Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Bird Brains Explain How Humans Learn to Talk

Posted by Zonk on from the internet-peepuls-speak-gooder dept.

eaglebtc writes "A team of neuroscientists at MIT have made tremendous progress in understanding how birds learn to sing: a part of the brain called the basal ganglia is primarily responsible for controlling the learning of movement and the production of speech. This circuitry is also present in humans, and it is the same way that a baby's random babbling eventually becomes the proficient speech of adults. It is hoped that this research can provide further insights into Parkinson's Disease, an inherited genetic condition that causes rapid breakdown of motor control and speech production. The full research study is available as a downloadable PDF."

3 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Mirror by alienfluid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wow, a 5.0 MB link from the main page of Slashdot! Here's a mirror of the PDF documents if the original site goes down.

  2. parkinsons isn't very inherited. by Vellmont · · Score: 4, Informative


    Parkinson's Disease, an inherited genetic condition
    While there's some genetic risk factors, it's not know what causes parkinsons disease. According to wikipedia having a parent with Parkinsons increases your lifetime risk of getting it from 2% to 6%.

    --
    AccountKiller
    1. Re:parkinsons isn't very inherited. by kris_lang · · Score: 4, Informative

      There are also other known causes for Parkinson's or parkinson's like syndrome:

      badly brewed methamphetamines will have a high percentage of MPTP which will cause severe damage to the substantia nigra leading to Parkinson's like symptoms even in young people. It was in fact a bad batch of MPTP causing these parkinsonian tremors and symptoms in a group of 20 year old drug abusers that led to some scientific studies and discoveries and the creation of a primate model of parkinsons by injecting MPTP into primates.

      Vasular: a stroke or microinfarct to the basal ganglia or substantia nigra can cause parkinson's like symptoms.

      Toxic: I read about the insect poison thing too, but don't remember any key details or whether it has any MPTP like properties.

      Parkinson's has also been treated in the past with Fetal Cell tranplants directly into the substantia nigra and into the globus pallidus.

      It has also been treated by implanting electronic stimulating electrodes into the thalamus, more specifically into the VIM nucleus, in an attempt to disrupt the rhythmic tremors of Parkinson's. Very cool stuff.