Evolution of Language Mirror Neurons:

Evolution of Language

Mirror Neurons: A Reaction to the Tower of Babel: The Evolution of Language

Ramachandran's implicit theory for the evolution of language revolves around the presence of mirror neurons, which were discovered in the frontal lobes of monkeys in the latter half of the 20th century by Giacomo Rizzolatti. Certain characteristics of these neurons, which have been confirmed to exist within humans as well, help to elucidate a number of questions about the development of language in humans that have plagued psychological, evolutionary, and linguistic theorists since the time of Charles Darwin, and help to disprove Noam Chomsky's view that language is a barrier to the theory of evolution since it stems from an alleged "language organ" in humans, and not in primates. Mirror neurons provide a scientific basis for the function of mimicry which is an innate element of the propagation of language, which Ramachandran posits as a likely explanation for its evolution.

The neurologist's viewpoint borrows heavily from Darwin, who popularized the notion that voice modulation, which eventually led to language, initially began as a way to project emotional and musical sounds as part of a primitive courtship ritual. The mirror neuron point-of-view bolsters this theorem by applying Rizzolatti's finding that certain cells fire in monkeys when they are performing an action or observing another perform that same action. According to Ramachandran, these mirror neurons may have propagate the development of language in humans (which possess a more sophisticated set of vocal paraphernalia and a correspondingly advanced language area in the brain than primates) by allowing people to mimic the physical motions and sounds of others until words, sentences, and the complexities of language itself was existent.

In order to confirm the presence of mirror neurons in humans, Ramachandran performed two separate studies which provided the basis for his explanation of language's development. The first came from a series of observations of patients afflicted with anosognosia, a syndrome in which patients deny facts that are known to be true (possibly, even, by them). Stroke victims who were paralyzed on the left sides of their bodies were analyzed in a case study in which it was noted that approximately five percent of them not only denied their own paralysis but that of other victims in front of them, as well. Ramachandran explained this phenomenon as stemming from damage to these particular patients' mirror neurons, since they could not judge another's movement without the corresponding movement neural cell firing in their own brains. His study of brain waves in humans was in agreement with this premise, wherein it was noted that the MU wave is blocked and disappears when subjects move their hands. This suppression was also attributed to Rizzolati's mirror neuron system, since the suppression occurs when subjects watch others move their hands as well.