Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2005 - Volume 28, Issue 02  


Short Communication

Auditory object processing and primate biological evolution

Barry Horwitz a1, Fatima T. Husain a1 and Frank H. Guenther a2
a1 Brain Imaging and Modeling Section, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 horwitz@helix.nih.gov husainf@nidcd.nih.gov http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/research/scientists/horwitzb.asp
a2 Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 guenther@cns.bu.edu http://www.cns.bu.edu/~guenther/

Abstract

This commentary focuses on the importance of auditory object processing for producing and comprehending human language, the relative lack of development of this capability in nonhuman primates, and the consequent need for hominid neurobiological evolution to enhance this capability in making the transition from protosign to protospeech to language.