How did a brain system for grasping objects become the foundation for human language? Michael Arbib traces the evolutionary path from mirror neurons to speech, arguing that schema theory provides the missing link between neural circuits and cognitive architecture. Subscribe for more from the Convergent Science Network podcast series. Michael Arbib has spent decades developing schema theory , a framework for decomposing complex behaviors into interacting functional units that can be mapped onto neural circuits. In this interview, he explains how this approach bridges the gap between high-level cognitive descriptions and low-level neural implementations, using two case studies: the visual control of hand movements and the evolution of language. The story begins with the premotor cortex, where Arbib's collaborator Giacomo Rizzolatti discovered mirro ...