Cognitive Evolution: From single cells to the human mindSecond Edition

"Cognitive Evolution provides an in-depth exploration of the natural history of cognition, from the beginning of life on Earth to present-day humans. Drawing together evolutionary, comparative, and neuroscience research, the book brings a unique cognitive perspective to evolutionary psychology. The second edition features the latest research and illustrations on emerging topics, making it a true update of the field. After introducing evolution, Boles adopts an information processing perspective - from inputs to outputs, with all the mental processes in between to provide a systematic overview of the evolution of cognition, including its sensory, motoric, perceptual, and cognitive components. The combination of evolutionary, comparative, and neuroscience perspectives provides an insight on topics like vision, handedness, tools and planning, spatial perception, pattern recognition, memory, language, and consciousness. Cognitive Evolution is a comprehensive, essential read for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Researchers will find it a useful and insightful synthesis of the field, yet even the curious public will find in it much that is surprising and enlightening"-- Provided by publisher Cover Endorsements Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Introduction How to use this book Acknowledgments Section I: Introduction to evolution 1. Life begins How did life begin? ... In a warm little pond? ... On clay surfaces? ... Around black smokers? ... In a nuclear geyser system? ... In space? Membranes and metabolism DNA world One-celled life The workings of evolution Descent with modification and natural selection Speciation Is evolution random? Conclusion 2. Life gets complicated Fossil formation Geological clocks Molecular clocks The linear molecular clock The nonlinear molecular clock The tree of life The Cambrian explosion Chordates Conclusion 3. Vertebrates to early mammals Early vertebrates Biomineralization Hox genes Visual system changes Gill arches as predecessors to jaws Tetrapods Amniotes Synapsids and diapsids Dinosaurs Early mammals Conclusion 4. Later mammals through primates Early primates The strepsirrhine-haplorhine divergence The tarsier-anthropoid divergence The platyrrhine-catarrhine divergence New World monkeys Early catarrhines Old World monkeys The ape divergences Early apes Lesser apes Great apes Conclusion 5. Humans The first (Miocene) hominins Ardipithecus Orrorin Hominins of the Pliocene Anamensis Afarensis Garhi Africanus Hominins of the early Pleistocene The emergence of Homo The encephalization quotient Ergaster and erectus Hominins of the middle and late Pleistocene Naledi Sapiens Neanderthalensis Floresiensis Hominin trends and connections Size trends Skull trends Hominin phylogeny A well-pruned bush Conclusion Section II: Sensation and movement 6. The mechanical and chemical senses Early sensing Touch Mechanoreceptors Tactile neural pathways Balance Hearing Frequency selectivity Origin of the ossicles Smell Olfactory genes The formation of olfactory pseudogenes Taste Common trajectories in mechanical and chemical sensing The other mechanical and chemical senses Conclusion 7. Vision The evolution of eyes The genetic basis of eyes Chordate and early vertebrate eyes Color vision Trichromacy Night vision Mechanisms for increasing light sensitivity Acuity The fovea's contribution to acuity Eye and brain Conclusion 8. The origins of motion Single-cell organisms Metazoa Tetrapods Amniotes and mammals Primates and hominins The fine-branch environment The effect of large bodies? The hominin background Neural mechanisms of movement The origin of contralateral organization Cajal's proposal A problem with Cajal's proposal A modified proposal Conclusion 9. Bipedalism The causes of bipedalism Efficiency Climate change, foraging, and thermoregulation Carrying Why aren't other apes bipedal? Consequences of bipedalism The vertebral column and thorax The pelvis The arms and hands The legs and feet Conservation and change in motor patterning Conclusion Section III: Perception and cognition 10. Praxis and handedness Praxis Movement-related brain areas The evolution of movement-related brain areas The primate origins of handedness A strengthening of PRH within primates? The roles of task and environment Components of primate handedness Components of human handedness Genetic foundations Family resemblances Genetic models Individual genes Archaeological evidence Why handedness? Why left-handedness? Conclusion 11. Tools and planning Great ape tool use Primate tool cultures Defining culture Social learning Brain size and tool use The evolution of grip Human hand dexterity The earliest hominin tools Worked stone tools Gona and Oldowan tools The role of cognition Later tools Acheulean tools Mousterian tools Aurignacian tools Gravettian and Solutrean tools Magdalenian tools Hamburgian and Ahrensburgian tools Clovis tools Comparison of ape and human tool behaviors Increased hominin planning Brain mechanisms of planning The rise of area 10 The cognitive role of area 10 Understanding causality Conclusion 12. Spatial perception Location Higher brain mechanisms for recognizing location Depth Motion Quantity Subitizing in humans Subitizing in other primates Orienting The evolutionary background of orienting Reaching and grasping Navigation Brain mechanisms in navigation The independence of spatial processes Evolution of the parietal lobe Conclusion 13. Pattern recognition Localized processes Features and contours General forms Objects Object classes Visual agnosia Comparisons between species Global versus local bias Global and local processing in other primates Other pattern recognition processes and areas Conclusion 14. Memory Sensory memory The peripheral component The central component The evolution of sensory memory Short-term memory Comparative studies of short-term memory Working memory Intermediate-term memory Long-term memory and its divisions Episodic memory Semantic memory Conclusion 15. Language Representational capacity Secondary representation Vocabulary Ape language studies Grammar The role of frontal brain areas Broca's area The role of perisylvian brain areas The planum temporale Inferior parietal cortex Other temporal lobe areas The hominin evolution of language: Language area changes Broca's cap Wernicke's area The hominin evolution of language: Peripheral changes The lungs The ear The jaw The vocal tract The hominin evolution of language: Behavioral changes "Proto-World" language The evolutionary process Conclusion 16. Consciousness Sensory awareness Blindsight and deaf hearing The role of reentry Attention Problems with attention as consciousness Metacognition Self-recognition Individual differences in self-recognition Self-recognizing species The role of encephalization The role of sociality Theory of mind Referential pointing Helping and deception Conclusion 17. A summary in nine firsts The first vertebrate (520 million years ago) The first tetrapod (365 million years ago) The first eutherian (170 million years ago) The first primate (74 million years ago) The first ape (29 million years ago) The first great ape (20 million years ago) The first hominin (7.5 million years ago) The first human (2.4 million years ago) The first modern human (200,000 years ago) The continuing story Glossary References Additional picture credits Author Index Subject Index