What makes us human? Part 2, Copycats.

The second in a two-part series by Armand Marie Leroi exploring what it is that makes us human. Here, he focuses particularly on mimicry, on the way we learn through copying in a way that even intelligent animals like primates are not capable of. Given that we learn through mimicry, how do autistic children manage to learn anything when they insist on playing alone and are often so socially isolated? Gabe, an autistic boy, has his brainwaves analysed and compared with Leroi's - and it shows that he doesn't have 'mirror neurons' so the distinction between doing and watching is very clearly defined with him, whereas they merge in a non-autistic brain. We also explore the realm of language and compare our ability to speak with that of Alex, an African grey parrot who can mimic a large number of words and we meet Nim the 1970s chimp who learnt sign language. Simon Fisher from WT describes his search for a gene running through a family who seem unable to learn to speak properly.