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In a quest to find what made humans unique, researchers concluded that it is an area of the brain that appears unlike anything in the brains of some of our closest relatives. 

The brain area identified is known to be intimately involved in some of the most advanced planning and decision-making processes of which only humans are capable of, said researchers. 

'We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans. We've identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers,' said senior researcher Professor Matthew Rushworth of Oxford University's Department of Experimental Psychology in a press release. 

Researchers did MRI imaging of 25 adult volunteers that enabled them to identify the key components in the ventrolateral frontal cortex area of the human brain. They were also able to figure out how those components were connected up with other brain areas. 

Researchers then compared the obtained the results to equivalent MRI data from 25 macaque monkeys. 

"The brain is a mosaic of interlinked areas. We wanted to look at this very important region of the frontal part of the brain and see how many tiles there are and where they are placed," explained professor Rushworth in the press release.

"We also looked at the connections of each tile - how they are wired up to the rest of the brain - as it is these connections that determine the information that can reach that component part and the influence that part can have on other brain regions."

Researchers also compared the 12 area of the human brain region with the organization of the monkey prefrontal cortex. 

"Each of these 12 areas has its own pattern of connections with the rest of the brain, a sort of "neural fingerprint", telling us it is doing something unique," added Professor Rushworth.

The findings are published in the science journal Neuron.