The Engineer Module?

We have long known that language is organized into hierarchical structure that could not be constructed without advanced planning. Some people have noticed that human actions are usually organized in the same way. (Probably not just humans, but I’ll stick to human behavior in this discussion. Psychologists are such anthropomorphic chauvinists.) Some people have suspected that the brain modules that support the organization of actions evolved long ago and later came to support the organization of language.

Now there may be solid evidence about that idea:

Broca's area in the brain (and its counterpart in the right hemisphere) is a major center for organizing hierarchies of behaviors. This is the finding of Etienne Koechlin and Thomas Jubault of Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Ecole Normale Supérieure, described their experiments in the June 15, 2006, issue of Neuron.

Broca’s area has long been known as a major speech “center.” If these results are correct, its role in speech is the same as its role in organized planning of behavior. This operation represents much of the work that I like to attribute to the Engineer. And it would be working with what the Thinkerer calls joblets.

It is reinforcing to see recognized brain modules tied to the behavioral functions describe in the Thinkerer.