Today's issue of Nature has a brief essay on the role of language in cultural evolution. The authors touch up on a lot basics, such as anatomical localization of brain activity related to language and tool making, FOXP2, and how language has helped humans pass on cultural information more effectively than any other form of... Continue Reading →
Diffusion Spectrum Imaging Used to Map the Structural Core of Human Cerebral Cortex
A new paper in the open access journal PLoS Biology describes a new way to model the human brain using diffusion spectrum imaging. Since we're in the omics age of science, you shouldn't be surprised that this map is dubbed the connectome. The semantics of the connectome is similar to genome, proteome, metabalome, transcriptome --... Continue Reading →
The Social Brain Hypothesis: Are our brains hardwired to deal with social hierarchies?
Almost all primates live in groups with an observable and definable social hierarchy, and humans aren't an exception. We may overlook it in our day to day lives, but every so often it becomes evident that we interact best when we understand the pecking order. The social brain hpyothesis argues that the cognitive demands of... Continue Reading →
What is unique about the human arcuate fasciculus… and what does it have to do with language?
Despite the fact that I've seen some really impactful primate related research lately, I've completely neglected updating Primatology.net with it. I can't believe it has been almost three months since I've posted there! I should really resume posting there. Actually, I was considering putting up this following blog post over there, since it has to... Continue Reading →
Dopamine Transporter Gene and Primate Social Behavior
Dopamine is a fundamental neurotransmitter and hormone. You may know it as one of the neurotransmitters associated with the limbic system, being released during eating and sex, which causes a sensation of pleasure. But it is more than just a hedonistic chemical, actually many of the functions of the brain are dependent on dopamine. Memory,... Continue Reading →
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