The language-ready head: Evolutionary considerations
Open accessAbstract
This article offers a succinct overview of the hypothesis that the evolution of cognition could benefit from a close examination of brain changes reflected in the shape of the neurocranium. I provide both neurological and genetic evidence in support of this hypothesis, and conclude that the study of language evolution need not be regarded as a mystery.
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We suggest that modifications of a complex network in cognition or learning took place in modern human evolution, possibly related to other brain-related, vocal tract or neural changes.
“We suggest that modifications of a complex network in cognition or learning took place in modern human evolution128, possibly related to other brain-related9,16,129,130, vocal tract131 or neural changes132.”
From A catalog of single nucleotide changes distinguishing modern humans from archaic hominins (2019) · cites this paper as [16]
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- Authors
- Boeckx, C.
- Affiliations
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Boeckx, Cedric
- ORCID
- Boeckx, Cedric
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2016-07-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 194-199
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- PMC
- PMC5325863
- OpenAlex
- W2474721871
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 1.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Marie Curie Actions, European Union (PIRG-GA-2009-256413)
- Generalitat de Catalunya (2014-SGR-200)
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (FFI2014-61888-EXP)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- language evolution, skull morphology, cognitive evolution, brain evolution
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Cognition, Biological Evolution, Humans, Language
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