Cortical memory mechanisms and language origins [An article from: Brain and Language]

This digital document is a journal article from Brain and Language, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
We have previously proposed that cortical auditory-vocal networks of the monkey brain can be partly homologized with language networks that participate in the phonological loop. In this paper, we suggest that other linguistic phenomena like semantic and syntactic processing also rely on the activation of transient memory networks, which can be compared to active memory networks in the primate. Consequently, short-term cortical memory ensembles that participate in language processing can be phylogenetically tracked to more simple networks present in the primate brain, which became increasingly complex in hominid evolution. This perspective is discussed in the context of two current interpretations of language origins, the ''mirror-system hypothesis'' and generativist grammar.