What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time
Evidence of cultural influences on cognition is accumulating, but untangling these cultural influences from one another or from non-cultural influences has remained a challenging task. As between-group differences are neither a sufficient nor a necessary indicator of cultural impact, cross-cultural...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00099/full |
| _version_ | 1818778190223507456 |
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| author | Andrea Bender Andrea Bender |
| author_facet | Andrea Bender Andrea Bender |
| author_sort | Andrea Bender |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Evidence of cultural influences on cognition is accumulating, but untangling these cultural influences from one another or from non-cultural influences has remained a challenging task. As between-group differences are neither a sufficient nor a necessary indicator of cultural impact, cross-cultural comparisons in isolation are unable to furnish any cogent conclusions. This shortfall can be compensated by taking a diachronic perspective that focuses on the role of culture for the emergence and evolution of our cognitive abilities. Three strategies for reconstructing early human cognition are presented: the chaîne opératoire approach and its extension to brain-imaging studies, large-scale extrapolations, and phylogenetic comparative methods. While these strategies are reliant on our understanding of present-day cognition, they conversely also have the potential to advance this understanding in fundamental ways. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T11:40:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7714fb4dd14f416bbc2ab51102026a80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T11:40:47Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7714fb4dd14f416bbc2ab51102026a802022-12-21T21:09:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-01-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.00099500007What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across TimeAndrea Bender0Andrea Bender1SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, NorwayEvidence of cultural influences on cognition is accumulating, but untangling these cultural influences from one another or from non-cultural influences has remained a challenging task. As between-group differences are neither a sufficient nor a necessary indicator of cultural impact, cross-cultural comparisons in isolation are unable to furnish any cogent conclusions. This shortfall can be compensated by taking a diachronic perspective that focuses on the role of culture for the emergence and evolution of our cognitive abilities. Three strategies for reconstructing early human cognition are presented: the chaîne opératoire approach and its extension to brain-imaging studies, large-scale extrapolations, and phylogenetic comparative methods. While these strategies are reliant on our understanding of present-day cognition, they conversely also have the potential to advance this understanding in fundamental ways.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00099/fullcognitioncultureevolutionearly humanschaîne opératoirecross-cultural comparisons |
| spellingShingle | Andrea Bender Andrea Bender What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time Frontiers in Psychology cognition culture evolution early humans chaîne opératoire cross-cultural comparisons |
| title | What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time |
| title_full | What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time |
| title_fullStr | What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time |
| title_short | What Early Sapiens Cognition Can Teach Us: Untangling Cultural Influences on Human Cognition Across Time |
| title_sort | what early sapiens cognition can teach us untangling cultural influences on human cognition across time |
| topic | cognition culture evolution early humans chaîne opératoire cross-cultural comparisons |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00099/full |
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