Enhancing thoughts: Culture, technology, and the evolution of human cognitive uniqueness

Three facts are widely thought to be key to the characterization of human cognitive uniqueness (though a number of other factors are often cited as well): (a) humans are sophisticated cultural learners; (b) humans often rely on mental states with rich representational contents; and (c) humans have t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMind & language Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 465 - 484
Main Author Schulz, Armin W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2022
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Cultural change
Cultural factors
Cultural learning
evolutionary psychology
Feedback
Human evolution
human uniqueness
Humans
Learning
mental representation
Mental states
Personality
situated cognition
Sophistication
Technology
tool use
Uniqueness
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Summary:Three facts are widely thought to be key to the characterization of human cognitive uniqueness (though a number of other factors are often cited as well): (a) humans are sophisticated cultural learners; (b) humans often rely on mental states with rich representational contents; and (c) humans have the ability and disposition to make and use tools. This article argues that (a)–(c) create a positive feedback loop: Sophisticated cultural learning makes possible the manufacture of tools that increase the sophistication of representational decision‐making, which in turn allows for yet further increases in the sophistication of cultural learning and tool manufacture.
ISSN:0268-1064
1468-0017
DOI:10.1111/mila.12320