The Arcuate Fasciculus and language origins: Disentangling existing conceptions that influence evolutionary accounts

•Existing conceptions of the AF are disentangled to derive a current model.•Data indicates a continuity in AF's frontal terminations across primates.•Data indicates a possible continuity in AF's temporal terminations across primates.•Data indicates a possible continuity in the Dorsal- vers...

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Published in:Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2022-03, Vol.134, p.104490-104490, Article 104490
Main Authors: Becker, Yannick, Loh, Kep Kee, Coulon, Olivier, Meguerditchian, Adrien
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological anthropology
Brain Mapping - methods
Cognitive Sciences
Comparative anatomy
Continuity
Discontinuity
Evolutionary neuroscience
Frontal terminations
Hemispheric specialization
Humanities and Social Sciences
Language
Language evolution
Language network
Lateralization
Life Sciences
Monkey
Nerve Net
Neural Pathways - anatomy & histology
Neurons and Cognition
Nomenclature
Nonhuman primate
Temporal terminations
Terminology
Tractography
White Matter
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Summary:•Existing conceptions of the AF are disentangled to derive a current model.•Data indicates a continuity in AF's frontal terminations across primates.•Data indicates a possible continuity in AF's temporal terminations across primates.•Data indicates a possible continuity in the Dorsal- versus Ventral Pathways strength.•More data is needed to conclude about the (dis)continuity of AF’s lateralisation. The Arcuate Fasciculus (AF) is of considerable interdisciplinary interest, because of its major implication in language processing. Theories about language brain evolution are based on anatomical differences in the AF across primates. However, changing methodologies and nomenclatures have resulted in conflicting findings regarding interspecies AF differences: Historical knowledge about the AF originated from human blunt dissections and later from monkey tract-tracing studies. Contemporary tractography studies reinvestigate the fasciculus’ morphology, but remain heavily bound to unclear anatomical priors and methodological limitations. First, we aim to disentangle the influences of these three epistemological steps on existing AF conceptions, and to propose a contemporary model to guide future work. Second, considering the influence of various AF conceptions, we discuss four key evolutionary changes that propagated current views about language evolution: 1) frontal terminations, 2) temporal terminations, 3) greater Dorsal- versus Ventral Pathway expansion, 4) lateralisation. We conclude that new data point towards a more shared AF anatomy across primates than previously described. Language evolution theories should incorporate this more continuous AF evolution across primates.
ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.013