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Posts Tagged ‘language’

How genes can contribute to hypersocial behavior

Posted in Collateral sulcus, Fusiform gyrus, LIMK1, Parahippocampal gyrus, tagged , , , on December 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia One of the longstanding puzzles of brain development is why, in some cases, individuals with developmental disabilities sometimes show enhanced function, rather than a more typical loss of cognitive function.  In the case of Williams Syndrome – which is caused by a hemizygous deletion of a cluster of about 25 genes on [...]

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“sintinaptoo” is a nonword that makes it hard to read nonwords

Posted in CNTNAP2, FOXP2, Myelin, Superior temporal cortex, tagged , , , , on November 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Image by lintmachine via Flickr Like “Joe the Plumber” (whose real name is Samuel), CNTNAP2 (whose real name is CASPR2) has achieved a bit of fame lately.  While recently appearing almost everywhere (here, here, here) except FOX News, CNTNAP2 (not Joe the Plumber) is apparently a transcriptional target of the infamous FOXP2 “language gene” – [...]

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Humans & li’l birdies share genetic pathway for speech

Posted in FOXP2, Striatum, tagged , on December 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia The evolution of language sometimes seems like a sort of jewel in the evolutionary crown of homo sapiens. Evidence of positive selection in the verbal dyspraxia FOXP2 gene, is often discussed with amazement and a reverential tone befitting this special evolutionary achievement. Enter the humble zebra finch – who’s songs and language [...]

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Genes for language development and autism are expressed right where they should be

Posted in CNTNAP2, LDB1, Superior temporal cortex, tagged , , on December 7, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Image by pfv. via Flickr The acquisition of language in humans remains a complex and fascinating mystery from both a neuro- and evolutionary-biological perspective. Attempts to identify genetic regulators of neural processes that are involved in language acquisition have the potential to shed light, not only on the natural history of homo sapiens, but also, [...]

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Evolution of the human mind: learning to read the genetic history book

Posted in ASPM, MCPH1, tagged , on November 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image by Colin Purrington via Flickr Comparisons of human genome variation within and across closely related species have great potential to reveal ways in which the brain and mind of modern humans may or may not have differed from our hominid ancestors. Such comparisons have recently revealed a great many genomic targets of natural selection, [...]

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Talkin’ bout SRPX2

Posted in FOXP2, SRPX2, Sylvian fissure, tagged , , on October 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image by wallyg via Flickr Can you say this 5 times quickly, “secreted sushi containing SRPX2 as a source of sylvian seizures seems like a spandrel” ? Well, if you can, you might say thanks to your FOXP2 gene (much ado recently), but of course its important to say thanks to so many other co-evolutionary [...]

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