Long arcuate fascicle in wild and captive chimpanzees as a potential structural precursor of the language network

Becker, Yannick; Eichner, Cornelius; Paquette, Michael; Bock, Christian; Girard-Buttoz, Cédric; Jäger, Carsten; Gräßle, Tobias; Deschner, Tobias; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Wood, Kim; Wibbelt, Gudrun; Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Walker, Sue; Unwin, Steve; Ulrich, Reiner; Tanga, Tanguy; Szentiks, Claudia A.; Southern, Lara; Stidworthy, Mark F.; Steiner, Jonas; Forero, Alejandra Romero; Rendel, Jessica; Pléh, Kamilla; Pizarro, Andrea; Pika, Simone; Olofsson-Sannö, Karin; Morawski, Markus; Møller, Torsten; Moittié, Sophie; Mezö, Zoltan; McLennan, Matthew; McElreath, Richard; Mätz-Rensing, Kerstin; Makouloutou-Nzassi, Patrice; Liptovszky, Matyas; Leendertz, Fabian H.; Kopp, Kathrin; Kirilina, Evgeniya; Haun, Daniel; Hanus, Daniel; Hambrech, Susan; Jaffe, Jennifer E.; Gone Bi, Zoro Bertain; Flores, Karina; Fedurek, Pawel; Chantrey, Julian; Bleyer, Martina; Aschoff, Daniel; Asiimwe, Caroline; Amarasekaran, Bala; Gunz, Philipp; Wittig, Roman M.; Crockford, Catherine; Friederici, Angela D.; Anwander, Alfred

Abstract

The arcuate fascicle (AF) is the main fibre tract in the brain for human language. It connects frontal and temporal language areas in the superior and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). The AF’s connection to the MTG was considered unique to humans and has influenced theories of the evolution of language. Here, using high-resolution diffusion MRI of post-mortem brains, we demonstrate that both wild and captive chimpanzees have a direct AF connection into the MTG, albeit weaker than in humans. This finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific AF morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo. It is likely that this neural architecture supporting complex communication was already present in the last common ancestor of hominins and chimpanzees 7 million years ago, enabling the evolution of language processes in the human lineage.

Citation

Becker, Y., Eichner, C., Paquette, M., Bock, C., Girard-Buttoz, C., Jäger, C., Gräßle, T., Deschner, T., Zuberbühler, K., Wood, K., Wibbelt, G., Weiskopf, N., Walker, S., Unwin, S., Ulrich, R., Tanga, T., Szentiks, C. A., Southern, L., Stidworthy, M. F., Steiner, J., …Anwander, A. (2025). Long arcuate fascicle in wild and captive chimpanzees as a potential structural precursor of the language network. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 4485. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59254-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 11, 2025
• Online Publication Date: May 15, 2025
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 4, 2025
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 4485
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59254-8
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/49562366
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59254-8