Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

Human paleontological evidence relevant to language behavior.

Authors: R L, Holloway;

Human paleontological evidence relevant to language behavior.

Abstract

The paleoneurological evidence for human language origins and other cognitive activities is tantalizing, but uncertain given the often incomplete, fragmented, and eroded cranial portions of our fossil ancestors. Nevertheless, both the Taung and A.L. 162-28 endocranial portions, attributed to the earliest-known hominids (i.e. Australopithecus afarensis and africanus) evidence some cerebral organization beyond a typical pongid pattern, in that there appears to be a reduction in primary visual striate cortex, and thereby a relative increase in posterior and inferior parietal cortex. At 1.8-2.0 million years, there is clear fossil evidence for a Homo lineage showing a more modern and enlarged third inferior frontal convolution, expanded brain size (e.g., 750+ ml), and strong cerebral asymmetries identical to those known for modern Homo sapiens. Additional evidence of sexual dimorphism in the modern human corpus callosum, in which the posterior splenial portion is larger in females, taken in conjunction with known clinical and psychological evidence relating to cognitive task specialization, suggests that this dimorphism represents a biological heritage from past selection pressures for a dichotomous but complemental social behavioral set of adaptations to favor a division of sexual labors compatible with nurturing offspring with delayed maturation, prolonged growth, and a longer period of postnatal neural plasticity.

Keywords

Sex Characteristics, Brain, Paleontology, Haplorhini, Organ Size, Biological Evolution, Frontal Lobe, Cognition, Parietal Lobe, Humans, Dominance, Cerebral, Language

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    34
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Top 10%
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
34
Top 10%
Top 10%
Average
Upload OA version
Are you the author of this publication? Upload your Open Access version to Zenodo!
It’s fast and easy, just two clicks!