scholarly journals The basal ganglia within a cognitive system in birds and mammals

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher I. Petkov ◽  
Erich D. Jarvis
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Cognitive System ◽  
Nonhuman Animal ◽  
Language Origins ◽  
Striatal Function

AbstractThe primate basal ganglia are fundamental to Ackermann et al.'s proposal. However, primates and rodents are models for human cognitive functions involving basal ganglia circuits, and links between striatal function and vocal communication come from songbirds. We suggest that the proposal is better integrated in cognitive and/or motor theories on spoken language origins and with more analogous nonhuman animal models.

Contribution of the basal ganglia to spoken language: Is speech production like the other motor skills?

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 576-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Zenon ◽  
Etienne Olivier
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Motor Behaviour ◽  
Hypokinetic Dysarthria ◽  
High Level

AbstractTwo of the roles assigned to the basal ganglia in spoken language parallel very well their contribution to motor behaviour: (1) their role in sequence processing, resulting in syntax deficits, and (2) their role in movement “vigor,” leading to “hypokinetic dysarthria” or “hypophonia.” This is an additional example of how the motor system has served the emergence of high-level cognitive functions, such as language.

scholarly journals Speech, gesture and the origins of language

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLEM J. M. LEVELT
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Genetic Evidence ◽  
Language Origins ◽  
Sole Purpose ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Articulatory Movements ◽  
The 19Th Century

During the second half of the 19th century, the psychology of language was invented as a discipline for the sole purpose of explaining the evolution of spoken language. These efforts culminated in Wilhelm Wundt's monumental Die Sprache of 1900, which outlined the psychological mechanisms involved in producing utterances and considered how these mechanisms could have evolved. Wundt assumes that articulatory movements were originally rather arbitrary concomitants of larger, meaningful expressive bodily gestures. The sounds such articulations happened to produce slowly acquired the meaning of the gesture as a whole, ultimately making the gesture superfluous. Over a century later, gestural theories of language origins still abound. I argue that such theories are unlikely and wasteful, given the biological, neurological and genetic evidence.

scholarly journals Contributions of Nonhuman Animal Models to Understanding Human Speech Perception

2012 ◽  
pp. 203-220
Author(s):  
Keith R. Kluender ◽  
Andrew J. Lotto ◽  
Lori L. Holt
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Nonhuman Animal ◽  
Human Speech

scholarly journals miR-9 regulates basal ganglia-dependent developmental vocal learning and adult vocal performance in songbirds

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhimin Shi ◽  
Zoe Piccus ◽  
Xiaofang Zhang ◽  
Huidi Yang ◽  
Hannah Jarrell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Behavioral Deficits ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Dopamine Signaling ◽  
Area X

miR-9 is an evolutionarily conserved miRNA that is abundantly expressed in Area X, a basal ganglia nucleus required for vocal learning in songbirds. Here, we report that overexpression of miR-9 in Area X of juvenile zebra finches impairs developmental vocal learning, resulting in a song with syllable omission, reduced similarity to the tutor song, and altered acoustic features. miR-9 overexpression in juveniles also leads to more variable song performance in adulthood, and abolishes social context-dependent modulation of song variability. We further show that these behavioral deficits are accompanied by downregulation of FoxP1 and FoxP2, genes that are known to be associated with language impairments, as well as by disruption of dopamine signaling and widespread changes in the expression of genes that are important in circuit development and functions. These findings demonstrate a vital role for miR-9 in basal ganglia function and vocal communication, suggesting that dysregulation of miR-9 in humans may contribute to language impairments and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

Sharpening Occam's razor: Is there need for a hand-signing stage prior to vocal communication?

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conrado Bosman ◽  
Vladimir López ◽  
Francisco Aboitiz
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Mirror Neuron System ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
Language Origins ◽  
Neuron System ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Original Proposal ◽  
Evolutionary Scenario ◽  
Occam’S Razor ◽  
Laryngeal Control

We commend Arbib for his original proposal that a mirror neuron system may have participated in language origins. However, in our view he proposes a complex evolutionary scenario that could be more parsimonious. We see no necessity to propose a hand-based signing stage as ancestral to vocal communication. The prefrontal system involved in human speech may have its precursors in the monkey's inferior frontal cortical domain, which is responsive to vocalizations and is related to laryngeal control.

Functions of the cortico-basal ganglia circuits for spoken language may extend beyond emotional-affective modulation in adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 555-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Hanakawa ◽  
Chihiro Hosoda
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Affective Modulation

AbstractWe support Ackermann et al.'s proposal that the cortico-basal ganglia circuits may play essential roles in the evolution of spoken language. Here we discuss further evidence indicating that the cortico-basal ganglia circuits may contribute to various aspects of spoken language including planning, learning, and controlling of speech in adulthood.

scholarly journals The Importance of Cognitive Phenotypes in Experimental Modeling of Animal Anxiety and Depression

2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan V. Kalueff ◽  
Dennis L. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Experimental Modeling ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Developmental Pathway ◽  
Cognitive Dysfunctions ◽  
Pathogenetic Factor

Cognitive dysfunctions are commonly seen in many stress-related disorders, including anxiety and depression—the world's most common neuropsychiatric illnesses. Various genetic, pharmacological, and behavioral animal models have long been used to establish animal anxiety-like and depression-like phenotypes, as well as to assess their memory, learning, and other cognitive functions. Mounting clinical and animal evidences strongly supports the notion that disturbed cognitions represent an important pathogenetic factor in anxiety and depression, and may also play a role inintegratingthe two disorders within a common stress-precipitated developmental pathway. This paper evaluates why and how the assessment of cognitive and emotional domains may improve our understanding of animal behaviors via different high-throughput tests and enable a better translation of animal phenotypes into human brain disorders.

scholarly journals Effects of Exercise on Basal Ganglia Function in Parkinson's Disease and Its Animal Models

2011 ◽  
pp. 416-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giselle M. Petzinger ◽  
Beth E. Fisher ◽  
Charlie K. Meshul ◽  
John P. Walsh ◽  
Garnik Akopian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Animal Models

scholarly journals Scaling laws in spoken language associated with cognitive functions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masato S. Abe ◽  
Mihoko Otake-Matsuura
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Generative Models ◽  
Healthy Elderly ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractA decline in cognitive functions due to aging has led to critical problems in modern society, and it is imperative to develop a method to predict the decline or related diseases, including dementia. Although it has been expected that language could be a sign of the cognitive decline, it remains less understood, especially in natural conditions. In this study, we recorded the large-scale data of one million words from group conversations among healthy elderly people and analysed the relationship between spoken language and cognitive functions based on scaling laws, namely, Zipf’s law and Heaps’ law. We found that word patterns followed these scaling laws irrespective of cognitive function, but the variations in scaling laws were associated with cognitive functions. Moreover, using generative models, we uncovered the relationship between the variations and cognitive functions. These results indicate that scaling laws in language can be a biomarker for the cognitive decline.

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