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MacLean_PNAS_Special_Issue_R1_ ...
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Author
MacLean, Evan L.Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Sch AnthropolIssue Date
2016-06-07
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NATL ACAD SCIENCESCitation
Unraveling the evolution of uniquely human cognition 2016, 113 (23):6348 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesRights
Copyright © 2016 The Author. Published by National Academy of Sciences.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
A satisfactory account of human cognitive evolution will explain not only the psychological mechanisms that make our species unique, but also how, when, and why these traits evolved. To date, researchers have made substantial progress toward defining uniquely human aspects of cognition, but considerably less effort has been devoted to questions about the evolutionary processes through which these traits have arisen. In this article, I aim to link these complementary aims by synthesizing recent advances in our understanding of what makes human cognition unique, with theory and data regarding the processes of cognitive evolution. I review evidence that uniquely human cognition depends on synergism between both representational and motivational factors and is unlikely to be accounted for by changes to any singular cognitive system. I argue that, whereas no nonhuman animal possesses the full constellation of traits that define the human mind, homologies and analogies of critical aspects of human psychology can be found in diverse nonhuman taxa. I suggest that phylogenetic approaches to the study of animal cognition-which can address questions about the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms driving cognitive change-have the potential to yield important insights regarding the processes through which the human cognitive phenotype evolved.Note
Authors retain copyright and extensive rights to use and reuse their work. These rights include, on acceptance for publication by PNAS, depositing the final author manuscript in an institutional repository, provided that the PNAS-formatted PDF is not used and a link to the article on the PNAS website is included.ISSN
0027-84241091-6490
Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
Stanton FoundationAdditional Links
http://www.pnas.org/lookup/doi/10.1073/pnas.1521270113ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1073/pnas.1521270113