Bred for affection: The canine anterior ectosylvian gyrus responds selectively to social reinforcement

Miller, K. J.; Lampert, F.; Mivalt, F.; Kim, I.; Ince, N.; Kim, J.; Kremen, V.; Baker, M. R.; Van den Boom, M. A.; Hermes, D.; Coenen, V.; Schalk, G.; Brunner, P.; Worrell, G. A.

doi:10.1101/2024.06.10.598283

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.06.10.598283

Bred for affection: The canine anterior ectosylvian gyrus responds selectively to social reinforcement

Miller, K. J.·Lampert, F.·Mivalt, F.·Kim, I.·Ince, N.·Kim, J.·Kremen, V.·Baker, M. R.·Van den Boom, M. A.·Hermes, D.·Coenen, V.·Schalk, G.·Brunner, P.·Worrell, G. A.

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Abstract

Studying mammalian brain function aids our understanding of human brain evolution. We implanted a beagle with a prototype human neuromodulation platform that measures activity from the brain surface. One year later, a set of simple sensory tasks was performed, finding visual and somatosensory representation in the canine homologs of the expected areas in humans. Surprisingly, the canine anterior ectosylvian gyrus, which is anatomically homologous to human receptive speech areas, was selectively active during independent social reinforcement tasks. This suggests that human speech understanding may have evolved from more general mammalian brain structures that are specialized for social reinforcement.

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Miller, K. J., Lampert, F., Mivalt, F., Kim, I., Ince, N., Kim, J., Kremen, V., Baker, M. R., Van den Boom, M. A., Hermes, D., Coenen, V., Schalk, G., Brunner, P., Worrell, G. A.. 2024-06-10. Bred for affection: The canine anterior ectosylvian gyrus responds selectively to social reinforcement. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.10.598283

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