Is Broca's Area Asymmetry Unique To Humans?

Are humans truly unique in their cognition? Are there truly unique structures in the brain that have evolved since the split from the common ancestor of chimps and humans? As I argue in detail in the chapter INSIDE THE BRAIN: THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL - it is sometimes very hard to be sure one way or another. This article summarises the perplexing question of whether the left-favouring asymmetry of Broca's Area arose in both chimp and human ancestors or only in the line leading to us. An earlier report from Bill Hopkins at Yerkes had suggested apes were also asymmetrical for their equivalent of Broca's area, though not as much so as humans. Now a recent paper by Chet Sherwood, which includes Hopkins as an co-author, argues the opposite. They find that some chimps do have a notable asymmetry in Brodmann's areas 44 + 45 - which they define as Broca's Area, but it is only a maximum of 10% and sometimes favours the right, sometimes the left. Only humans consistently show a left-favouring asymmetry which dwarfs that in chimps by a factor of 6. The authors say their results "argue anew for human uniqueness".