The prefrontal operculum, a human-specific hub for the cognitive control of speech
Current theories fail to explain why the ability to control speech is unique to humans. We recently identified one unique feature in the human frontal cortex that may hold the key to this question: the Prefrontal Operculum (PFO). Here we aim to identify 1) its anatomo-functional organization to elucidate its potential function and 2) whether it has a homolog in the macaque brain. Functional connectivity (FC) results in humans, revealed that PFO is subdivided in two regions (aPFO and pPFO), displaying strong interactions but distinct whole brain FC profiles with respectively the language and the cognitive control networks, and thus suggesting an important role of PFO in the cognitive control of speech. Connectivity fingerprint analyses in macaques revealed similarities with pPFO, but we found no macaque homolog of human aPFO. Altogether, this study points toward the emergence of aPFO as an evolutionary advantage in hominids for modern speech abilities.
Authors
- Delphine Autran-Clavagnier
- Emmanuel Procyk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7486-4993)
- E. Lazzaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2301-7858)
- Charles Verstraete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1573-2296)
- Camille Giacometti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8231-7460)
- Fadila Hadj‐Bouziane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5415-7949)
- Charles Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9497-919X)
- Manon Dirheimer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3973-3116)
- Kep Kee Loh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0650-224X)
- Franck Lamberton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4655-4397)
- Céline Amiez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2234-1709)
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Lyon College (US)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Düsseldorf University Hospital (DE)
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (FR)
- Centre d'Exploration et de Recherche Médicale par Emission de Positons (FR)
- Institut Cellule Souche et Cerveau (FR)
- Institut de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences de Paris (FR)
- FHU Neurovasc (FR)
- Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2025-12-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09110-8
- Primary Topic
- Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique