Visuospatial functions and language: a paleoneurological view Emiliano Bruner Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana emiliano.bruner@cenieh.es

Spinal cord and vertebrae … Hyoid bone … Craniofacial morphology

Language and fossils …

Outer and Middle Ear Morphology

Martínez et al., 2004, 2012

Brain asymmetries

1. Endocranial asymmetries are similar in all human species

2. We have no evidence of non-allometric human-only morphological asymmetries (vs living apes)

3. We don’t know the structural mechanisms behind morphological asymmetries

Dupej et al., 2018

Language areas

Broca’s

Wernicke’s

No differences in sulcal pattern or gross morphology among human species …

Bruner, 2017

Frontal widening in modern humans and Neanderthals …

Bruner and Holloway, J Hum Evol 2010

Beaudet and Bruner, Palevol 2017

Pereira-Pedro et al., J Anat 2017

• No evidence of gross morphological changes in human frontal lobes (apes and humans) • Frontal curvature and width are sensitive to cranial constraints (fossil humans) • Any possible subtle difference go beyond the resolution of paleoneurology, and of the

statistics available for small samples

Frontal bulging

Bruner et al., Am J Phys Anthropol 2013

• Almost no information from the skeleton • No conclusions from brain asymmetries or sulcal pattern • No conclusions from frontal lobe size or curvature • Wide frontal lobes are likely due to cranial constraints • Anatomical features associated with language are not fully known • Sample sizes do not allow a proper statistical perspective

Fossils and language

Visuospatial integration and parietal lobes

• Body-vision • Body cognition • Visual imaging • Hand-tool • Egocentric space and time

Bruner, Brain Behav Evol 2018

Tools and language …

Hand-Speech neuroanatomical proximity (Broca’s areas, motor cortex)

Hand-Speech functional similarity (sequential combinations of motor modules)

Language Somatic simulation Comprehension

Jirak et al. 2010; Marino et al., 2012; Buccino et al 2016

Body and language …

Brain size (association cortex)

Group size

Language

Robin Dunbar and the Social Brain

grooming

150

50

Brain and Group size (parietal cortex)

Language

Tool use (parietal cortex)

Cultural transmission

Language and fossil humans …

Social structure Tool use

Language and fossil humans … A personal view

Parietal cortex Ear and acoustics

Brain asymmetry Sulcal pattern Facial and postcranial skeletal evidence

Useful

Additional

Complementary

Religion relies on POSSIBILITY

Science relies on PROBABILITY

Opinions vs Hypotheses

Paleoneuro Lab

Sofia Pereira Pedro Annapaola Fedato María Silva Gago Alannah Pearson Gizéh Rangel Stana Eisóva