Final answer:
Humans have a highly complex language capacity due to anatomical adaptations and a specialized brain structure that supports the use of symbolic language with grammatical rules. Apes can utilize protolanguage but lack the complexity found in human language. The mirror neuron system plays a key role in both species' ability to understand actions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Differences Between Human and Ape Language and Memory
Humans differ from apes like chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans in their capacity for language and memory. While great apes have shown the ability to use gestures or tokens to reference objects and demonstrate primitive rule-based communication, referred to as protolanguage, the complexity of human language is unmatched. This capacity is tied to anatomical adaptations in the human larynx, pharynx, and tongue, combined with a brain structured to support the extensive use of symbolic language. Furthermore, humans possess an open-ended language system structured by grammatical rules, which allows infinite combination and creation of new meanings, a feature that is not observed in the communication systems of other primates.
Research suggests that specialized cells, known as mirror neurons, might be a foundation for the ability to understand and reproduce actions, which is essential for the development of communicative language. These neurons have been identified in nonhuman primates as well and are thought to be involved in their understanding and reproduction of actions, yet they lack the complexity to develop language as humans do. The human brain, particularly areas like Broca's, is specially adapted to facilitate speech and complex language, reflecting an evolutionary route that diverged significantly from our primate relatives.