Becker Yannick, Eichner Cornelius, Paquette Michael, Bock Christian, Girard-Buttoz Cédric, Jäger Carsten, Gräßle Tobias, Deschner Tobias, Gunz Philipp, Wittig Roman M, Crockford Catherine, Friederici Angela D, Anwander Alfred
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2025 May 15;16(1):4485. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59254-8.
The arcuate fascicle (AF) is the main fibre tract in the brain for human language. It connects frontal and temporal language areas in the superior and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). The AF's connection to the MTG was considered unique to humans and has influenced theories of the evolution of language. Here, using high-resolution diffusion MRI of post-mortem brains, we demonstrate that both wild and captive chimpanzees have a direct AF connection into the MTG, albeit weaker than in humans. This finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific AF morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo. It is likely that this neural architecture supporting complex communication was already present in the last common ancestor of hominins and chimpanzees 7 million years ago, enabling the evolution of language processes in the human lineage.
弓状束（AF）是大脑中负责人类语言的主要纤维束。它连接颞上回和颞中回（MTG）的额叶和颞叶语言区域。AF与MTG的连接被认为是人类独有的，并且影响了语言进化理论。在这里，我们使用死后大脑的高分辨率扩散磁共振成像，证明野生和圈养的黑猩猩都有一条直接连接到MTG的AF，尽管比人类的要弱。这一发现挑战了严格意义上人类特有的AF形态的概念，并表明人类与语言相关的神经特化可能是通过对先前存在的连接进行逐渐进化强化而形成的，而不是从头产生的。支持复杂交流的这种神经结构可能在700万年前人类和黑猩猩的最后一个共同祖先中就已经存在，从而使得人类谱系中的语言过程得以进化。
