Human Communication and the Brain

If a person on the street asks you for directions to the movie theater, the person’s age or the presence of a bike instead of a car is just one of the multiple contextual elements that will influence your reply. You may decide to speak more clearly, use simpler words, or give directions specifically on how to get there by bike. Yet, despite the ease with which we flexibly adjust our communication according to the person we are communicating with, it remains a mystery how we manage to rapidly do that. A new study shows that a certain part of our brain, called the prefrontal cortex, is particularly important for fine-tuning communication depending on the person we are communicating with. Patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex are still able to communicate. Unlike healthy individuals and patients with brain damage elsewhere, however, prefrontal patients fail to adjust their communication to the abilities of the person with whom they are communicating.