The Social Primate Brain: Evolution of Social Learning For Language And Tool-use

Abstract:

Human faculties for social learning and cumulative inheritance of

knowledge and technologies exceed that of our closest primate

relatives. Nevertheless, chimpanzees and bonobos have cumulative

inheritance and learn faster through social than through asocial

learning (Hopper, et al. 2015). Macaque, chimpanzee and human

brain comparisons allow us to understand cortical reorganisation

throughout primate evolution. However, directly observable

evidence in early hominins is limited because brains do not fossilise.

The coevolution of manual praxis and language makes tool-use a

viable proxy for evolutionary developmental models of social

learning. Throughout the Palaeolithic, increasingly complex tools

could have relied on more complex social learning mechanisms. This

dissertation uses comparative behavioural, palaeoanthropological

and neuroimaging research to determine what makes human

cognition differ from our primate relatives.

The dissertation aims to examine the evolutionary

development of social learning to answer the research question:

what social learning mechanisms do the genera Pan and Homo

share and what new mechanisms evolved in the hominin lineage? A

model is proposed in which social learning, language, and tool-use

origins are rooted in a shared primate heritage for visuomotor

coordination connected by action-observation-execution and

mentalising cortical networks. These networks cooperate and are

essential for inter-generational transmission of knowledge.

To achieve these aims, a meta-analysis of 99 neuroimaging

studies is conducted, contrasting results across humans in mirror

neuron, mentalising, language, and tool studies. Results are

compared with chimpanzee neuroimaging studies. In humans, the

current study found consistent cortical activation in left frontoparietal-

temporal action-observation-execution (i.e. mirror neuron)

and right-hemispheric mentalising networks. This same pattern

occurs in left- and right-handed individuals. The mirror neuron

network activates when individuals observe skills already

programmed into their motor repertoire, such as when rehearsing a

skill. When individuals use contextual inference to understand

another's intentions, the mentalising network activates. Both

networks are required in social learning.

Species differences suggest these networks underwent

adaptive selection during hominin evolution. Hominins show more

parietal activity and dorsal stream extension than chimpanzees.

This is associated with mapping fine details of spatial-temporal

awareness of one's own body. This is essential for copying complex

action-sequences. Unfortunately, chimpanzee neuroimaging studies

are very limited in number; future research must collect more

neuroimaging data to support evolutionary-developmental models.

Extracted text from https://www.academia.edu/37629755/The_Social_Primate_Brain_Evolution_of_Social_Learning_For_Language_And_Tool-use?auto=download:

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