Grey Matters: Understanding Language
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K-12 Educational Standards

Standards for Grade(s): 9-12

Biology/Life Sciences

Evolution

Biology/Life Sciences

Physiology

d,e

For more information, visit:
California State Board of Education Content Standards

 

First Aired: 9/11/2006
58 minutes

Why are humans the only species to have language? Is there something special about our brains? Are there genes that have evolved for language? In this talk, Jeff Elman, UCSD professor of cognitive science and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, discusses some of the exciting new research that helps us understand what it is about human language that is so different from other animals' communication systems, and what about our biology might make language possible. (#11187)