Abstract

Neurobiology of Social Communication in Primates: An Evolutionary Perspective presents evidence on the neural basis of communicative behavior in primates, reevaluating the relationship between human language and animal communication in view of the linguistic abilities of chimpanzees.
This book consists of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 discusses some of the persistent problems in evolutionary neurobiology of primate communication. The effects of brain lesions and stimulation on vocalization in New and Old World monkeys, relation between species differences in peripheral vocal structures and species contrasts in vocal performance, and anatomy and physiology of the nonhuman primate auditory system are reviewed in Chapters 2 to 4. Chapters 5 to 7 examine the effects of electrical brain stimulation on human verbal communication and facial expression, clinical data pertaining to language pathologies, and neural mechanisms of manual and oral control. The last three chapters summarize the materials presented in earlier chapters.
This publication is recommended for neuroscientists, behavioral biologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, and students interested in the evolutionary heritage of human speech and language.