Humans are not the only ones who face the dilemma of whether to speak something out load or not. Even monkeys think before they speak, researchers of a new study found.
In today's world, saying something before considering its consequences can get a person into a lot of hot water. People are often plagued by the question "Should I say something or not." In a study, researchers from the University of Tübingen found that humans are not the only ones who have to make this decision. They discovered that monkeys too think before they speak.
Humans make sounds to speak what they think and at times withhold information. However, animals make sounds mostly to communicate their emotions, more than divulge information. In this new study, researchers found that monkeys too are capable of either calling out or remaining silent on command. They can also instrumentalize the sounds they make the way humans use sound to create a language that serves their purpose of communication.
For the study, researchers taught rhesus monkeys to call out quickly when a spot appeared on a computer screen. This exercise was conducted in order to determine how the neural cells in the brain catalyse the production of controlled vocal noises. Researchers then measured the monkey's prefrontal cortex.
They found that when the monkey saw the spot of light the nerve cells became active, acting like an instruction for the monkey to call out. However, when the monkey called out without seeing a spot on the screen, these nerve cells remained inactive.
"We want to understand the physiological mechanisms in the brain which lead to the voluntary production of calls because it played a key role in the evolution of human ability to use speech," said Dr. Steffen Hage of the Institute for Neurobiology in a press release.
"Disorders in this part of the human brain lead to severe speech disorders or even complete loss of speech in the patient," Professor Andreas Nieder explained. The results -- giving insights into how the production of sound is initiated -- may help us better understand speech disorders.
