“What birds and humans seem to have in common is a connection between the front part of the brain, and nerves in the brainstem, that control movement-namely, muscles for producing songs in birds and speech in humans,” Erich says.Įrich (who, before deciding on a career in science, was invited to audition for the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in Harlem) graduated from Hunter College in New York City with a bachelor's degree in Biology and Mathematics and later earned his Ph.D.
His work thus far has resulted in some compelling hypotheses, including: establishing a close anatomical similarity in the brain mechanisms that control vocal communication in songbirds and humans. Such is the research focus of neurobiologist Erich Jarvis. The next time you hear the melodious sound of a songbird, think of what these birds may one day tell us about the origins of human language and how our brain learns behavior. Larissa FastHorse is a Sicangu Lakota playwright, director, and choreographer whose work radically engages Indigenous collaborators to explore onstage representations of the joys and challenges that the Native community faces.Using innovative research techniques that often defy convention, this leading neurobiologist is demonstrating what songbirds can reveal about the evolution of human language and learned behavior. Jarvis’ current work involves the study of neural and genetic mechanisms of spoken language using song-learning birds and other animals. Upon graduation, he had to choose between continuing as a dancer and becoming a scientist. Artist and audience chat included in each event.įor more information and to register for this special event go the FAC websiteĮrich Jarvis was a high school student at the School of the Performing Arts in New York City. These events aim to engage, move, and surprise audiences through artistic demonstration and intellectual curiosity.
Erich jarvis series#
To explain these findings, we propose a motor theory of vocal learning origin, in which brain pathways for vocal learning evolved by brain pathway duplication of an ancestral motor learning pathway, using mostly the same genes, but with some divergences in gene regulation via sequence and epigenetic changes, that control divergent connectivity and other functions.īodies at Risk: Larissa FastHorse and Erich Jarvisīodies at Risk is a series of creative conversations between BIPOC performing artists, educators, activists, and other experts working to shift American society’s understanding of the racialized body and social justice. We have found that specialized regulation is associated with convergent accelerated regions in the genomes of these species, which in turn have differential epigenetic availability in enhancer regions of some of the genes, inside the neurons of the vocal learning brain regions. The vocal learning brain pathways have convergent specialized changes in genes that control connectivity, neuroprotection, and synaptic plasticity. We used comparative genomics and transcriptomics to discover convergent changes in multiple genes in song learning pathways in birds and speech pathways in humans. Remarkably, although all vocal learning species are distantly related and have closer relatives that are non-vocal learners, humans and the vocal learning birds have evolved convergent forebrain pathways that control vocal learning. It has evolved multiple independent times among mammals and birds. Vocal learning is the most critical behavior for spoken language.
“Evolution of brain pathways for vocal learning and speech” Surviving as an underrepresented minority scientist in a majority environment. I believe that the negative aspects of these influences will be helped by genomics showing how related and integrated all humans are to each other.”Īssociated reading: Jarvis, E.D.
I will present examples from molecular biology, to neuroscience, to genomics. This has happened to me, and the people I have worked with. I believe the science we conduct and discoveries we make are influenced by our cultural experience, whether they be positive, negative, or neutral. Her I will present some of the lessons I have learned that have allowed me to survive as an underrepresented minority scientist in a majority environment.
“I grew up as a person of color in the United States of America, faced with challenges that many had as members of an underrepresented minority group. “Surviving and thriving as an under-represented minority scientist in a majority environment” This series of talks is co-sponsored with the College of Natural Sciences Distinguished Scientist and Engineer Series and the Fine Arts Center.