# BIO-BEHAVIORAL STUDIES OF LANGUAGE AND COGNITION

> **NIH NIH P01** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 1994 · $651,684

## Abstract

This program of research with children and primates is comprised of six
interlocking projects designed to explored the roots of competence for
language and planning, for complex learning and cognition, for behavioral
and object constructions, are basic to human competence throughout life
and are at risk for development in the child with brain damage.  The
development of animal models appropriate to long-term research on these
dimensions of competence is important and promises to be advanced by
progress to date and the proposed science program.  The potential for
appropriate models is significantly advanced by the Language Research
Center's discovery that the bonobo (Pan paniscus), and to a lesser degree
the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), can come to comprehend words of human
speech at a level that approximates a 2-1/2 year old child if they are
reared from birth in an environment that emphasizes language.  They also
spontaneously comprehend word-lexigrams and their appropriate use. As is
true for the human child, Pan appears to be uniquely sensitive to
conditions of its rearing from birth so far as the spontaneous
acquisitions of language and the declaration of other dimensions of
competence are concerned.   Accordingly, one project, in collaboration
with the NIH, now proposes to search for the neurological sites of Pan's
brain that are activated as speech is heard and word-lexigrams are used
(see Science core, "SPECT Imaging...").  Collectively, all projects
should contribute to a better understanding of development both for
normal and specials populations; in some instances, projects might yield
better methods of ameliorating deficits in competence.  This program is
made possible, in many ways, because of computer-based, video-formatted
technological advances of this Center.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2194941
- **Project number:** 2P01HD006016-24
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** MNS7B9CVKDN7
- **Principal Investigator:** DUANE M RUMBAUGH
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $651,684
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1975-06-01 → 1999-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2194941

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2194941, BIO-BEHAVIORAL STUDIES OF LANGUAGE AND COGNITION (2P01HD006016-24). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2194941. Licensed CC0.

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