Study Offers New Evidence Language and Tool-making Skills Co-evolved

The same brain activity used for language production is present in the production of complex tools, according to a new study carried out by researchers from the University of Liverpool.

The discovery supports the theory that the two -- language and tool-making -- evolved at the same time.

In order to come to this conclusion, the researchers tested the brain activity of 10 stone tool makers as they were engaged in their work and again during a standard language test. They did this using functional a functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD), which is commonly used to test patients' language functions after surgery or brain trauma.

In doing so, the scientists discovered that the brain blood flow activity exhibited in participants during both tasks was strongly correlated, suggesting that both engage similar parts of the brain. This is noteworthy, the researchers explain, given that language and tool production are both considered unique features of humanity.

"Our study found correlated blood-flow patterns in the first 10 seconds of undertaking both tasks," Georg Meyer from the University Department of Experimental Psychology said in a statement. "This suggests that both tasks depend on common brain areas and is consistent with theories that tool-use and language co-evolved and share common processing networks in the brain."

Although Charles Darwin was the first to suggest that tool production and language co-evolved, the study, according to its authors, is the first to examine brain function during the two tasks.

According to Natalie Uomini of the school's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, "Nobody has been able to measure brain activity in real time while making a stone tool. This is a first for both archaeology and psychology."

Supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council and the British Academy, the study was published in the journal PLOS One.