The evolution of language in humans, in contrast to communicative systems in other primate species is hotly debated. Now, thanks to the study of brain connectivity between different primate species and by adopting a framework proposed for segregating functional language and communication activation in humans, Angela Friederici and Yannick Becker…
The question of how the human brain has developed over the course of evolution can possibly only be answered through comparisons with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology…
From an early age, children learn to name things and events, but also how to combine words according to the rules of their language. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) Leipzig and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have now found that even six-month-old babies store relationships between speech…
Communicating with babies in infant-directed-speech is considered an essential prerequisite for successful language development of the little ones. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now investigated how the mood of mothers in the postpartum period affects their child’s development. They found that…
The Max-Planck-Gesellschaft honours young scientists and researchers each year with the Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding scientific achievements. This year, Stephanie Theves and Matthias Nau from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) won two of the coveted awards.
Over 70 million deaf people around the world use one of more than 200 different sign languages as their preferred form of communication. Although they access similar structures in the brain as spoken languages, it has been difficult to identify the brain regions that process both forms of language equally. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for…
A brain imaging study of humans, apes and monkeys by scientists from Newcastle University and Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences published in Nature Neuroscience reports the discovery of an earlier evolutionary origin to the human language pathway and sheds new light on its remarkable transformation.