Experimental Psychology Seminar - Auditory sequence processing engages evolutionarily conserved regions of frontal cortex in humans and macaques

Speaker: Dr Ben Wilson, Newcastle University

Understanding the evolutionary origins of the neurobiological systems that underpin human language requires us to distinguish between human-unique neurocognitive processes that support language function and domain-general, evolutionarily-conserved processes that are traceable back to our primate ancestors. The human ability to evaluate syntax—the grammatical relations between words in an utterance—is a uniquely human adaptation. However, a key component of this capacity is the ability to learn how sensory elements are appropriately sequenced. Behavioural experiments have shown that a range of nonhuman animals, including nonhuman primates, are able to learn the structure of sequences of stimuli generated by artificial grammars and recognise violations of these structures. However, to determine whether the cognitive processes involved in these tasks are supported by homologous, functionally-conserved brain areas or by different neurobiological substrates, cross-species neuroimaging studies are required. I will discuss recent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments in monkeys and humans, which explored the brain regions involved in processing the ordering relationships in auditory sequences. Key regions in the human ventral frontal and opercular cortex were found to have functional counterparts in the monkey brain. These regions are also known to be associated with initial stages of human syntactic processing. This study raises the possibility that certain ventral frontal neural systems, which play a significant role in language function in modern humans, originally evolved to support domain-general abilities involved in sequence processing.

Time: 4pm on Thursday 14th of July

Venue: room 305 at 26 Bedford Way