NOT A CHIMP

Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Neuroscientists identify key role of language gene

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-09-neuroscientists-key-role-language-gene.html

The FOXP2 story continues to run and run - and at the centre of developments are Svante Paabo and Wolfie Enard at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. A new function for FOXP2 suggests it is important in transforming experience into new behaviours. Mice, into which the human form of FOXP2 had been engineered, learned T-mazes much more quickly. "The findings suggest that Foxp2 may help humans with a key component of learning language—transforming experiences, such as hearing the word "glass" when we are shown a glass of water, into a nearly automatic association of that word with objects that look and function like glasses..."