Prof. Andreas Nieder | The role of frontal lobe areas in controlling vocalizations in primates

Gastvortrag

  • Datum: 14.11.2018
  • Uhrzeit: 15:00 - 16:00
  • Vortragende(r): Prof. Andreas Nieder
  • Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University Tübingen, Germany
  • Ort: MPI für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften
  • Raum: Charlotte Bühler Room (C402)
The question of how human language evolved from our nonhuman primate ancestors has interested neuroscientists for ages. One fundamental and indispensable prerequisite for language is the ability to volitionally control vocalization. We recently showed that nonhuman primates, rhesus macaques, are able to cognitively control their vocalizations in a goal-directed way. Monkeys therefore provide a window of opportunity to explore the neuronal foundations for the initiation of purposeful vocalizations.

In monkeys trained to call on command, we recorded single-cell activity from three frontal lobe areas: the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). All three areas show pre-vocal activity indicative of their participation in volitional call initiation. However, they also show interesting differences with respect to the behavioral relevance and temporal dynamics of neuronal activity that indicate different roles in cognitive and motor functions.

The results suggest that executive control structures residing in the vlPFC are coupled to vocal pattern-generating and arousal networks via the medial frontal lobe. These findings agree with our recently proposed “dual neural network model for the evolution of speech and language“ (Hage & Nieder, TINS, 2016) that posits a volitional articulation motor network originating in the prefrontal cortex (including Broca’s area) that cognitively controls vocal output of a phylogenetically conserved primary vocal motor network. On a broader scale, these data suggest that the nonhuman primate is an adequate model for understanding pre-adaptations of higher-level language functions.

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