2019.07.24 Prof. P. Thomas Schoenemann

Departments of Anthropology and Cognitive Science

Indiana University

Profile

Research Exploring Co-evolution of Tools and Language

The evolutionary process favors the elaboration and modification of pre-existing abilities. Bipedalism, for example, did not evolve via a wholesale replacement of existing anatomy and neural connections, but rather simply the modification of anatomical structures that had evolved for previous types of movement. However, once the hands were freed, this allowed for the further flowering of tool use, and the cognition that supports such tool use. It is a mistake, however, to imagine these evolutionary changes occurring serially. Instead, these changes likely overlapped in time, and influenced each other. This co-evolutionary process would have led to the overlap and integration of different cognitive systems. In this talk I will review research we are pursuing exploring how brain circuitry underlying language may have coevolved with other systems, in particular those involved in tool manufacturing, and sequential processing in particular.