Voice, gesture and working memory in the emergence of speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 70-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Aboitiz
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Sequential Codes

Abstract Language and speech depend on a relatively well defined neural circuitry, located predominantly in the left hemisphere. In this article, I discuss the origin of the speech circuit in early humans, as an expansion of an auditory-vocal articulatory network that took place after the last common ancestor with the chimpanzee. I will attempt to converge this perspective with aspects of the Mirror System Hypothesis, particularly those related to the emergence of a meaningful grammar in human communication. Basically, the strengthening of auditory-vocal connectivity via the arcuate fasciculus and related tracts generated an expansion of working memory capacity for vocalizations, that was key for learning complex utterances. This process was concomitant with the development of a robust interface with visual working memory, both in the dorsal and ventral streams of auditory and visual processing. This enabled the bidirectional translation of sequential codes into hierarchical visual representations, through the development of a multimodal interface between both systems.

scholarly journals Inability to suppress salient distractors predicts low visual working memory capacity

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (13) ◽  
pp. 3693-3698 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Gaspar ◽  
Gregory J. Christie ◽  
David J. Prime ◽  
Pierre Jolicœur ◽  
John J. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Neurophysiological Activity

According to contemporary accounts of visual working memory (vWM), the ability to efficiently filter relevant from irrelevant information contributes to an individual’s overall vWM capacity. Although there is mounting evidence for this hypothesis, very little is known about the precise filtering mechanism responsible for controlling access to vWM and for differentiating low- and high-capacity individuals. Theoretically, the inefficient filtering observed in low-capacity individuals might be specifically linked to problems enhancing relevant items, suppressing irrelevant items, or both. To find out, we recorded neurophysiological activity associated with attentional selection and active suppression during a competitive visual search task. We show that high-capacity individuals actively suppress salient distractors, whereas low-capacity individuals are unable to suppress salient distractors in time to prevent those items from capturing attention. These results demonstrate that individual differences in vWM capacity are associated with the timing of a specific attentional control operation that suppresses processing of salient but irrelevant visual objects and restricts their access to higher stages of visual processing.

The Neurology of Religion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Maryanski ◽  
Jonathan H. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Religious Organization ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Comparative Neuroanatomy ◽  
Religious Behaviors ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Human Brains

The human propensity for religious behavior and, eventually, religious organization is the by-product of natural selection working on the neuroanatomy of low-sociality and non-group-forming hominins to become more social and group oriented as a necessary strategy for survival on the African savanna. Using cladistic analysis to determine the behavioral and organizational propensities of the last common ancestor to present-day great apes and humans’ hominin ancestors, while at the same time engaging in comparative neuroanatomy of extant great-ape and human brains, the neurological basis of religion is isolated. Religion emerged under early selection pressures to make hominins more social and able to form stable groups. From the combination of dramatically increased emotionality and cognitive functioning, the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens approximately 300,000 year ago created the neurological platform for religious behaviors among early humans.

Differential Effects of Executive Processes on Working Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249
Author(s):  
Xuezhu Ren ◽  
Tengfei Wang ◽  
Karl Schweizer ◽  
Jing Guo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
Two Measures

Abstract. Although attention control accounts for a unique portion of the variance in working memory capacity (WMC), the way in which attention control contributes to WMC has not been thoroughly specified. The current work focused on fractionating attention control into distinctly different executive processes and examined to what extent key processes of attention control including updating, shifting, and prepotent response inhibition were related to WMC and whether these relations were different. A number of 216 university students completed experimental tasks of attention control and two measures of WMC. Latent variable analyses were employed for separating and modeling each process and their effects on WMC. The results showed that both the accuracy of updating and shifting were substantially related to WMC while the link from the accuracy of inhibition to WMC was insignificant; on the other hand, only the speed of shifting had a moderate effect on WMC while neither the speed of updating nor the speed of inhibition showed significant effect on WMC. The results suggest that these key processes of attention control exhibit differential effects on individual differences in WMC. The approach that combined experimental manipulations and statistical modeling constitutes a promising way of investigating cognitive processes.

Working Memory Capacity and a Notorious Brain Teaser

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim De Neys ◽  
Niki Verschueren
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Normative Reasoning ◽  
Monty Hall Dilemma ◽  
Monty Hall ◽  
Memory Resources

Abstract. The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD) is an intriguing example of the discrepancy between people’s intuitions and normative reasoning. This study examines whether the notorious difficulty of the MHD is associated with limitations in working memory resources. Experiment 1 and 2 examined the link between MHD reasoning and working memory capacity. Experiment 3 tested the role of working memory experimentally by burdening the executive resources with a secondary task. Results showed that participants who solved the MHD correctly had a significantly higher working memory capacity than erroneous responders. Correct responding also decreased under secondary task load. Findings indicate that working memory capacity plays a key role in overcoming salient intuitions and selecting the correct switching response during MHD reasoning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document