Rilling James K
Department of Anthropology, Emory University, 1557 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States; Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States; Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States; Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Oct;28:10-4. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.04.002. Epub 2014 May 14.
Human brain specializations supporting language can be identified by comparing human with non-human primate brains. Comparisons with chimpanzees are critical in this endeavor. Human brains are much larger than non-human primate brains, but human language capabilities cannot be entirely explained by brain size. Human brain specializations that potentially support our capacity for language include firstly, wider cortical minicolumns in both Broca's and Wernicke's areas compared with great apes; secondly, leftward asymmetries in Broca's area volume and Wernicke's area minicolumn width that are not found in great apes; and thirdly, arcuate fasciculus projections beyond Wernicke's area to a region of expanded association cortex in the middle and inferior temporal cortex involved in processing word meaning.
通过将人类大脑与非人类灵长类动物的大脑进行比较，可以确定支持语言的人类大脑特化区域。在这一研究中，与黑猩猩的比较至关重要。人类大脑比非人类灵长类动物的大脑大得多，但人类的语言能力不能完全用大脑大小来解释。可能支持我们语言能力的人类大脑特化区域首先包括，与大猩猩相比，布洛卡区和韦尼克区更宽的皮质微柱；其次，在大猩猩中未发现的布洛卡区体积和韦尼克区微柱宽度的左侧不对称；第三，弓形束从韦尼克区延伸至颞中下回扩大的联合皮质区域，该区域参与词义处理。
