Announcements, 9-29 Section assignments
tarix 06.03.2018 ölçüsü 22,3 Kb. #44758
Announcements, 9-29 Readers: available today after class Continue reading Tomasello for Friday Notes for Wed-Fri up by tonight Changes to website… The evolution of human cognition
(with reference to “social smarts”) Timeline of human evolution… In < 6 million years, could the hominid genome have evolved such drastic changes in cognitive phenotypes? How are new behaviors “cemented” in organisms of a species? How do new skills develop? One perspective: Nativism… (we’ll talk about the problems with this next week!) Other possible means for change…? How do new cognitive skills arise? Possible means… Evolution Cultural evolution Evolution, cultural evolution, and human development (Friday) An example: New cognitive schemes from cultural “racheting” What makes human cognitive development special? Many common traits of primates (e.g., Gómez)… 1. use of hands 3. grooming & other signs of complex social life 4. self-awareness* (limited) 5. infancy (prolonged, immature, dependent) 6. social grouping 7. vision Possible unique traits of humans… (what is Tomasello’s claim??) 1. language 2. intentionality (theory of mind) 3. teaching (intentionally showing another individual how to do something , so that they can do it themselves later) 4. causal inference/reasoning What is intentionality? Definition: “Tendency to interpret the behaviors of (self and) others as caused by unseen, hypothetical mental states: desires, beliefs, emotions, reflexes, etc. What are signs of intentionality in… adults? children? infants? non-human primates? Intentionality in non-human primates? Tomasello (p. 20): “The use of…established social behavior in a novel context is clearly…intelligent….but it is not clear that it involves…understanding…of the intentional or mental states of others.” Other examples? pointing, showing, bringing-to-show? teaching?** Chimp pointing:
Leavens & Hopkins’ data Experimental test of 115 chimps (captive) Ages: juvenile (3-7 yrs.) through elderly (> 35 yrs.) E1 places banana out of animal’s reach; leaves; E2 enters cage & greets animal Behaviors of interest: cupped hand, whole-hand gesture, index-point, other Results: 14% cupped, 37% whole-hand, 10% point Mostly adults: fewer than half of juveniles gesture No training , but maybe informal training? Does this show intentionality? What would? Merv points (courtesy Leavens)… Most controversial example of social smarts: Language and evolution How is human language different from… bee food location signaling? vervet monkey alarm calls? bird song? Can non-humans be taught language? History of mixed results: limited evidence of productivity, syntacticity, & combinatorial power (also: What would Gómez say is a limitation of these comparisons’ relevance to evolution?) best-case scenario? Kanzi… over 200 words (production); 500 (comprehension); very low error-rate Similar to 2.5-yr.-old child What’s special about language? Tomasello’s argument: Perceiving intentionality and causality Behaviors that show inferences of intentionality… Following gaze; pointing (12 months) Explaining behaviors in terms of mental states (18-20 mths) Imitating & inferring goals (18 mths) Word learning (18 mths) continued… Behaviors that show inferences of causality… Sensitive to spatial & temporal contiguity (6-8 mths) Means-end behaviors (simple: 7-8 mths) 7 mths: pull cloth more often when toy is present 8 mths: adapt pulling to distance of toy (+ remember where object was placed) What do tamarins do? Retrievability vs. size… Importance of mechanism: what age? What’s the relation among inferences of causes & intentionality? Other human specialization examples: Underestimating primates, or much ado? Tool use… Japanese Macacques can …it takes ADULT Chimpanzees quickly learn & remember food locations… BUT: What did you have for dinner? SO WHAT?? Moral #1: We are not the only social species Moral #2: We are not the only one capable of using symbols Dostları ilə paylaş:
