It has been well documented when studying language learning in children that boys and girls learn language differently. It has been found that on average girls speak earlier than boys and with greater complexity. A new study aims to understand why.

Scientists have discovered a protein in the brain called Foxp2 which has been found to play ‘a key role in the development of speech and language in children and also in vocal communications in animals and birds.’ This ‘language protein’ has been found in greater quantities in the brains of male rat pups but in humans it is girls that have more than boys.

A team from the University of Maryland School of Medicine conducted a study on rat pups.

They analyzed levels of the protein in the brains of four-day-old rat pups and related them to the levels of the ultrasonic distress calls they make when they are separated from their mothers or brothers and sisters.

They found significant differences in the female and male pups. The males had more Foxp2 in their brains, in regions linked to emotion, vocalization, and cognition.

And the males were also more vociferous than the females: they called neary twice as frequently as the females during the five minutes they were separated.

The researchers also observed that the mothers always retrieved the noisier male pups and took them back to the nest first, in preference to the less vociferous females.

The team then reduced the amount of Foxp2 in the male pups and increased its presence in the female pups. Amazingly this did in fact reverse the results with the female pups calling more frequently, essentially displaying the language skills of a male pup. Although the study can only empirically be applied to rats it does raise questions about Foxp2 and it’s effect on humans. The team reported:

“We extended these observations to humans, a species reported to have gender differences in language acquisition, and found the amount of FOXP2 protein in the left hemisphere cortex of 4-year-old boys was significantly lower than in age-matched girls,” write the authors.

As studies have already proven that on average girls speak earlier than boys and with greater complexity, does this mean that girls are better language learners than boys?

via: Medical News Today