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Significance Communication through language is a great achievement of evolution. In humans, the arcuate fasciculus, white matter that extended dramatically during evolution, is known to subserve language. We investigated whether… Click to show full abstract
Significance Communication through language is a great achievement of evolution. In humans, the arcuate fasciculus, white matter that extended dramatically during evolution, is known to subserve language. We investigated whether connections through critical language centers in the temporal lobe are uniquely human. We show that connectivity in the posterior temporal lobe via the arcuate fasciculus expanded bilaterally to frontal and parietal cortices in humans compared with chimpanzees. Concomitantly, the ventral tracts connect more strongly to posterior temporal regions in the chimpanzees than in humans. In the anterior temporal lobe, connections shared between both species and uniquely human expansions are present. Changes to human language streams extend beyond the arcuate fasciculus, including a suite of expansions to connectivity within the temporal lobes.
Journal Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year Published: 2022
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