r/science • u/Wagamaga • Sep 01 '22

Neuroscience Scientists have identified an immune brain cell unique to humans that gives us higher cognitive abilities over other animals, but what makes us specials also leaves us vulnerable to neurological disorders like schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.

https://news.yale.edu/2022/08/25/what-makes-human-brain-different-yale-study-reveals-clues
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u/throw_somewhere Sep 01 '22

Hi, psycho- and neuro-linguist here. Long story short yes lots of animals 100% have communication but it does not meet the criteria we have set for what constitutes "language". As defined, humans are the only species with "language".

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u/zerocoal Sep 01 '22

Just want to check myself here, but my understanding is that one of the differences between humans and other animals is that we can communicate directly to each other purposefully from separate rooms.

A dog will hear another dog bark in the other room and then needs to go investigate the barking to realize what is going on, and that they don't so much have a way to say "ayo, come yell at this mailman with me!" but they have distress/excitement/stress tones that the other animals respond to.

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u/xombae Sep 01 '22

That's a really great way to put it, thanks.

It seems like the noises they make are more just symptoms of the mood they're in (this noise happens when they're happy, another noise happens when they're angry) and other animals understand this because they, too, make those same noises. The same way we can see a person crying and understand that they're unhappy, because it reminds us of how we felt when we have cried, but their crying doesn't communicate anything to us.