1. Matthew G. Collison Laboratory for Comparative Neuropsychology Institute of Neuroscience Newcastle University

2.  Where are the evolutionary precursors to human language in the primate brain? Old World Monkeys (Rhesus Macaque) 25 million years Humans 8 million years New World Monkeys (Cotton Top Tamarin) Great Apes (Chimpanzee) 35 million years

3.  Syntax is a key components of human language: “the ability to understand the sequence (grammar) of words in a sentence”  Very difficult to study in nonhuman species.  However the core computations of syntactic processing can be studied in nonhuman animals using artificial grammars.

4. Grammatical Ungrammatical GrammaticalUngrammatical Fitch & Hauser 2005, Science Finite State GrammarPhrase Structure Grammar %Looks

5. Saffran et al., Cognition 2008 Infants Tamarins Old World Monkeys (Rhesus Macaque) 25 million years Humans 8 million years New World Monkeys (Cotton Top Tamarin) Great Apes (Chimpanzee) 35 million years ?

6. Subclass associations used in word languages Subclass (Male) Words used Subclass (Female) Words used A1A1 BiffB1B1 hep A2A2 Cav B2B2 lum A3A3 Klor B3B3 pell A4A4 Dupp B4B4 loke A5A5 Jux B5B5 pilk Familiarisation Phase Test Phase ABAB- A 2 A 3 B 3 B 2 A 1 A 2 B 2 B 1 A 4 B 5 A 3 B 2 AABB-A 1 B 1 A 3 B 3 A 2 B 2 A 3 B 3 A 2 A 1 B 3 B 5 BBAA- B 3 B 1 A 1 A 3 B 3 B 2 A 2 A 3 B 3 B 5 A 2 A 4 BABA- B 2 A 2 B 3 A 3 B 4 A 4 B 2 A 2 B 3 B 1 A 2 A 5

7.  Macaques exposed to FSG will consider PSG sequences as more interesting to look at, but if they were exposed to PSG the opposite effect is predicted. % looks

8. A) Experiment 1 – Familiarisation to PSG B) Experiment 2 – Familiarisation to FSG PSG

9. Diffusion Tensor Imaging - Connectivity Friederici 2006

10. PSG Familiarisation Threshold = 0.01 FSG Familiarisation Threshold = 0.01 X = 53Y = 85.5 Z = 22 X = 39Y = 84.5 Z = 20 Striatum (implicit learning system) Dorso-lateral frontal cortex (possibly Broca’s area)

11.  Rhesus Macaques are capable of learning a more elaborate grammar (both FSG and PSG) than tamarins.  fMRI responses to the grammatical sequences shows at least 2 sites as part of the potential ‘syntactic-learning’ network that may have evolved to support language in humans.

14.  How much more can rhesus macaques learn.  Further fMRI to replicate/support or extend the observations here. What are the neuronal mechanisms underlying syntactic processing?

15. Infants A 1 A 2 A 3 B 3 B 2 B 1 Tamarins ABAB Old World Monkeys (Rhesus Macaque) 25 million years Humans 8 million years New World Monkeys (Cotton Top Tamarin) Great Apes (Chimpanzee) 35 million years Rhesus Macaque AABB