Same brain region handles whistles and words

Areas of the brain linked to speech also spring into action when people communicate with each other by whistling, according to a new report. Neural tissue involved in language apparently adapts to a wide range of signaling systems, according to Manuel Carreiras of Spain’s University of La Laguna and his colleagues.

Spanish-speaking shepherds on La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands off Spain’s coast, communicate over long distances and rocky terrain using whistles for specific Spanish vowels and consonants, thus forming whistled words.