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Evolution of affective and linguistic disambiguation under social eavesdropping pressures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Kevin B. Clark
Kevin B. Clark*
Affiliation:
Research and Development Service, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA 90073. [email protected]/pub/kevin-clark/58/67/19a Complex Biological Systems Alliance, North Andover, MA 01845. [email protected]
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Abstract

Contradicting new dual-pathway models of language evolution, cortico-striatal-thalamic circuitry disambiguate uncertainties in affective prosody and propositional linguistic content of language production and comprehension, predictably setting limits on useful complexity of articulate phonic and/or signed speech. Such limits likely evolved to ensure public information is discriminated by intended communicants and safeguarded against the ecological pressures of social eavesdropping within and across phylogenetic boundaries.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 551 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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