Early Evolution of Human Memory - Great Apes, Tool-making, and Cognition

This work examines the cognitive capacity of great apes in order to better understand early man and the importance of memory in the evolutionary process. It synthesizes research from comparative cognition, neuroscience, primatology as well as lithic archaeology, reviewing findings on the cognitive ability of great apes to recognize the physical properties of an object and then determine the most effective way in which to manipulate it as a tool to achieve a specific goal. The authors argue that apes (Hominoidea) lack the human cognitive ability of imagining how to blend reality, which requires drawing on memory in order to envisage alternative future situations, and thereby modifying behavior determined by procedural memory. This book reviews neuroscientific findings on short-term working memory, long-term procedural memory, prospective memory, and imaginative forward thinking in relation to manual behavior. Since the manipulation of objects by Hominoidea in the wild (particularly in order to obtain food) is regarded as underlying the evolution of behavior in early Hominids, contrasts are highlighted between the former and the latter, especially the cognitive implications of ancient stone-tool preparation.

List of contents

1. Tool-Use by Great Apes in the Wild.- 2. Great Apes, Tools, and Cognition.- 3. Early Tool-Making and the Evolution of Human Memory Systems in the Brain.- 4. Concluding Remarks.

About the author

Michael J. Walker is Honorific Emeritus Professor in the Department of Zoology & Physical Anthropology at University of Murcia, Spain
Héctor M. Manrique is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology & Sociology at University of Zaragoza, Spain

Summary

Provides a critique of received wisdom through a multidisciplinary consideration of empirical experiments, neuroscientific findings, and archeological records
Highlights the part played by the development of memory in the evolution of tool-making and tool-use by early humans, which it contrasts with the situation in great apes
Addresses the matter with critical analysis rather than comfortable self-fulfilling accommodative argument

Product details

• Authors: Héctor Manrique, Héctor M Manrique, Héctor M. Manrique, Michael J Walker, Michael J. Walker
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783319877969
• ISBN: 978-3-31-987796-9
• No. of pages: 150
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 9 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 227 g
• Illustrations: XV, 150 p. 10 illus.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; C, Zoologie und Tierwissenschaften, Evolution, Biopsychologie, Physiologische Psychologie, Neuropsychologie, Brain, neuroanatomy, Zoology & animal sciences, Physiological & neuro-psychology, biopsychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, Evolutionary Biology, Zoology, Biological Psychology, Zoology and animal sciences, Technological Developments, Palaeolithic Technology