News Psychology

Monkeys may share a key grammar-related skill with humans

A capacity for recursion evolved early in primate evolution, a contested study suggests

surprised-looking rhesus macaque monkey

In a surprising but contested finding, researchers say rhesus macaque monkeys can mentally embed symbol sequences within related sequences, suggesting that one facet of human grammar has ancient roots.

Adeel_Ahmad93/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

An aptitude for mentally stringing together related items, often cited as a hallmark of human language, may have deep roots in primate evolution, a new study suggests.