A vocalization-processing network in marmosets

Abstract

Vocalizations play an important role in the daily life of primates and likely form the basis of human language. Functional imaging studies have demonstrated that listening to language or reading activates a left-lateralized fronto-temporal language network in human participants. Here we acquired whole-brain ultrahigh field (9.4 Tesla) fMRI in awake marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and demonstrate that these highly vocal small New World primates possess a similar fronto-temporal network, including subcortical regions, that is activated by the presentation of conspecific vocalizations. The findings suggest that the human language network has evolved from an ancestral vocalization network that predates the separation of New and Old World primates.