past research centered around structural differences between the brains of humans and primates—the hardware—while differences in function and communication—the software—remained a mystery
Conversing at Varying Levels of Language
- when you pose a question to a group of people with entry level language capabilities, their answer would be simple and consistent. They would say the same thing.
- when you pose the same question to a group of people of fluent speakers, their answer would be complex, but would be less consistent
Brain Communication Study
measuring two key aspects of communication between neurons:
- robustness - the degree to which different neurons express the same signal at the same time, which helps create a reliable message
- efficiency - refers to neurons delivering more varied signaling patterns while using less energy, which helps cultivate rich, complex communication within the brain
four brain regions studied—two in each species—portray a gradient of evolving complexity. At the bottom, with strong reliability but less efficiency, is the monkey amygdala. Next comes the monkey cortex, then the human amygdala, and, finally, the human cortex
The human brain may have sacrificed reliability to develop the advanced cognitive skills that we possess today