Cognition

CognitionHerrmann, e., call, j., hernandez-lloreda, m. v., hare, b., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282Week 7 mckenny Houck, mickell Lethco, Melanie SeyartoWhat is the difference between humans and primates?HumansLanguageSymbolic mathematicsScientific reasoningLarger brain

Limited languageLimited symbolic MathematicsNo scientific reasoningSmaller brainPrimates

Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282If youve ever seen the movie Planet of the Apes, you might ask yourself how much of a difference is there really between us and our primate cousins? At least in terms of cognition, there are a few major differences. Humans have a clear advantage in cognitive abilities such as language, symbolic mathematics, scientific reasoning, and, of course, a larger brain.2Why?What was different in our environment that caused us to need to develop these cognitive abilities?Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282But why do we have this difference? What is it that caused humans to develop differently than primates?3Why do humans have more cognitive abilities?General IntelligenceLarger brains enable more efficient cognitive operations in humans than in other species.Adapted IntelligenceCognitive abilities adapted to deal with challenges in the ancestral environmentCultural IntelligenceCognition is the result of the development of many different social and cultural groups

Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282There are a few major hypothesis that answer this question. First is the general intelligence hypothesis. This states that because we have a bigger brain, we can be more efficient in cognitive functions. Bigger brain means more capacity to think.The second hypothesis is called adapted intelligence. It states that our cognitive abilities developed over time in response to problems in the environment of our ancestors. Think about it like the giraffe with the long neck example, just with our brains. Those who were able to communicate, for example, had the advantage and were better able to pass on their genes.The last hypothesis is called the cultural intelligence hypothesis which says that cognition was developed in response to the need to be in social and cultural groups. 4How did primates develop cognitive abilities?Ecological IntelligenceCognition was primarily shaped by environmental challenges such as collecting resourcesSocial IntelligenceCognition was primarily shaped by development of social groups and challenges of competition and cooperation

Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282As for primates there are two similar hypothesis why their cognitive abilities are as such. These include the ecological intelligence hypothesis and the social intelligence hypothesis.Ecological intelligence states that primate cognition is due to their environment. They are good at simpler mathematical skills such as addition because that related to a challenge in their environment of collecting resources such as food (see picture).The Social Intelligence hypothesis states that primate cognition was developed in response to social groups and the challenges of getting along (as you see in the photo these two monkeys are cooperating in social grooming).5MethodPrimate Cognition Battery Test (PCBT) two partsPhysical Cognition: Space, quantities, causalitySocial Cognition: Social learning, communication, theory of mindParticipantsChimpanzeesOrangutansHuman Children (age 2.5 years)Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282So how did they test it? This study used the Primate Cognition Battery Test (PCBT) which tested the participants in both physical and social cognitive tasks. Examples of Physical (if time): SPACE spacial memory ,object permanence, rotation, transpositionQUANTITITES: Relative numbers, addition numbersCAUSALITY: Noise, shape, tool use, tool propertiesExamples of Social (if time): SOCIAL LEARNING seeing another complete a task firstCOMMUNICATION comprehension, pointing cups, attentional stateTHEORY OF MIND gaze following, intentionsParticipants were chimpanzees, orangutans, and human children age 2.5 (Note: they used younger children because at this age they still had not been exposed to excessive influences of learning. This reveals something closer to their natural cognitive abilities and predispositions )6Results Physical CognitionHumans and Chimps score higher in physical cognition than orangutansGraphic adapted from Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282Humans and chimps were about equal in their performance on physical cognitive tasks. Both scored significantly higher than orangutans7Results Social CognitionHumans scored higher than chimps and orangutans on social cognition tests

Graphic adapted from Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282In the social cognitive tasks, humans scored significantly higher than chimps and orangutans.8Results Social CognitionHuman children were more skillful than both ape species on all three social scalesGraphic adapted from Herrmann, E., Call, J., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282This is the breakdown of the three social cognition tasks. As you can see, humans scored higher in ALL of the three tasks. 9Discussion - ImplicationsGeneral IntelligenceLarger brains enable more efficient cognitive operations in humans than in other species.Adapted IntelligenceCognitive abilities adapted to deal with challenges in the ancestral environmentCultural IntelligenceCognition is the result of the development of many different social and cultural groups

Herrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146282So what does this mean? Well, this means that humans have developed some specialized social-cognitive skills.It also shows that there is no real support for the general intelligence hypothesisWhy do humans have specialized skills in human cognition?Because increased cooperation and collaboration of ancestors created specialized adaptations for social communication and learning. If you dont believe me, take a look at this video. Youll note that the chimps in this video really struggle to do cooperative tasks and when they do, they will only do so under limited circumstances. (show video)10

Chimpanzee Problem Solving By Cooperationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGFKGK7_7J0Discussion Critical Review ItemsThere are few differences in cognition due to gender and individual differencesDifficult to determine if the tests were equally appropriate for both apes and human childrenDoes not respond to the adapted intelligence hypothesisHerrmann, E., Call, j., Hernandez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science, 317, 1360-1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.114628212Questions?