Pedro Tiago Martins

Attention mechanisms and the mosaic evolution of speech

There is still no categorical answer as to why humans, and no other species, have speech, or why speech is the way it is. Several purely anatomical arguments have been put forward, but they have been shown to be false, biologically implausible, or of limited scope. This perspective paper supports the idea that evolutionary theories of speech could benefit from a focus on the cognitive mechanisms that make speech possible, for which antecedents in evolutionary history and brain correlates can be found. This type of approach is part of a very recent but rapidly growing trend that has already provided crucial insights on the nature of human speech by focusing on the biological bases of vocal learning. Here we contend that a general mechanism of attention, which manifests itself not only in the visual but also in the auditory modality, might be one of the key ingredients of human speech, in addition to the mechanisms underlying vocal learning, and the pairing of facial gestures with vocalic units.

Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics

This study identifies and analyzes statistically significant overlaps between selective sweep screens in anatomically modern humans and several domesticated species. The results obtained suggest that (paleo-)genomic data can be exploited to complement the fossil record and support the idea of self-domestication in Homo sapiens, a process that likely intensified as our species populated its niche. Our analysis lends support to attempts to capture the “domestication syndrome” in terms of alterations to certain signaling pathways and cell lineages, such as the neural crest.

Comparative Genomic Evidence For Self-Domestication In Homo sapiens

This study identifies and analyzes statistically significant overlaps between selective sweep screens in anatomically modern humans and several domesticated species. The results obtained suggest that (paleo-) genomic data can be exploited to complement the fossil record and support the idea of self-domestication in Homo sapiens, a process that likely intensified as our species populated its niche. Our analysis lends support to attempts to capture the “domestication syndrome” in terms of alterations to certain signaling pathways and cell lineages, such as the neural crest.

What we talk about when we talk about biolinguistics

Abstract The study of the biological foundations of language is sometimes called biolinguistics. This particular term finds its historical origins in the 1950s, and for various reasons it has also gained considerable traction in recent years. While its increasing use apparently signals an equally increasing interest in biology, apart from a few exceptions not much is added to and beyond standard linguistic theorizing by those linguists who use it, resulting in a complex and confusing literature. This state of affairs has led, on the one hand, to the perpetuation of proposals that are hard to relate to the biological literature and, on the other, to ill-placed criticism on the progress and even the very legitimacy of a biologically-informed study of language. By reviewing different ways in which research under the biolinguistics label has been carried out, as well as some common criticisms, we hope to dispel some misconceptions about what constitutes a biolinguistic approach, as well as point out what we contend is real progress in the study of the biological bases and evolution of the human language faculty, to which the term is better and rightly applied.

Sound Production Learning and the Contiguum Hypothesis

Besides humans, vocal learning is also attested in some bird lineages (songbirds, parrots, hummingbirds), some cetaceans, bats, pinnipeds and some elephants (Ravignani et al., 2016). Vocal learning is usually seen as a transparent behavioral trait, with an associated neural substrate, and typically a species is said to either have it or not (i.e. species are said to be “vocal learners” or “vocal non-learners”). This classification guides research on a variety of topics when it comes to understanding the evolution of vocal learning and its relationship with other languagerelated traits. However, there have been attempts at a more nuanced view, resulting in non-dichotomous typologies of vocal learning that include more species and a wider spectrum of capacities. A notable example is the continuum hypothesis put forward by Arriaga and Jarvis (2013), for which they propose a more nuanced scheme of vocal learning, going beyond the traditional all-or-nothing view and incorporating cases of species which do not conform to that reductionist classification, namely those who can produce novel vocalizations without mimicry (see Petkov and Jarvis (2012) for a review of evidence in this direction).

Correction: Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185306.].