Many people are familiar with the idea that female children have an accelerated ability in language learning.  But what causes this? In 2001, researchers isolated a gene called FOXP2, one of the major genes responsible for the production of speech (Balter, 2001).  The gene was discovered by researchers studying a British family, half of whom displayed symptoms of a speech disorder that caused difficulties in speech comprehension, fouled pronunciation, and incoherent word ordering in sentences (Balter, 2001).

The researchers studying this family isolated a defect that occurred to a segment of chromosome 7 (SPCH 1 chromosome).  The researchers found that chromosome 7 had switched places with chromosome 5 (Balter, 2001).  This error is called translocation.  The researchers then found that the translocation of these chromosomes occurred in the middle of a specific gene-FOXP2.  Upon locating the defect in this gene, researchers concluded that gene FOXP2 is a major contributor to the production of speech (Balter, 2001).

Last year, a new group of researchers worked on studying how FOXP2 affected gender differences in language learning.  The researchers at University of Maryland, Baltimore began by studying rap pups in the lab.  These rat pups produce cries in frequencies above human hearing capacity.  The researchers recorded the cries of the four day old pups over five minutes. The researchers found that male pups emitted twice the number of cries as female pups (Balter, 2013).  The researchers then killed 8 male and 8 female pups to test how much FOXP2 was in their brains.  Male pups had almost twice as much of the FOXP2 in the areas of the brain responsible for vocalization (Balter, 2013).

The same researchers then studied the differing amounts of FOXP2 on humans.  The researchers found children who had died in accidents within 24 hours of studying them.  The researchers analyzed the brains of five boys and five girls, aged 4-5 years old.  The researchers found 30% more FOXP2 in the brains of females than in the brains of males (Balter, 2013).

The researchers conclude that females’ abilities to acquire and produce language at a younger age than males is due to this higher amount of FOXP2 in the brain.  The researchers were quite enthusiastic about their findings, but they are not without criticism.  Other professionals in the cognitive psychology and neurolinguistics fields have criticized the researchers for their conclusion, stating that studies involving such a small sample size cannot be relied on for an ultimate answer to the gender differences in language.  Simon Fisher, a researcher who worked to discover the FOXP2 gene, cautions the public, stating that “the cry of a human baby might be analogous to a rat pup vocalization, but that speech and language … are so much more complex and interesting than simple innate vocalizations.”(Balter, 2013).

Works Cited:

Balter, M. (2001, October 3). First speech gene identified. ScienceMag.org. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://news.sciencemag.org/2001/10/first-speech-gene-identified

Balter, M. (2013, February 19). Language Gene More Active in Young Girls than Boys. ScienceMag.org. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2013/02/language-gene-more-active-young-girls-boys?ref=hp