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Evolutionary neuroscience
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=== Language development === Evidence of a rich cognitive life in primate relatives of humans is extensive, and a wide range of specific behaviours in line with Darwinian theory is well documented.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cheney |first=D.L. |author-link=Dorothy Cheney (scientist) |year=1990 |title=How Monkeys See the World: Inside the mind of another species |publisher=University of Chicago Press |place=Chicago, IL }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cheney |first=D.L. |author-link=Dorothy Cheney (scientist) |year=2008 |title=Baboon Metaphysics: The evolution of a social mind |publisher=University of Chicago Press |place=Chicago, IL }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hurford |first=James R. |year=2007 |title=The Origins of Meaning |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-152592-6 |oclc=252685884 }}</ref> However, until recently, research has disregarded nonhuman primates in the context of evolutionary linguistics, primarily because unlike vocal learning birds, our closest relatives seem to lack imitative abilities. Evolutionary speaking, there is great evidence suggesting a genetic groundwork for the concept of languages has been in place for millions of years, as with many other capabilities and behaviours observed today. While evolutionary linguists agree on the fact that volitional control over vocalizing and expressing language is a quite recent leap in the history of the human race, that is not to say auditory perception is a recent development as well. Research has shown substantial evidence of well-defined neural pathways linking cortices to organize auditory perception in the brain. Thus, the issue lies in our abilities to imitate sounds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bornkessel-Schlesewsky |first1=Ina |last2=Schlesewsky |first2=Matthias |last3=Small |first3=Steven L. |last4=Rauschecker |first4=Josef P. |year=2014|title=Neurobiological roots of language in primate audition: Common computational properties |journal=[[Trends in Cognitive Sciences]] |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=142β150 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2014.12.008 |pmid=25600585 |pmc=4348204 |lang=en }}</ref> Beyond the fact that primates may be poorly equipped to learn sounds, studies have shown them to learn and use gestures far better. Visual cues and motoric pathways developed millions of years earlier in our evolution, which seems to be one reason for our earlier ability to understand and use gestures.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Roberts |first1=Anna Ilona |last2=Roberts |first2=Samuel George Bradley |last3=Vick |first3=Sarah-Jane |date=March 2014 |title=The repertoire and intentionality of gestural communication in wild chimpanzees |journal=[[Animal Cognition]] |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=317β336 |doi=10.1007/s10071-013-0664-5|pmid=23999801 |s2cid=13899247 |issn=1435-9456 |hdl=10034/604606 |hdl-access=free |lang=en |url=http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7526/3/The%20repertoire%20and%20intentionality%20of%20gestural%20communication%20in%20wild%20chimpanzees.pdf }}</ref>
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