidorepabikutalikulatidopabikulilitalatidotupabiku

2.

What a big vocabulary you have!

milk

bottle

bed

chair

kitty

doggie

cookie

candy horse

bird mommy

daddy Jane

go

run

see

man

drink

Do you want to eat a VIOLET CRUMBLE?

3.

Syntax, syntax, syntax

The dog barked. mouse sees The the dog.

that the

Noun Phrase Verb Phrase

The dog barked

that the mouse sees

NP VP

Sentence

NP VP

that the cat chases

The dog the mouse sees barked. The dog the mouse the cat chases sees barked.

4.

Saying one thing, meaning another

This car is a lemon.

If you do that, you’ll be sorry.

If I were you, I’d hate myself.

The Voringian Binx glorphed the Knappaboor.

Language really is different

A language organ in the brain?

Brain of Leborgne - Left Hemisphere

Moses, 1999

Nichelli et al. (1994).

Brain regions that are active in expert chess players during the end game of chess

MENTAL ROTATION: Imagining the Movement of an Object

010002000300040005000

40 80 120 160Angle of Rotation from Vertical (degrees)

Res

pons

e Ti

me

(ms)

SAME

MIRROR

SAME

The mental rotation task

Mental Rotation FMRI Data Ark, Haist, & Stiles (in prep)

R R L L

Parietal Lobe • Visual attention • Visual memory • Image generation • Spatial

manipulation

Fusiform Gyrus - Object Recognition

Area MT •  Perception of motion

Brain areas that process environmental sounds

Dick, Saygin, Galati, Pitzalis, Bentrovato, D’Amico, Wilson, Bates, Pizzamiglio (in revision)

Brain areas that process language

Dick, Saygin, Galati, Pitzalis, Bentrovato, D’Amico, Wilson, Bates, Pizzamiglio (in revision)

Hauk, Johnsrude, Pulvermuller (2004)

Our brains are opportunistic

Our brains are integrative

Hearing (speech) alone Seeing (lips) alone

Hearing (speech) & Seeing (lips) together

•  The left hemisphere •  Many more regions

involved

A gene for language?

pyramidal cells

mossy cells

muscle cells

sperm cells Purkinje cell

A gene for language?

3 generations 30 family members 15 afflicted members

The KE family

FOXp2

Human FOXp2

Mouse FOXp2

nearly identical!!

BASAL GANGLIA

Language depends on rapid and complex vocal movements

Chimpanzees cannot voluntarily control vocalizations

A very small change in FOXp2 makes this possible

Small changes can lead to big differences

A new machine built out of old parts

Brain areas that process environmental sounds

Dick, Saygin, Galati, Pitzalis, Bentrovato, D’Amico, Wilson, Bates, Pizzamiglio (in revision)

Brain areas that process language

Dick, Saygin, Galati, Pitzalis, Bentrovato, D’Amico, Wilson, Bates, Pizzamiglio (in revision)

The connections really matter

Coronal section of brain (looking forward)

Scanning the brain of Leborgne – Nina Dronkers

Superior longitudinal fasciculus

Superior longitudinal fasciculus of Leborgne

Right Hemisphere Left Hemisphere

Other things matter, too

Anterior

Redcay, Haist, & Courchesne (submitted)

Posterior

Right Left

Development:

The importance of starting small

Putting it all together. . .

bonobo macaque human song bird termite

Control over respiration

Control over articulators

Sequencing

Memory

Sociability

Auditory processing

Imitation

Predictive learning

Lang

uage

is p

ossi

ble

Thank you