The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language

Arbib, Michael A.; Aboitiz, Francisco; Burkart, Judith M.; Corballis, Michael; Coudé, Gino; Hecht, Erin; Liebal, Katja; Myowa-Yamakoshi, Masako; Pustejovsky, James; Putt, Shelby; Rossano, Federico; Russon, Anne E.; Schoenemann, P. Thomas; Seifert, Uwe; Semendeferi, Katerina; Sinha, Chris; Stout, Dietrich; Volterra, Virginia; Wacewicz, Sławomir; Wilson, Benjamin

doi:10.1075/is.18013.arb

Article published In: How the Brain Got Language: Towards a New Road Map
Edited by Michael A. Arbib
[Interaction Studies 19:1/2] 2018
► pp. 370–387

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The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language

Michael A. Arbib | University of California at San Diego

Francisco Aboitiz | Universidad Católica de Chile

Judith M. Burkart | Universität Zürich

Michael Corballis | University of Auckland

Gino Coudé | Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod – CNRS

Erin Hecht | Georgia State University

Katja Liebal | Freie Universität Berlin

Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi | Kyoto University

James Pustejovsky | Brandeis University

Shelby Putt | Indiana University

Federico Rossano | University of California at San Diego

Anne E. Russon | Glendon College of York University

P. Thomas Schoenemann | Indiana University

Uwe Seifert | Hunan University

Katerina Semendeferi | University of California at San Diego

Chris Sinha | Hunan University

Dietrich Stout | Emory University

Virginia Volterra | Italian National Research Council, CNR

Sławomir Wacewicz | Nicolaus Copernicus University

Benjamin Wilson | Newcastle University

Published online: 17 September 2018

https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18013.arb

Abstract

We present a new road map for research on “How the Brain Got Language” that adopts an EvoDevoSocio perspective and highlights comparative neuroprimatology – the comparative study of brain, behavior and communication in extant monkeys and great apes – as providing a key grounding for hypotheses on the last common ancestor of humans and monkeys (LCA-m) and chimpanzees (LCA-c) and the processes which guided the evolution LCA-m → LCA-c → protohumans → H. sapiens. Such research constrains and is constrained by analysis of the subsequent, primarily cultural, evolution of H. sapiens which yielded cultures involving the rich use of language.

Keywords: brain evolution, cultural evolution, EvoDevoSocio, language-ready brain, language evolution, neurolinguistics, neuroprimatology, primate communication, protolanguage, social interaction

Article outline

An overall perspective
Aspects of language to be explained
- Language is a special form of communication
  - Lexicon and grammar
  - The endless aboutness of language
- Social structure and the motivation to converse
- Action, gesture and language
Methodologies
- Neurophysiology and comparative neuroanatomy
- Behavior, social structure and communication
- Archeology
- High-level theory
- Modeling and mechanism
- Genetics
Road map preliminaries
- Establishing the “Stages”
- In search of precise terminology
- Beyond the primates
The CNP-2018 road map
- Capabilities of LCA-m
- Capabilities of LCA-c
- Hominins prior to Homo sapiens
- Post-biological evolution in Homo sapiens
Envoi
Acknowledgements
References

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