Reject the role of FOXP2 gene in human language evolution

According to the journal Cell, human speech and language development was influenced not by the FOXP2 gene, which had previously been considered a major evolutionary motive for people to acquire language skills.

After comparing the genetic data of and, scientists have made such conclusions.

Previously, scientists believed that the FOXP2 gene , was associated with the development of speech . It is this gene that explains why modern humans have the advantage of evolving before Neanderthals.

Gene FOXP2 is also present in the ancestors of modern and wonderful people, not just the modern people we own.

The study, published in 2002 in the journal Nature, confirms that it is the activity of the FOXP2 gene and the development of language skills that have helped humanity grow across Africa 100,000 years ago. The authors of the new study decided to test these results on a larger genetic database.

16 years ago, scientists did not have access to the genetic analysis methods that modern researchers own. Therefore, they can only analyze a small genetic database (only obtained from 20 people, mostly Europeans). Scientists believe that previous results need to be made more accurate, especially to pay attention to the genome of those who migrate from Africa.

The authors used most of the open databases of the ancient and modern genomes (eg 1,000 Genomes Project Consortium). Scientists have applied a number of statistical methods, but none of them confirm the results of the 2002 study. It turns out that the FOXP2 gene is also present in the ancestors of modern humans. and absolutely not only the modern people we own.

The authors hope that the method they use in their research will become a model for other evolutionary studies.

According to them, many studies conducted on genetic data are not rich enough, mainly based on data from Caucasoid race. Therefore, some of the known facts about human evolution may be inaccurate.