From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:51:10 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:51:10 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Gene mutations linked to language development] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Gene mutations linked to language development Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:24:18 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com August 15, 2002 GENE MUTATIONS LINKED TO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT from The Washington Post Two critical mutations appeared roughly 200,000 years ago in a gene linked to language, then swept through the population at roughly the same time anatomically modern humans began to dominate the planet, according to new research. The findings, released online yesterday and due for publication soon in the journal Nature, provide the most compelling evidence to date that the gene, which researchers described in detail only last year, may have played a central role in the development of modern humans' ability to speak. Researchers said that could have given them a critical advantage that allowed them to supplant more primitive rivals. A mounting body of research suggests that the mutant gene conferred on human ancestors a finer degree of control over muscles of the mouth and throat, possibly giving those ancestors a rich new palette of sounds that could serve as the foundation of language. "It's a very exciting discovery," said Steven Pinker, a top language expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This could be a watershed, because now that the technique has been successfully used, we can apply it to other genes with psychological effects. I think it opens the door for a new field of study." Full text http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17863-2002Aug14.html __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:51:43 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:51:43 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Gene explains dumb apes] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Gene explains dumb apes Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:26:01 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Nature Science Update Gene explains dumb apes Great apes lack nuts and bolts of language gene. HELEN PEARSON Chimpanzees lack key parts of a language gene that is critical for human speech, say researchers. The finding may begin to explain why only humans use spoken language. Last year scientists identified the first gene, called FOXP2, linked to human language. People with mistakes in this gene have severe difficulties with speech and grammar1. Now Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues have compared human FOXP2 with the versions of the gene found in the chimpanzee, gorilla, orang-utan, rhesus macaque and mouse. Full text http://www.nature.com/nsu/020812/020812-6.html __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:56:35 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:56:35 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] From Mouth to Mind] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] From Mouth to Mind Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:56:45 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Scientific American From Mouth to Mind New insights into how language warps the brain By W. Wayt Gibbs "Liver." The word rises from the voice box and passes the lips. It beats the air, enters an ear canal, sets nerve cells firing. Electrochemical impulses stream into the auditory cortex of a listener's brain. But then what? How does the brain's neural machinery filter that complex stream of auditory input to extract the uttered word: "liver"--or was it "river," or perhaps "lever"? Researchers at the Acoustical Society of America meeting in June reported brain imaging studies and clinical experiments that expose new details of how the first language we learn warps everything we hear later. Some neuroscientists think they are close to explaining, at a physical level, why many native Japanese speakers hear "liver" as "river," and why it is so much easier to learn a new language as a child than as an adult. At the ASA conference, Paul Iverson of University College London presented maps of what people hear when they listen to sounds that span the continuum between the American English phonemes /ra/ and /la/. Like many phonemes, /ra/ and /la/ differ mainly in the three or four frequencies that carry the most energy. Iverson had his computer synthesize sounds in which the second and third most dominant frequencies varied in regular intervals, like dots on a grid. He then asked English, German and Japanese speakers to identify each phoneme and to rate its quality. Full text http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0008A2EF-23D7-1D2A-97CA809EC588EEDF&catID=2 __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 01:03:28 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 21:03:28 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 12:39:32 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Science Volume 297, Number 5584, Issue of 16 Aug 2002, p. 1105. LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans Michael Balter The ability to communicate through spoken language is the trait that best sets humans apart from other animals, most human origins researchers say. Last year the community was abuzz over the identification of the first gene implicated in the ability to speak. This week, a research group shows that the human version of this so-called speech gene appears to date back no more than 200,000 years--about the time that anatomically modern humans emerged. The authors argue that their findings are consistent with previous speculations that the worldwide expansion of modern humans was driven by the emergence of full-blown language abilities. "This is the best candidate yet for a gene that enabled us to become human," says geneticist Mary-Claire King of the University of Washington, Seattle. But other researchers caution that uncertainties underlying the team's mathematical analysis, as well as debate about the gene's function, make dramatic conclusions premature. The case that the gene is closely linked with language ability "can only be said to be circumstantial," comments geneticist David Goldstein of University College London. The gene, called FOXP2, was identified last fall by geneticist Anthony Monaco's group at Oxford University, in collaboration with cognitive neuroscientist Faraneh Vargha-Khadem and colleagues at the Institute of Child Health in London (Science, 5 October 2001, p. 32). They showed that FOXP2 mutations cause a wide range of speech and language disabilities. Geneticist Svante Pääbo's group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration with Monaco's team, then set about tracing the gene's evolutionary history. Full text http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5584/1105a __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 15:17:33 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:17:33 -0400 Subject: [language] ABCNEWS.com : Study: Gene Helped People Develop Language Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/language020815.html -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 15:23:00 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:23:00 -0400 Subject: [language] PROBABILITY THEORY -- THE LOGIC OF SCIENCE Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- It seems unrelated but this "book" is still free, and very useful, especially in light of publications of experimental results that do statistical analysis eg. language genes. The book is about to be published in 2003. It is a truly beautifully written book. http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Tue Aug 20 00:31:05 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 20:31:05 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Re: [evol-psych] Language Gene is Traced to Emergence of Humans] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [evol-psych] Language Gene is Traced to Emergence of Humans Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:09:54 -0700 From: Stan Franklin To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Larry Trask wrote: > Richard Klein is an eminent palaeoanthropologist. Like some other > anthropologists and archaeologists, he has been arguing for years that the > archaeological record shows a sudden explosive change in human behaviour > around 50,000 years ago, and that the only reasonable explanation for this > explosion is the sudden emergence of full-blown language. > > But I gather that not all specialists are equally convinced that the change > in behaviour was quite so dramatic as suggested. Moreover, even if it was, > not everyone believes that the first appearance of language is the only > possible explanation. Bellow is the reference to the work establishing that the advent of symbolic behavior that marks modern humans occurred earlier, gradually, and over a much longer period of time. It may well be that truly symbolic language evolved over much the same time period. I suspect that vocal, indexical signs were commonly used much, much earlier for communication by Homo Erectus. McBrearty, S., and A. S. Brooks. 2000. The revolution that wasn't:a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39:453-563. Stan -- Stan Franklin Dunavant University Professor Computer Science phone 901-678-3142 Univ of Memphis fax 901-678-2480 Memphis TN 38152 franklin at memphis.edu USA www.msci.memphis.edu/~franklin __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Fri Aug 23 12:36:57 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:36:57 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 18:01:06 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too Wed Aug 21, 5:43 PM ET By Linda Carroll NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tiny bits of DNA that scientists thought could only come from a child's mother may sometimes also come from the father, a new study shows. Usually, mammals inherit mitochondria--small structures known as the "powerhouses" of the cell--from their mothers, Marianne Schwartz, laboratory director of the department of clinical genetics at the University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, said in an interview with Reuters Health. But Schwartz and her colleague found a man who had inherited some of his mitochondria from his father, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine ( news - web sites ). The 28-year-old man came into her clinic complaining of severe fatigue after the slightest exercise. Although his lungs and heart were completely normal, the man had never been able to run more than a few steps without tiring, Schwartz said. And everyone in his immediate family was completely healthy. Full text Findings Challenge Biological Tenet Patient's disease questions solely maternal inheritance Email this story Printer friendly format Top Stories Shock Jocks' Show Cancelled Lizzie Due In Court Friday By Delthia Ricks STAFF WRITER August 22, 2002 In a discovery that upsets one of the central dogmas of biology, scientists in Denmark have determined that a 28-year-old man inherited a disease from his father that until now was believed transmissible only through women, scientists report in a study released today. The finding zeros in on the components of cells called the mitochondria, the main sources of the body's energy. These tiny bean-shaped constituents, found in each cell, carry their own DNA, apart from the body's nuclear genes inherited from both parents. Mitochondrial DNA has been believed passed from one generation to the next only along a maternal line of inheritance. Fathers, scientists long believed, did not transmit them. The sperm cells' few mitochondria, scientists discovered only two years ago, are assassinated by killer proteins in the egg. This molecular murder plot is carried out not long after conception. Now, Dr. Marianne Schwartz and colleagues in the department of clinical genetics at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center have found that a man not only has inherited paternal mitochondria, but that he has developed a genetic muscle disease caused by a distinct defect due to paternal inheritance. Full text __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 29 22:36:36 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 18:36:36 -0400 Subject: [language] Gene separates early humans from apes] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Gene separates early humans from apes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1296455 August 26, 2002 10:15 PM Gene separates early humans from apes By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gene that separates humans from the apes and all other animals seems to have disappeared from humans up to three million years ago, just before they first stood upright, researchers have said. Most animals have the gene but people do not -- and it may be somehow involved in the expansion of the brain, the international team of researchers said on Monday. The gene controls production of a sialic acid -- a kind of sugar -- called Neu5Gc, the researchers write in an advance online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This mutation occurred after our last common ancestor with bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and chimpanzees, and before the origin of present-day humans," they wrote. Neanderthal skeletons, the oldest early humans from who DNA has been obtained, also lack the sugar. "It happens to be first known genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees where there is a major outcome," Ajit Varki of the University of California San Diego, who led the research, said in a telephone interview. "We are exploring the consequences of this." Varki said the role of the gene is not fully understood. "The gene itself is involved in changing the surfaces of all cells in the body," he said. "The surface of all cells in the body is covered with sugars. This one is missing only in humans." It may help influence how viruses and bacteria infect cells, and with how cancer cells interact, Varki said. "There are some clues that it might have something to do with brain plasticity," he added. Humans and chimps share more than 98 percent of their DNA, so a few genes must make a big difference. Chimps and humans split from a common ancestor 6 million to 7 million years ago. The collaboration of some of the top experts in various fields, ranging from anthropology to the genetic differences between people and apes, determined that this gene disappeared from humans between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. "It happened after the time that our ancestors stood upright, when their hands and so on were like ours, but their brains are still same size as that of chimpanzees," Varki said. "That just tells you the timing is appropriate for the possibility that this may have something to do with brain expansion." The team included anthropologist Meave Leakey of the Leakey Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya, an expert in early humans, and Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who helped study the first Neanderthal DNA. Reuters +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTICE: Please note that this eMail, and the contents thereof, is subject to the standard Sasol eMail disclaimer which may be found at: http://www.sasol.com/disclaimer.htm If you cannot access the disclaimer through the URL attached and you wish to receive a copy thereof please send an eMail to disclaimer at sasol.com. You will receive the disclaimer by return eMail. M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Fri Aug 30 15:05:26 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 11:05:26 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Baby babbling linked to brain's language center, not motor skills center] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> CONTACT: THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (603) 646-3661 Embargoed until 2 p.m. EST, Thursday, August 29, 2002 Baby babbling linked to brain's language center, not motor skills center Whether baby babbling is fundamentally linguistic (absorbing the elements of language) or just exercising motor activity (practicing the mechanics of mouth movement) has never been effectively addressed. Until now. A team of researchers based at Dartmouth has discovered a strong link between baby babbling and the language processing centers in the brain. Professor Petitto works with 11-month-old Derrin Bilgili to better understand how babies learn language and the brain's processes that make this extraordinary feat possible. (Photo by Joe Mehling '69.) Laura Ann Petitto, Professor in Dartmouth's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Education, and graduate student, Siobhan Holowka at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, report their findings in the August 30, 2002, issue of Science. "This discovery is the first to demonstrate left hemisphere cerebral specialization for babies' production of language, just like we see in adults," says Petitto. "This suggests that language functions specialize in the brain at a very early age." The researchers found that babies babble with a greater mouth opening on the right sides of their mouths, indicating left brain hemisphere activity. They conclude that babbling engages the language processing centers in the left hemisphere of the brain. "Right mouth asymmetry" is the phrase used to describe the fact that the right side of your mouth opens a tad wider than the left while talking. Human eyesight (or how the brain perceives this act) corrects for this disparity, so it is virtually unnoticeable. Researchers have studied right mouth asymmetry in adults to understand the language control centers in the brain's left hemisphere, a method proven useful to detect brain damage after heart attacks or strokes. These studies produce a "Laterality Index," which is a measure of the asymmetry. Holowka and Petitto are the first to apply this measure to study language in babies. "We were trying to find a way to further study language development in babies, but we needed a technique that would not be invasive or upsetting," explains Petitto. "The Laterality Index was our answer." The researchers studied videotapes of 10 babies between the ages of five and 12 months. Taking into consideration any language-specific bias, five babies were learning English, and five were learning French. On the videos, two independent coders who were unaware of the study's goals scored randomly selected segments using the Laterality Index. They focused on three different kinds of mouth activity: babbles (sounds with consonant-vowel repetition), non-babbles (vocalizations without consonant-vowel content or repetition), and smiles (mouth movements with a known meaning or significance, generally indicating enjoyment, and often accompanied by contractions around the left eye). By slowing down the video recordings, the coders could calculate, using the Laterality Index, the size and nature of the babies' mouth openings for each of the different kinds of mouth activity. "We found that all the babies, both English and French, had right mouth asymmetry when babbling, equal mouth opening for non-babbling, and left mouth asymmetry for smiles," says Petitto. Not only do their findings link babbling to the language centers in the left side of the brain, the results also suggest that a basic expression of emotion, such as smiling, is linked to the right hemisphere's emotional centers in the brain, just like adults. Again, this suggests that sections of the human brain begin to specialize at a very early age. "We are currently exploring whether this baby-friendly research method could also be used as a diagnostic tool to determine if there are linguistic or developmental problems even before a baby can utter its first word," says Petitto. "The sooner parents and pediatricians recognize these problems, the sooner they can begin to treat them." See www.dartmouth.edu/~lpetitto for more information, photos and QuickTime movies. This study was funded by grants to Petitto, including a grant from Dartmouth College, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and The Spencer Foundation (United States). Dartmouth College Copyright 2002 Trustees of Dartmouth College All rights reserved http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news Last updated: 29 August 2002 03:21 PM http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/aug02/babble.shtml -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:51:10 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:51:10 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Gene mutations linked to language development] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Gene mutations linked to language development Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:24:18 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com August 15, 2002 GENE MUTATIONS LINKED TO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT from The Washington Post Two critical mutations appeared roughly 200,000 years ago in a gene linked to language, then swept through the population at roughly the same time anatomically modern humans began to dominate the planet, according to new research. The findings, released online yesterday and due for publication soon in the journal Nature, provide the most compelling evidence to date that the gene, which researchers described in detail only last year, may have played a central role in the development of modern humans' ability to speak. Researchers said that could have given them a critical advantage that allowed them to supplant more primitive rivals. A mounting body of research suggests that the mutant gene conferred on human ancestors a finer degree of control over muscles of the mouth and throat, possibly giving those ancestors a rich new palette of sounds that could serve as the foundation of language. "It's a very exciting discovery," said Steven Pinker, a top language expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This could be a watershed, because now that the technique has been successfully used, we can apply it to other genes with psychological effects. I think it opens the door for a new field of study." Full text http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17863-2002Aug14.html __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:51:43 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:51:43 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Gene explains dumb apes] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Gene explains dumb apes Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:26:01 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Nature Science Update Gene explains dumb apes Great apes lack nuts and bolts of language gene. HELEN PEARSON Chimpanzees lack key parts of a language gene that is critical for human speech, say researchers. The finding may begin to explain why only humans use spoken language. Last year scientists identified the first gene, called FOXP2, linked to human language. People with mistakes in this gene have severe difficulties with speech and grammar1. Now Svante P??bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues have compared human FOXP2 with the versions of the gene found in the chimpanzee, gorilla, orang-utan, rhesus macaque and mouse. Full text http://www.nature.com/nsu/020812/020812-6.html __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 00:56:35 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:56:35 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] From Mouth to Mind] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] From Mouth to Mind Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 16:56:45 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Scientific American From Mouth to Mind New insights into how language warps the brain By W. Wayt Gibbs "Liver." The word rises from the voice box and passes the lips. It beats the air, enters an ear canal, sets nerve cells firing. Electrochemical impulses stream into the auditory cortex of a listener's brain. But then what? How does the brain's neural machinery filter that complex stream of auditory input to extract the uttered word: "liver"--or was it "river," or perhaps "lever"? Researchers at the Acoustical Society of America meeting in June reported brain imaging studies and clinical experiments that expose new details of how the first language we learn warps everything we hear later. Some neuroscientists think they are close to explaining, at a physical level, why many native Japanese speakers hear "liver" as "river," and why it is so much easier to learn a new language as a child than as an adult. At the ASA conference, Paul Iverson of University College London presented maps of what people hear when they listen to sounds that span the continuum between the American English phonemes /ra/ and /la/. Like many phonemes, /ra/ and /la/ differ mainly in the three or four frequencies that carry the most energy. Iverson had his computer synthesize sounds in which the second and third most dominant frequencies varied in regular intervals, like dots on a grid. He then asked English, German and Japanese speakers to identify each phoneme and to rate its quality. Full text http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0008A2EF-23D7-1D2A-97CA809EC588EEDF&catID=2 __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 01:03:28 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 21:03:28 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 12:39:32 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Science Volume 297, Number 5584, Issue of 16 Aug 2002, p. 1105. LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: 'Speech Gene' Tied to Modern Humans Michael Balter The ability to communicate through spoken language is the trait that best sets humans apart from other animals, most human origins researchers say. Last year the community was abuzz over the identification of the first gene implicated in the ability to speak. This week, a research group shows that the human version of this so-called speech gene appears to date back no more than 200,000 years--about the time that anatomically modern humans emerged. The authors argue that their findings are consistent with previous speculations that the worldwide expansion of modern humans was driven by the emergence of full-blown language abilities. "This is the best candidate yet for a gene that enabled us to become human," says geneticist Mary-Claire King of the University of Washington, Seattle. But other researchers caution that uncertainties underlying the team's mathematical analysis, as well as debate about the gene's function, make dramatic conclusions premature. The case that the gene is closely linked with language ability "can only be said to be circumstantial," comments geneticist David Goldstein of University College London. The gene, called FOXP2, was identified last fall by geneticist Anthony Monaco's group at Oxford University, in collaboration with cognitive neuroscientist Faraneh Vargha-Khadem and colleagues at the Institute of Child Health in London (Science, 5 October 2001, p. 32). They showed that FOXP2 mutations cause a wide range of speech and language disabilities. Geneticist Svante P??bo's group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration with Monaco's team, then set about tracing the gene's evolutionary history. Full text http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5584/1105a __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 15:17:33 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:17:33 -0400 Subject: [language] ABCNEWS.com : Study: Gene Helped People Develop Language Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/language020815.html -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 19 15:23:00 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:23:00 -0400 Subject: [language] PROBABILITY THEORY -- THE LOGIC OF SCIENCE Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- It seems unrelated but this "book" is still free, and very useful, especially in light of publications of experimental results that do statistical analysis eg. language genes. The book is about to be published in 2003. It is a truly beautifully written book. http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Tue Aug 20 00:31:05 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 20:31:05 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Re: [evol-psych] Language Gene is Traced to Emergence of Humans] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [evol-psych] Language Gene is Traced to Emergence of Humans Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:09:54 -0700 From: Stan Franklin To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Larry Trask wrote: > Richard Klein is an eminent palaeoanthropologist. Like some other > anthropologists and archaeologists, he has been arguing for years that the > archaeological record shows a sudden explosive change in human behaviour > around 50,000 years ago, and that the only reasonable explanation for this > explosion is the sudden emergence of full-blown language. > > But I gather that not all specialists are equally convinced that the change > in behaviour was quite so dramatic as suggested. Moreover, even if it was, > not everyone believes that the first appearance of language is the only > possible explanation. Bellow is the reference to the work establishing that the advent of symbolic behavior that marks modern humans occurred earlier, gradually, and over a much longer period of time. It may well be that truly symbolic language evolved over much the same time period. I suspect that vocal, indexical signs were commonly used much, much earlier for communication by Homo Erectus. McBrearty, S., and A. S. Brooks. 2000. The revolution that wasn't:a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39:453-563. Stan -- Stan Franklin Dunavant University Professor Computer Science phone 901-678-3142 Univ of Memphis fax 901-678-2480 Memphis TN 38152 franklin at memphis.edu USA www.msci.memphis.edu/~franklin __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Fri Aug 23 12:36:57 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:36:57 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 18:01:06 -0600 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com/ To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com 'Maternal' DNA Can Be Inherited from Dad, Too Wed Aug 21, 5:43 PM ET By Linda Carroll NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tiny bits of DNA that scientists thought could only come from a child's mother may sometimes also come from the father, a new study shows. Usually, mammals inherit mitochondria--small structures known as the "powerhouses" of the cell--from their mothers, Marianne Schwartz, laboratory director of the department of clinical genetics at the University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, said in an interview with Reuters Health. But Schwartz and her colleague found a man who had inherited some of his mitochondria from his father, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine ( news - web sites ). The 28-year-old man came into her clinic complaining of severe fatigue after the slightest exercise. Although his lungs and heart were completely normal, the man had never been able to run more than a few steps without tiring, Schwartz said. And everyone in his immediate family was completely healthy. Full text Findings Challenge Biological Tenet Patient's disease questions solely maternal inheritance Email this story Printer friendly format Top Stories Shock Jocks' Show Cancelled Lizzie Due In Court Friday By Delthia Ricks STAFF WRITER August 22, 2002 In a discovery that upsets one of the central dogmas of biology, scientists in Denmark have determined that a 28-year-old man inherited a disease from his father that until now was believed transmissible only through women, scientists report in a study released today. The finding zeros in on the components of cells called the mitochondria, the main sources of the body's energy. These tiny bean-shaped constituents, found in each cell, carry their own DNA, apart from the body's nuclear genes inherited from both parents. Mitochondrial DNA has been believed passed from one generation to the next only along a maternal line of inheritance. Fathers, scientists long believed, did not transmit them. The sperm cells' few mitochondria, scientists discovered only two years ago, are assassinated by killer proteins in the egg. This molecular murder plot is carried out not long after conception. Now, Dr. Marianne Schwartz and colleagues in the department of clinical genetics at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center have found that a man not only has inherited paternal mitochondria, but that he has developed a genetic muscle disease caused by a distinct defect due to paternal inheritance. Full text __________ Unsubscribe or change your subscription options at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ Archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/messages/ Join Evolutionary Psychology: evolutionary-psychology-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Human Nature Review: http://human-nature.com/ Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 29 22:36:36 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 18:36:36 -0400 Subject: [language] Gene separates early humans from apes] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Gene separates early humans from apes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1296455 August 26, 2002 10:15 PM Gene separates early humans from apes By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gene that separates humans from the apes and all other animals seems to have disappeared from humans up to three million years ago, just before they first stood upright, researchers have said. Most animals have the gene but people do not -- and it may be somehow involved in the expansion of the brain, the international team of researchers said on Monday. The gene controls production of a sialic acid -- a kind of sugar -- called Neu5Gc, the researchers write in an advance online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This mutation occurred after our last common ancestor with bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and chimpanzees, and before the origin of present-day humans," they wrote. Neanderthal skeletons, the oldest early humans from who DNA has been obtained, also lack the sugar. "It happens to be first known genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees where there is a major outcome," Ajit Varki of the University of California San Diego, who led the research, said in a telephone interview. "We are exploring the consequences of this." Varki said the role of the gene is not fully understood. "The gene itself is involved in changing the surfaces of all cells in the body," he said. "The surface of all cells in the body is covered with sugars. This one is missing only in humans." It may help influence how viruses and bacteria infect cells, and with how cancer cells interact, Varki said. "There are some clues that it might have something to do with brain plasticity," he added. Humans and chimps share more than 98 percent of their DNA, so a few genes must make a big difference. Chimps and humans split from a common ancestor 6 million to 7 million years ago. The collaboration of some of the top experts in various fields, ranging from anthropology to the genetic differences between people and apes, determined that this gene disappeared from humans between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. "It happened after the time that our ancestors stood upright, when their hands and so on were like ours, but their brains are still same size as that of chimpanzees," Varki said. "That just tells you the timing is appropriate for the possibility that this may have something to do with brain expansion." The team included anthropologist Meave Leakey of the Leakey Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya, an expert in early humans, and Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who helped study the first Neanderthal DNA. Reuters +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTICE: Please note that this eMail, and the contents thereof, is subject to the standard Sasol eMail disclaimer which may be found at: http://www.sasol.com/disclaimer.htm If you cannot access the disclaimer through the URL attached and you wish to receive a copy thereof please send an eMail to disclaimer at sasol.com. You will receive the disclaimer by return eMail. M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Fri Aug 30 15:05:26 2002 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 11:05:26 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: [evol-psych] Baby babbling linked to brain's language center, not motor skills center] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> CONTACT: THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (603) 646-3661 Embargoed until 2 p.m. EST, Thursday, August 29, 2002 Baby babbling linked to brain's language center, not motor skills center Whether baby babbling is fundamentally linguistic (absorbing the elements of language) or just exercising motor activity (practicing the mechanics of mouth movement) has never been effectively addressed. Until now. A team of researchers based at Dartmouth has discovered a strong link between baby babbling and the language processing centers in the brain. Professor Petitto works with 11-month-old Derrin Bilgili to better understand how babies learn language and the brain's processes that make this extraordinary feat possible. (Photo by Joe Mehling '69.) Laura Ann Petitto, Professor in Dartmouth's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Education, and graduate student, Siobhan Holowka at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, report their findings in the August 30, 2002, issue of Science. "This discovery is the first to demonstrate left hemisphere cerebral specialization for babies' production of language, just like we see in adults," says Petitto. "This suggests that language functions specialize in the brain at a very early age." The researchers found that babies babble with a greater mouth opening on the right sides of their mouths, indicating left brain hemisphere activity. They conclude that babbling engages the language processing centers in the left hemisphere of the brain. "Right mouth asymmetry" is the phrase used to describe the fact that the right side of your mouth opens a tad wider than the left while talking. Human eyesight (or how the brain perceives this act) corrects for this disparity, so it is virtually unnoticeable. Researchers have studied right mouth asymmetry in adults to understand the language control centers in the brain's left hemisphere, a method proven useful to detect brain damage after heart attacks or strokes. These studies produce a "Laterality Index," which is a measure of the asymmetry. Holowka and Petitto are the first to apply this measure to study language in babies. "We were trying to find a way to further study language development in babies, but we needed a technique that would not be invasive or upsetting," explains Petitto. "The Laterality Index was our answer." The researchers studied videotapes of 10 babies between the ages of five and 12 months. Taking into consideration any language-specific bias, five babies were learning English, and five were learning French. On the videos, two independent coders who were unaware of the study's goals scored randomly selected segments using the Laterality Index. They focused on three different kinds of mouth activity: babbles (sounds with consonant-vowel repetition), non-babbles (vocalizations without consonant-vowel content or repetition), and smiles (mouth movements with a known meaning or significance, generally indicating enjoyment, and often accompanied by contractions around the left eye). By slowing down the video recordings, the coders could calculate, using the Laterality Index, the size and nature of the babies' mouth openings for each of the different kinds of mouth activity. "We found that all the babies, both English and French, had right mouth asymmetry when babbling, equal mouth opening for non-babbling, and left mouth asymmetry for smiles," says Petitto. Not only do their findings link babbling to the language centers in the left side of the brain, the results also suggest that a basic expression of emotion, such as smiling, is linked to the right hemisphere's emotional centers in the brain, just like adults. Again, this suggests that sections of the human brain begin to specialize at a very early age. "We are currently exploring whether this baby-friendly research method could also be used as a diagnostic tool to determine if there are linguistic or developmental problems even before a baby can utter its first word," says Petitto. "The sooner parents and pediatricians recognize these problems, the sooner they can begin to treat them." See www.dartmouth.edu/~lpetitto for more information, photos and QuickTime movies. This study was funded by grants to Petitto, including a grant from Dartmouth College, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and The Spencer Foundation (United States). Dartmouth College Copyright 2002 Trustees of Dartmouth College All rights reserved http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news Last updated: 29 August 2002 03:21 PM http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/aug02/babble.shtml -- M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. 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