Spatial ability as a distinct domain of human cognition: An evolutionary perspective

Intelligence ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 101616
Author(s):  
David C. Geary
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective

The selfish goal meets the selfish gene

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-154
Author(s):  
Steven L. Neuberg ◽  
Mark Schaller
Keyword(s):  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Motivational Systems ◽  
Selfish Gene ◽  
Selfish Genes ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe connection between selfish genes and selfish goals is not merely metaphorical. Many goals that shape contemporary cognition and behavior are psychological products of evolutionarily fundamental motivational systems and thus are phenotypic manifestations of genes. An evolutionary perspective can add depth and nuance to our understanding of “selfish goals” and their implications for human cognition and behavior.

Critical Note

2018 ◽  
pp. 792-802
Author(s):  
Andreas Roepstorff ◽  
Tobias Starzak
Keyword(s):  
Group Formation ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
Abstract Representations ◽  
Critical Note ◽  
4E Cognition ◽  
Shed Light

How can approaching the topic of 4E cognition from an evolutionary perspective shed light on aspects of cultural and biological evolution, the nature of cognition in general, and of human nature in particular? The four papers in this section offer a temporal analysis that puts cognition into a context of larger processes that span historical and indeed evolutionary time, and they embed the dynamics of cognition beyond brains and individuals, into groups and even species. This analysis does not deny the importance of abstract representations for human cognition. However, all four contributions suggest that in focusing too narrowly on representational cognition we lose sight of the basic mechanisms supporting and driving cognition. Furthermore, to understand these, we need to understand not only how these processes are embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended, but also how they are shaped, transmitted, and diversified in processes of group formation.

Learning to be Human: teaching, culture and human cognitive evolution

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Teaching Culture ◽  
Life Pattern ◽  
Contemporary Schooling

Psychology has taken an evolutionary turn of late. This paper acknowledges the importance of adopting an evolutionary perspective in attempting to understand human cognition and development, but it suggests that the model adopted by many evolutionary psychologists is incomplete. Learning, teaching and cultural transmission play vital roles in the distinctive human life pattern, but have received inadequate attention in the literature. Drawing upon primatological, anthropological and psychological data, this paper offers an articulation of 'cultural learning', which, it is claimed, is a peculiarly accurate and resilient form of social form, made possible by the uniquely human capacity for an intersubjective engagement with the mental and intentional lives of other people. The paper discusses the character and appearance of imitative, collaborative and instructed forms of learning within early childhood, and tentatively identifies implications for child development and contemporary schooling.

Language as a mental travel guide

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Davis ◽  
Gerry T. M. Altmann ◽  
Eiling Yee
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Travel Guide

Abstract Gilead et al.'s approach to human cognition places abstraction and prediction at the heart of “mental travel” under a “representational diversity” perspective that embraces foundational concepts in cognitive science. But, it gives insufficient credit to the possibility that the process of abstraction produces a gradient, and underestimates the importance of a highly influential domain in predictive cognition: language, and related, the emergence of experientially based structure through time.

What is the purpose of cognition?

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aba Szollosi ◽  
Ben R. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Number ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
The Way

Abstract The purpose of human cognition depends on the problem people try to solve. Defining the purpose is difficult, because people seem capable of representing problems in an infinite number of ways. The way in which the function of cognition develops needs to be central to our theories.

Dual systems for all: Higher-order, role-based relational reasoning as a uniquely derived feature of human cognition

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Povinelli ◽  
Gabrielle C. Glorioso ◽  
Shannon L. Kuznar ◽  
Mateja Pavlic
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reasoning ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Relational Reasoning ◽  
Dual Systems ◽  
First Order ◽  
Reasoning System ◽  
Role Based

Abstract Hoerl and McCormack demonstrate that although animals possess a sophisticated temporal updating system, there is no evidence that they also possess a temporal reasoning system. This important case study is directly related to the broader claim that although animals are manifestly capable of first-order (perceptually-based) relational reasoning, they lack the capacity for higher-order, role-based relational reasoning. We argue this distinction applies to all domains of cognition.

Manipulate Me

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-562
Author(s):  
Alica Thissen ◽  
Frank M. Spinath ◽  
Nicolas Becker
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Response Elimination ◽  
School Students ◽  
Test Environment ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Construction Task

Abstract. The cube construction task represents a novel format in the assessment of spatial ability through mental cube rotation tasks. Instead of selecting the correct answer from several response options, respondents construct their own response in a computerized test environment, leading to a higher demand for spatial ability. In the present study with a sample of 146 German high-school students, we tested an approach to manipulate the item difficulties in order to create items with a greater difficulty range. Furthermore, we compared the cube task in a distractor-free and a distractor-based version while the item stems were held identical. The average item difficulty of the distractor-free format was significantly higher than in the distractor-based format ( M = 0.27 vs. M = 0.46) and the distractor-free format showed a broader range of item difficulties (.02 ≤  pi ≤ .95 vs. .37 ≤  pi ≤ .63). The analyses of the test results also showed that the distractor-free format had a significantly higher correlation with a broad intelligence test ( r = .57 vs. r = .17). Reasons for the higher convergent validity of the distractor-free format (prevention of response elimination strategies and the broader range of item difficulties) and further research possibilities are discussed.

Sequential Difficulty Effects During Strategy Execution

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Uittenhove ◽  
Patrick Lemaire
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Preceding Trial ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Strategy Execution ◽  
Strategy Performance ◽  
Empirical Implications

In two experiments, we tested the hypothesis that strategy performance on a given trial is influenced by the difficulty of the strategy executed on the immediately preceding trial, an effect that we call strategy sequential difficulty effect. Participants’ task was to provide approximate sums to two-digit addition problems by using cued rounding strategies. Results showed that performance was poorer after a difficult strategy than after an easy strategy. Our results have important theoretical and empirical implications for computational models of strategy choices and for furthering our understanding of strategic variations in arithmetic as well as in human cognition in general.

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