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SUMMARY:Structured sequences\, language evolution and the primate brain - 
 Prof. Christopher I. Petkov\, Laboratory of Comparative Neuropsychology\, 
 Newcastle University
DTSTART:20161202T163000Z
DTEND:20161202T180000Z
UID:TALK66951@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Many animals are not thought to be able to combine their vocal
 izations into structured sequences\, as do songbirds\, humans and a few ot
 her species. Nonetheless\, it remains possible that a number of animals ar
 e able to recognize certain types of ordering relationships in sequences g
 enerated by ‘artificial grammars’. In this lecture\, I aim to explore 
 how understanding the extent of these hidden sequence learning abilities i
 n nonhuman animals could help us to unravel the origins of language and be
  useful for neurobiological pursuits. I first overview some of our behavio
 ral results with structured sequence processing in three species of primat
 es: marmosets\, macaques and humans. I then describe fMRI results identify
 ing the brain regions in macaques that are involved in these forms of sequ
 ence processing and compare the macaque results to observations obtained w
 ith fMRI in humans using the same paradigm. Finally\, I will show data fro
 m comparative direct recordings in the human and monkey brain processing t
 he sequences\, revealing intriguing neuronal dynamics in auditory cortex\,
  some of which are strikingly similar across the species. Overall\, our re
 sults reveal that non-human primates appear to possess an evolutionarily c
 onserved perisylvian network involved in the processing of structured audi
 tory input. Alongside the commonalities\, there are also indications of cr
 oss-species differences that provide hints on how the human brain differen
 tiated to support language. 
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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