Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language
Early modern humans developed mental capabilities that were immeasurably greater than those of non-human primates. We see this in the rapid innovation in tool making, the development of complex language, and the creation of sophisticated art forms, none of which we find in our closest relatives. Whi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Frontiers Research Foundation
2018
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115414 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-9463 |
| _version_ | 1826196927484526592 |
|---|---|
| author | Nóbrega, Vitor A. Miyagawa, Shigeru Lesure, Cora Lea |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Nóbrega, Vitor A. Miyagawa, Shigeru Lesure, Cora Lea |
| author_sort | Nóbrega, Vitor A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Early modern humans developed mental capabilities that were immeasurably greater than those of non-human primates. We see this in the rapid innovation in tool making, the development of complex language, and the creation of sophisticated art forms, none of which we find in our closest relatives. While we can readily observe the results of this high-order cognitive capacity, it is difficult to see how it could have developed. We take up the topic of cave art and archeoacoustics, particularly the discovery that cave art is often closely connected to the acoustic properties of the cave chambers in which it is found. Apparently, early modern humans were able to detect the way sound reverberated in these chambers, and they painted artwork on surfaces that were acoustic "hot spots," i.e., suitable for generating echoes. We argue that cave art is a form of cross-modality information transfer, in which acoustic signals are transformed into symbolic visual representations. This form of information transfer across modalities is an instance of how the symbolic mind of early modern humans was taking shape into concrete, externalized language. We also suggest that the earliest rock art found in Africa may constitute one of the first fossilized proxies for the expression of full-fledged human linguistic behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:39:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/115414 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:39:52Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1154142022-09-27T14:07:54Z Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language Nóbrega, Vitor A. Miyagawa, Shigeru Lesure, Cora Lea Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Miyagawa, Shigeru Lesure, Cora Lea Early modern humans developed mental capabilities that were immeasurably greater than those of non-human primates. We see this in the rapid innovation in tool making, the development of complex language, and the creation of sophisticated art forms, none of which we find in our closest relatives. While we can readily observe the results of this high-order cognitive capacity, it is difficult to see how it could have developed. We take up the topic of cave art and archeoacoustics, particularly the discovery that cave art is often closely connected to the acoustic properties of the cave chambers in which it is found. Apparently, early modern humans were able to detect the way sound reverberated in these chambers, and they painted artwork on surfaces that were acoustic "hot spots," i.e., suitable for generating echoes. We argue that cave art is a form of cross-modality information transfer, in which acoustic signals are transformed into symbolic visual representations. This form of information transfer across modalities is an instance of how the symbolic mind of early modern humans was taking shape into concrete, externalized language. We also suggest that the earliest rock art found in Africa may constitute one of the first fossilized proxies for the expression of full-fledged human linguistic behavior. 2018-05-16T18:58:46Z 2018-05-16T18:58:46Z 2018-02 2017-07 2018-05-04T14:28:27Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1664-1078 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115414 Miyagawa, Shigeru et al. “Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis About the Relationship Among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (February 2018) © 2018 Miyagawa, Lesure and Nóbrega https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-9463 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00115 Frontiers in Psychology Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Frontiers Research Foundation Frontiers |
| spellingShingle | Nóbrega, Vitor A. Miyagawa, Shigeru Lesure, Cora Lea Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title | Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title_full | Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title_fullStr | Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title_short | Cross-Modality Information Transfer: A Hypothesis about the Relationship among Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Symbolic Thinking, and the Emergence of Language |
| title_sort | cross modality information transfer a hypothesis about the relationship among prehistoric cave paintings symbolic thinking and the emergence of language |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115414 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-9463 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nobregavitora crossmodalityinformationtransferahypothesisabouttherelationshipamongprehistoriccavepaintingssymbolicthinkingandtheemergenceoflanguage AT miyagawashigeru crossmodalityinformationtransferahypothesisabouttherelationshipamongprehistoriccavepaintingssymbolicthinkingandtheemergenceoflanguage AT lesurecoralea crossmodalityinformationtransferahypothesisabouttherelationshipamongprehistoriccavepaintingssymbolicthinkingandtheemergenceoflanguage |