Homo artifex

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Dietrich Stout
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Evolution Of Development ◽  
Behavioral Sciences ◽  
Extended Practice ◽  
Cultural Niche ◽  
Over Time

While stone tools provide only the narrowest keyhole view of the lives of our ancestors, new theory and methods that explicitly focus on the interaction of organisms and environments over time—niche construction, the evolution of development, phenotypic accommodation, and gene–culture co-evolution—provide opportunities for squeezing “mind” from enigmatic stones. Tool-making, like language and theory of mind, is a culturally transmitted skill acquired through extended practice. It is also a key component of a human cultural niche that supports our unique adaptive strategy of large brains, cooperative breeding, and extended development. As discussed in this chapter, by deploying methods from the neural and behavioral sciences to better understand this archaeologically visible behavior, we can hope to more broadly illuminate the evolution of the human mind, brain, and culture.

scholarly journals Proactive prosociality in a cooperatively breeding corvid, the azure-winged magpie ( Cyanopica cyana )

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 20160649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Horn ◽  
Clara Scheer ◽  
Thomas Bugnyar ◽  
Jorg J. M. Massen
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Over Time

One of the contemporary hypotheses concerning the evolution of human altruism is the cooperative breeding hypothesis (CBH) which has recently been tested in non-human primates. Using a similar paradigm, we investigated prosociality in a cooperatively breeding corvid, the azure-winged magpie. We found that the magpies delivered food to their group members at high rates, and unlike other corvids, they did so without any cues provided by others. In two control conditions, the magpies stopped participating over time, indicating that they learned to discriminate prosocial tests from controls. Azure-winged magpies are thus the first birds that experimentally show proactive prosociality. Our findings are in line with the CBH; however, additional corvid species need to be tested in this promising paradigm.

scholarly journals A Prospective Study of Social Competence in Survivors of Pediatric Brain Tumors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Albee ◽  
Santiago Allende ◽  
Victoria Cosgrove ◽  
Matthew Hocking
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Brain Tumors ◽  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Pediatric Brain Tumors ◽  
Inverse Association ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Pediatric Brain ◽  
Over Time

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Survivors of pediatric brain tumors (BT) are at increased risk for difficulties with social competence, including poor social information processing (SIP) and peer relationships. Due to improved survival rates among BT, there is a need to better understand these challenges and if they are specific to BT versus other survivors of childhood cancer. METHODS: 51 BT and 34 survivors of pediatric solid tumors (ST) completed evaluations of SIP and peer relationship quality within 6 months of completing treatment and at one year follow-up. Caregivers also completed a measure of social skills. Linear mixed models evaluated (1) differences between BT and ST on SIP and social skills and (2) how indices of SIP were associated with peer relationships over time for ST and BT. RESULTS: BT did not differ from ST on indices of SIP or social skills over time. There was a three-way interaction between measures of SIP, group, and time to predict peer relationships. ST showed a positive association between baseline social skills and theory of mind and peer relationships over time, whereas BT showed an inverse association between baseline social skills and theory of mind and peer relationships over time. CONCLUSION: Baseline SIP and social skills affected the trajectory of BT peer relationships. BT social functioning should be monitored regularly after the completion of treatment to determine if and when intervention services would be beneficial.

Shapes and Patterns in Visualizing Human Knowledge

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Osinski ◽  
Veslava Osinska
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Fractal Structures ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Knowledge Presentation ◽  
Historical Outline ◽  
Effective Visualization ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Over Time

The concepts of knowledge presentation have their origin in the early Middle Ages and establish contemporary trends in visualization activity. Using the latest scientific observations, it is possible to conclude that circles and spheres are the most common natural shapes in both micro- and macrospace. The next most often used metaphor in medieval literature is a tree: an instance of fractals that today determines the geometry of nature. The fractals are the strong attractors of human mind space. The problem is how these two forms interact with each other and how they coexist in the context of effective visualization of information. The chapter presents an intercultural historical outline of appropriate graphical forms for knowledge representation. The authors strive to prove the main hypothesis: fractals and spheres contribute to modern complex visualization. The reasons may be sought in human perception and cognition. This chapter discusses visualization problems in the form of tree-like fractal structures embedded in spherical shapes over time, different cultures, and inter-personal relationships.

The Energic–Energetic Distinction and Coleridge’s Two-Level Theory of Mind

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-186
Author(s):  
Peter Cheyne
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
The Mind

Chapter 6 reconstructs what the author identifies as Coleridge’s two-level theory of the higher and lower levels of mind. Section 6.1 draws on a Coleridgean distinction to characterize the higher mind of idea-directed freedom as energic and the lower mind of desire and association as energetic. Applying this to Coleridge himself, the chapter describes his restless, flowing, and challenging writings as balanced by—and subordinated to—the higher mind that strives towards ultimate ends and meaningful values. Section 6.2 explores the ‘refluent’ dynamic between the higher level of imagination and reason and the lower, of sensation, desire, and the ‘mechanical understanding’. Here, the author elaborates his theory of intellectual, noetic contemplation versus sensuous, inchoate contemplation, developing from Coleridge’s higher–lower, energic–energetic dynamic. Section 6.3 explores what the author calls the ordination of thought and being by ideas, involving the orientation of the mind to ends and values, relating this to Coleridge’s view of the three main modes of balance or imbalance in the human mind.

Is the Human Brain Unique?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
The Future ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Brain

Some scientists now argue that humans are really not superior to other species, including our nearest genetic neighbors, chimpanzees and bonobos. Indeed, those animals seem capable of many things previously thought to be uniquely human, including a sense of the future, empathy, depression, and theory of mind. However, it is clear that humans alone produce speech, dominate the globe, and have several brain diseases like schizophrenia. There are three possible sources within the brain for these differences in brain function: in the structure of the brain, in genes coding for proteins in the brain, and in the level of expression of genes in the brain. There is evidence that all three are the case, giving us a place to look for the intersection of the human mind and brain: the expression of genes within neurons of the prefrontal cortex.

scholarly journals The ethno-techno-conservation approach in the utilization of Black Fruit (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen ethnic of Papua, Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1336-1343
Author(s):  
ANTONI UNGIRWALU ◽  
SAN AFRI AWANG ◽  
PRIYONO SURYANTO ◽  
AHMAD MARYUDI
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Adaptive Resource Management ◽  
Traditional Management ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Adaptive Resource ◽  
Over Time

Ungirwalu A, Awang SA, Suryanto P, Maryudi A. 2017. The ethno-techno-conservation approach in the utilization of Black Fruit (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen people of Papua, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 1336-1343. Identities and cultures are developed by societies through interaction with their environments. In caring for and using their environment, ecological knowledge is created. Deep knowledge of sustainable utilization and conservation of forest resources exist in Papua, but this traditional wisdom is poorly reflected in scientific literature. Such knowledge includes for example the adaptive traditional management of Black Fruit trees (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen people of Papua, which is the subject of the case study reported in this paper. Our research focused on developing an understanding of how local knowledge about utilization, conservation, and protection of Black Fruit was constructed over time. It employed ethnoecology as the analytical lens. The study was conducted in Teluk Wondama District, West Papua. We found that the adaptive resource management of Black Fruit by the Wandamen is based on an approach which we have called “ethnotechno- conservation”. This approach is an attitude of mind by which Wandamen communities manage their Black Fruit trees to meet the dual goals of fulfilling subsistence needs and conserving the resource. This adaptive strategy has evolved over time as a response to the dynamics of the environment and exemplifies the co-evolution of culture and environment that is a defining feature of the world we all inhabit. The traditional concepts and knowledge of the Wandaman elaborate conservation values in the utilization of the Black Fruit. These adaptive concepts and knowledge are codified in their beliefs, myths, and handed-down wisdom.

Block by Block

Reading Minds ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Henry M. Wellman
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Construction Project ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Hearing Parents ◽  
Complex Construction ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
Over Time

This chapter continues where Chapter 5 left off. It examines how childhood theory of mind develops, looking for, and finding, the features of theory development: It unfolds in a progression of steps; it can manifest different sequences depending on children’s life circumstances; more advanced understandings are not only facilitated by but also constrained by children’s earlier understandings. Theory of mind is a complex edifice of ideas about people’s mental lives. Like any complex construction project, it must proceed in steps, over time. Profoundly deaf children of hearing parents, and those children’s theory-of-mind delays, nicely and intriguingly help illustrate all this.

Representing Adolescent Fears: Theory of Mind and Fantasy Fiction

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Silva
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Fantasy Fiction ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Fantasy Novels ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Symbolic Approach

Theory of mind is the capacity to understand the behaviour of others by attributing to them mental and emotional processes. When we read works of fiction this cognitive ability comes into play because we form mental representations of the characters, attributing them with feelings, thoughts, motivations, and fears. The construction of these mental models is an inductive process by which the reader ‘fills in the blank spaces’ according to his/her subjectivity. In performing this interpretive work we decode symbols that gain meaning only in the context of the mental model that the reader builds around the character. In fantasy, symbols encourage a more interpretative reading, erase the illusion of the uniqueness of reality, and can promote a critical vision of human and social multiplicity. This article analyses two fantasy novels (Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother and Cristina Brambilla's Al primo sangue) which, through a symbolic approach, deal with two of the most frightening fears connected to growing up. The aim is to demonstrate how, under the veil of metaphorical language, these novels represent the complexity of the human mind and show the interior dynamics of characters when they face fears deeply connected with adolescence.

scholarly journals Emotion understanding, theory of mind, and prosocial orientation: Relations over time in early childhood

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie D. Eggum ◽  
Nancy Eisenberg ◽  
Karen Kao ◽  
Tracy L. Spinrad ◽  
Rebecca Bolnick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Emotion Understanding ◽  
Orientation Relations ◽  
Prosocial Orientation ◽  
Over Time
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