2-129 - Cognitive Development and Evolution

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Like other organs of the body, the brain and its functions are a product of evolution and should be understood in light of common descent. While humans possess cognitive abilities that transcend those of any other species, the fundamental building blocks of even our most abstract knowledge systems are shared with nonhuman animals. Evidence for such shared representations is often most clearly demonstrated by comparing studies of nonhuman animals and human children. This symposium highlights three cornerstones of human cognitive development - spatial, numerical, and social – and the degree to which they may be shared by other animals.

The first paper by Sang Ah Lee (University of Trento) presents evidence that representations of spatial information, which may serve as the basis for abstract geometric knowledge in humans, are shared across species far and wide across the phylogenetic tree.

The second paper by Jessica Cantlon (University of Rochester) shows that non-human primates exhibit an ability to track item-by-item changes in numbers of objects that is algorithmically and logically similar to human counting and may have been an important precursor.

The third paper by Felix Warneken (Harvard University) discusses similarities and differences in cooperative behavior between humans and nonhuman apes and the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of the psychological mechanisms that underlie such behaviors.

The paper presentations are followed by a discussion by Giorgio Vallortigara (University of Trento) of the implications of the above research and the combination of comparative and developmental approaches to studying the evolutionary foundations of cognitive abilities.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Sang Ah Lee, University of Trento

Discussant

• Giorgio Vallortigara, University of Trento

Individual Presentations

• Origins of Spatial Representations: From Zebrafish to Children - Presenting Author: Sang Ah Lee, University of Trento

• Origins of Mathematics: Proto-counting in Baboons - Presenting Author: Jessica F Cantlon, University of Rochester

• Origins of Human Cooperation: Integrating Evidence from Children and Chimpanzees - Presenting Author: Felix Warneken, Harvard University