Scientists decode possible origin of human speech
New York, July 23: Researchers have discovered neural circuits in the brains of rhesus macaque monkeys that could represent a common origin for social communication, including human speech.
The findings showed that these circuits are involved in face recognition, facial expression and emotion and they may very well have given rise to our singular capacity for speech.
The team, from the Rockefeller University in New York City, used a novel experimental setup to take MRI scans of the brains of monkeys as they watched video clips of other monkeys making communicative facial expressions.
When the monkeys in the clips made a friendly lip-smacking gesture, the subject monkeys responded in kind -- but only when their pre-recorded peers appeared to be making direct eye contact with them.
Besides, the face-perception regions of the monkeys' brains that simply feed information to a region associated with emotion did not shuttle information to one another in straightforward, sequential fashion, said Winrich Freiwald, scientists at the varsity.
The videos that simulated social interaction through direct eye contact caused an unexpected third neural circuit to light up.
This suggests that specific areas of the animals' brains are sensitive to social context, and perform the specialised cognitive functions necessary for social communication.
Generating a friendly lipsmack, in particular, activated a region that resembles Broca's area -- a portion of the human brain concerned with the production of speech.
This suggests that monkey facial expressions like lipsmacks might be evolutionary precursors to human speech -- a possibility that some scientists had previously discounted on the grounds that such gestures were too simple or reflexive to pave the way for something as subtle and sophisticated as human verbal communication, Freiwald explained, in the paper reported in the journal Neuron.
Currently, the researchers are measuring the electrical activity in individual neurons in all three of the networks revealed in the scans.
"Understanding this in monkeys will help us understand communication in humans, where things are so much more complicated," says Freiwald, who describes the findings as "an important building block" in the quest to understand our species' unique way with words.
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SC lawyer writes to AG, seeks contempt proceedings against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey
New Delhi (PTI): A Supreme Court lawyer representing one of the litigants in the Waqf Act case has written to Attorney General R Venkatramani seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey over his "grossly scandalous" remarks "aimed at lowering the dignity" of the top court.
This comes a day after Dubey launched a broadside against the Supreme Court, saying Parliament and state assemblies should be shut if the apex court had to make laws. He also took a swipe at Chief Justice India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, holding him responsible for "civil wars" in the country.
In his letter to the attorney general, advocate Anas Tanveer said Dubey's remarks are "deeply derogatory and dangerously provocative".
"I am writing this letter under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, read with Rule 3(c) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975, to humbly seek your kind consent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Shri Nishikant Dubey, Hon'ble Member of Lok Sabha from Godda parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand, for statements made by him in public that are grossly scandalous, misleading, and aimed at lowering the dignity and authority of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India," the letter said.
Dubey's remarks came following the Centre's assurance to the court that it would not be implementing some of the contentious provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act till the next day of hearing after the court raised questions over them.
The BJP on Saturday distanced itself from Dubey's criticism of the Supreme Court, with party president J P Nadda calling the comments his personal views.
He also affirmed the ruling party's respect for the judiciary as an inseparable part of democracy.
Nadda said he had directed party leaders not to make such comments.
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