Abstract
The ability to recognize one's own reflection is shared by humans and only a few other species, including chimpanzees. However, this ability is highly variable across individual chimpanzees. In humans, self-recognition involves a distributed, right-lateralized network including frontal and parietal regions involved in the production and perception of action. The superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) is a system of white matter tracts linking these frontal and parietal regions. The current study measured mirror self-recognition (MSR) and SLF anatomy in 60 chimpanzees using diffusion tensor imaging. Successful self-recognition was associated with greater rightward asymmetry in the white matter of SLFII and SLFIII, and in SLFIII's gray matter terminations in Broca's area. We observed a visible progression of SLFIII's prefrontal extension in apes that show negative, ambiguous, and compelling evidence of MSR. Notably, SLFIII's terminations in Broca's area are not right-lateralized or particularly pronounced at the population level in chimpanzees, as they are in humans. Thus, chimpanzees with more human-like behavior show more human-like SLFIII connectivity. These results suggest that self-recognition may have co-emerged with adaptations to frontoparietal circuitry.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 37-48 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Social cognitive and affective neuroscience |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Brain evolution
- Chimpanzees
- Lateralization
- Self-recognition
- Superior longitudinal fasciculus
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience