Comments on: British family’s problems hint at a gene involved in linking language and meaning

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:45:40 +0000

I found this article to be very interesting. This is the first time I have come across information that seems to be very close to my own situation. I have a decent vocabulary, however for most of my life I have been plagued with an infuriating problem of not being able to recall words. They can be everyday words that I am very familiar with, but they seem to remain just out of reach.
My mother often seems to make socially inappropriate comments when in social situations. She also has a very introverted and “awkward” personality. However, she is at least at a normal IQ level, if not slightly above.
I suspect I have a fairly severe problem with A.D.D., so I have tried to link that to the word recall problem, but I have remained unconvinced.
I am extremely curious as to what the outcome of this work will be. Please feel free to contact me if you wish.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:48:42 +0000

If these people carrying this gene performed above average in mathematics, (mathematics in a sense is a form of language), I am curious to know their ability in computer languages.

By: A Cognitive-Scientist

A Cognitive-Scientist — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:59:04 +0000

Very interesting, well-written article. But any scientist attempting to link language with genetics at present, given our current knowledge of ontogeny and neurophysiology, is conducting a sort of popular pseudo-science to get themselves better known in the mainstream media.

Just take this previous article as an example: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/11/revisiting-foxp2-and-the-origins-of-language/

The article talks about studies that have tried to link FOXP2 to bird song, mouse squeaks etc (you could get paid good money as a science fiction writer for coming up with this stuff!) Then, after each bit of research reported there is a short caveat saying something like ‘but actually this also happens in every other species so we can’t actually conclude much at all’ or ‘it doesn’t really seem to effect language per se but rather learning in general’ ….These studies, and the article, thus tell us absolutely nothing bar the completely obvious (that genetic defects can affect cognitive processes) yet lots of lay people just take the snippets of research from it and go home thinking there’s a language gene or something (read the comments above)

It’s a commercial strategy that made Steven Pinker lots of money – and will presumably get this journalist a promotion or something….

By: mfumbesi

mfumbesi — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 06:13:28 +0000

I would imagine it is not nice being a guinea pig, but it is an exciting field of study for the rest of us. If the “errant” gene is found, is there a possibility for a cure? Or some sort of treatment.

By: Ken Ashe

Ken Ashe — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:38:12 +0000

Fascinating. I wonder how many people carry the same gene.