Evolution and Cognition: the origins of human intelligence Mind, Brain and Behaviour Lecture 9

1
Evolution and Cognition the origins of human
intelligenceMind, Brain and BehaviourLecture 9

• Minna Lyons
• lyonsm2_at_hope.ac.uk

2
Main points

• Methods of study
• Human and primate cognitive differences and
  similarities Comparative Psychology
• Theories of human intelligence The Social Brain
  hypothesis
• Is the mind modular?

3
How to study cognitive evolution?

• Palaeoneurology
• Archaeology
• Comparative studies
• Developmental studies
• Functional neuroimaging and brain deficits

4
Paleoneurology

• Brain Size
• Lateralisation
• Areas related to language and cognition

5
Cognitive archaeology

• Evidence of symbolic though (art, okre)
• Upper Palaeolithic revolution and Homo sapiens 40
  Kyr
• Some earlier but disputed evidence

6
Comparative Psychology

• Uses a wide range of species, tries to establish
  similarities and differences
• Correlates brain structures and behaviour
• Neocortex and Group size in primates, ungulates
  and mammals (Dunbar 1993, Barton 1996, Shultz and
  Dunbar, 2006)
• Neocortex and tactical deception in primates
  (Byrne and Corp, 2004)

7
(No Transcript)
8
DEPENDENT OFFSPRING
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
BRAIN
Extended juvenile period
DIET
TOOLS/ FIRE
9
Mirror neurons

• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.ht
  ml

10
Mirror neurons

• Part of neural mechanism creating empathy and
  social attributions, evolved to facilitate
  communication (Gallese and Goldman, 1998)
• Rizzolatti and Arbib (1998). Pre-motor cortex F5
  and Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS) in macaque
  monkeys
• F5 in macaques linked to Brocas area in humans-
  bridge between performing and act and
  communicating it?
• Gallese and Goldman (1998) Mirror neurons allow
  us to experience what others are feeling- ToM

11
Developmental studiesTheory of mind (ToM)

• We attribute mental states to others, which means
  we have a ToM
• Several behaviours are related to and may depend
  on ToM self-awareness, pretend play, deception,
  language, teaching
• Children acquire a fully blown ToM at the age of
  4. Autistic children dont have ToM. Monkeys
  dont have it, the jurys out for apes and
  dolphins

12
Levels of Intentionality

• I think (1) that you believe (2) that he wants to
  (3)
• Children under 4, autistic people and animals can
  only reach level 1.
• The great apes might reach level 2 (although this
  is disputed, see Heyes 1998 for criticism)

13

• Penny believes (1) that John thinks (2) that she
  does not know (3) that John wants to go out with
  Sheila alone (4) because Penny thinks (5) that
  John thinks (6) that Penny would know (7) if
  Sheila would want to go out with him (8)

14
Theory of mind
Joint attention Children 9-12 months Apes
Self-awareness Children 18-24 months Apes?
ToM Children 4 years Apes????
Pretend play Children 18-24 months Apes??
False Belief Children 4 years Apes????
15
http//www.yu.edu/faculty/stewart/theoryofmind.mov

• False belief test

16
Self awareness

• In order to recognise other individuals mental
  states, and organism needs to be self aware
• Mirror-recognition test has been used to measure
  self-awareness
• Most animals and children under 2 treat mirror
  reflection as another individual
• Chimpanzees, orang-utans and dolphins are capable
  of self-recognition in the mirror

17
Dolphins and mirrors

• http//www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101086398/DC1
  /1

18
Elephants and mirrors

• http//news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/nb_
  rm_fs.stm?news1nbram1nbwm1bbram1bbwm1nol
  _storyid6103250
• Plotnik et al 2006

19
Pretend play

• Link between ToM and symbolic play- ability to
  project a mental representation into reality
• Autistic children lack pretend and social play
• Some evidence for language trained apes

20
Machiavelli (1514)

• For a princeits not necessary to have all the
  virtuous qualities, but its necessary to appear
  to have themto appear merciful, trustworthy,
  humane, blameless, religious

21
The Machiavellian primate

• Whiten and Byrne (1992) collected anecdotal
  evidence about deception in primates
• Lots of examples, but are they a sign of
  intentional deception?
• The Social Brain (or Machiavellian intelligence)
  hypothesis- intelligence evolved as social
  manipulation and deceit
• Feldman et al (1999) good liars have better
  social skills

22
The modular mind
Cheat detection
Mate choice
Face Recognition
Tool Use
Theory of Mind
Language
23
Is the mind modular?

• Jerry Fodor (1983) proposed that perceptual
  processes are organised into innate,
  domain-specific modules. Central cognitive
  processes involving thought and reasoning not
  modular
• Cosmides and Tooby (1992) significant amount of
  human problem solving abilities are modular, not
  just perceptual processes

24
Modules are

• Adaptations (genetic, enhance fitness)
• Cross-cultural
• Specific to the problem
• Correspond to specific brain areas

25
Argument for modularity

• Domain general reasoning devise would be too
  error prone
• Children acquire skills rapidly, which means that
  bases for skills must have been present at birth
• Human problem solving is fast, spontaneous and
  subconscious
• Specific neural bases for many behaviours
• Autism and Williams syndrome cognitive deficits
  very specific- existence of ToM module?

26
Arguments against modularity

• Theres a need for behavioural flexibility not
  allowed by hardwired modules
• Vast amount of human behaviour is a result of
  recent evolution, we cant have a module for
  everything
• Mildly autistic people seem to be able to use
  general intelligence to solve social problems-
  cross-over between modules
• More likely that theres some modularity but that
  behaviour is still affected by learning and that
  people can use reasoning devises flexibly

27
Apes and humans

• Apes and humans have cognitive similarities not
  possessed by other primates, some of human
  cognitive make-up was present in the last common
  ancestor of humans and apes
• Human cognition is more collective than ape
  cognition- our intelligence most likely evolved
  to solve problems of social nature
• Human executive functions are superior to other
  primates. Language might have given as a tool to
  think in terms of past and future instead of
  being tied up to the present