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"Lieberman, Philip"
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Language Did Not Spring Forth 100,000 Years Ago
In response to an Essay by Johan Bolhuis and co-authors, Phillip Lieberman contends that rather than arising from a key recent innovation (\"merge\"), language arose by gradual evolution of ancient capabilities.
Journal Article
The Evolution of Human Speech
Human speech involves species‐specific anatomy deriving from the descent of the tongue into the pharynx. The human tongue’s shape and position yields the 1:1 oral‐to‐pharyngeal proportions of the supralaryngeal vocal tract. Speech also requires a brain that can “reiterate”—freely reorder a finite set of motor gestures to form a potentially infinite number of words and sentences. The end points of the evolutionary process are clear. The chimpanzee lacks a supralaryngeal vocal tract capable of producing the “quantal” sounds which facilitate both speech production and perception and a brain that can reiterate the phonetic contrasts apparent in its fixed vocalizations. The traditional Broca‐Wernicke brain‐language theory is incorrect; neural circuits linking regions of the cortex with the basal ganglia and other subcortical structures regulate motor control, including speech production, as well as cognitive processes including syntax. The dating of the FOXP2 gene, which governs the embryonic development of these subcortical structures, provides an insight on the evolution of speech and language. The starting points for human speech and language were perhaps walking and running. However, fully human speech anatomy first appears in the fossil record in the Upper Paleolithic (about 50,000 years ago) and is absent in both Neanderthals and earlier humans.
Journal Article
The unpredictable species
The Unpredictable Speciesargues that the human brain evolved in a way that enhances our cognitive flexibility and capacity for innovation and imitation. In doing so, the book challenges the central claim of evolutionary psychology that we are locked into predictable patterns of behavior that were fixed by genes, and refutes the claim that language is innate. Philip Lieberman builds his case with evidence from neuroscience, genetics, and physical anthropology, showing how our basal ganglia--structures deep within the brain whose origins predate the dinosaurs--came to play a key role in human creativity. He demonstrates how the transfer of information in these structures was enhanced by genetic mutation and evolution, giving rise to supercharged neural circuits linking activity in different parts of the brain. Human invention, expressed in different epochs and locales in the form of stone tools, digital computers, new art forms, complex civilizations--even the latest fashions--stems from these supercharged circuits.
The Unpredictable Speciesboldly upends scientifically controversial yet popular beliefs about how our brains actually work. Along the way, this compelling book provides insights into a host of topics related to human cognition, including associative learning, epigenetics, the skills required to be a samurai, and the causes of cognitive confusion on Mount Everest and of Parkinson's disease.
eBook
Synapses, Language, and Being Human
Two factors that control synapse formation in mammalian brain are associated with human language acquisition. [Also see Report by Sia et al. ] Humans' ability to cope with the challenges they meet in life is transmitted almost exclusively through the medium of language. We have yet to fully map out the circuits of the human brain, the genes acting on them, and the processes they control that yield this distinct human quality. However, the findings of Sia et al. ( 1 ), on page 987 of this issue, bring us a step closer. The authors have determined that a secreted protein called sushi repeat–containing protein X-linked 2 (SRPX2) promotes mammalian vocalization by controlling the formation of synapses in the mouse cerebral cortex. Expression of this protein is known to be repressed by the transcription factor foxhead box protein P2 (FOXP2), which has been implicated in human language acquisition. A link between these two factors and synaptogenesis may have played a role in the evolution of the neural circuits associated with human language and cognition, as well as the pathogenesis of language disorders.
Journal Article
Language Did Not Spring Forth 100,000 Years Ago
Both UG and the store of knowledge necessary for merge to generate the syntax of every language that existed, exists, or may come into being are implausible. [...]selectional constraints, such as those involved in walking and other motor acts, yield hierarchical action patterns, e. g., those underlying dancing, that potentially can generate an infinite number of combinations--in the example here, dances. Data from hundreds of independent studies, ranging from the deficits of aphasia and Parkinson disease to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation patterns, argue against a \"faculty of language\" committed to language and language alone. [...]the presence or absence of art doesn't tell us anything about the syntactic structure of a language.
Journal Article
Why we can talk, debate, and change our minds: Neural circuits, basal ganglia operations, and transcriptional factors
Ackermann et al. disregard attested knowledge concerning aphasia, Parkinson disease, cortical-to-striatal circuits, basal ganglia, laryngeal phonation, and other matters. Their dual-pathway model cannot account for “what is special about the human brain.” Their human cortical-to-laryngeal neural circuit does not exist. Basal ganglia operations, enhanced by mutations on FOXP2, confer human motor-control, linguistic, and cognitive capabilities.
Journal Article
Dictionary of Medieval Judeo-Arabic in the India Book Letters from the Geniza and in Other Texts; and A Unique Hebrew Glossary from India: An Analysis of Judeo-Urdu
A Dictionary of Medieval Judeo-Arabic in the India Book Letters from the Geniza and in Other Texts. By Mordechai Akiva Friedman. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2016. Pp. xxii + 1017.$37.A Unique Hebrew Glossary from India: An Analysis of Judeo-Urdu. By Aaron D. Rubin. Gorgias Handbooks. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2016. Pp. xii + 134. $ 48 (paper).
Journal Article
Histamine, antihistamines, and the central nervous system
Histamine is a central nervous system (CNS) neurotransmitter. It acts in the brain via three receptors, H1, H2, and H3. It is a mediator of \"wakefulness\" and its activity is necessary to maintain wakefulness, alertness, and reaction
time. These activities can be impaired by H1-antagonists (reverse agonists) capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier. By blocking the homeostatic effects of histamine in the CNS, drowsiness and functional impairment with or without drowsiness can occur. Several tests
have been designed to assess the effects of antihistamines on the CNS. These include subjective measurements of drowsiness and more objective measurements of impairment. Second-generation antihistamines have been designed to minimize blood-brain barrier penetration by reducing lipophilicity
and increasing the affinity for P-aminnoglycoprotein.
Journal Article