Overview
- Provides a critique of received wisdom through a multidisciplinary consideration of empirical experiments, neuroscientific findings, and archeological records
- Highlights the part played by the development of memory in the evolution of tool-making and tool-use by early humans, which it contrasts with the situation in great apes
- Addresses the matter with critical analysis rather than comfortable self-fulfilling accommodative argument
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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About this book
This work examines the cognitive capacity of great apes in order to better understand early man and the importance of memory in the evolutionary process. It synthesizes research from comparative cognition, neuroscience, primatology as well as lithic archaeology, reviewing findings on the cognitive ability of great apes to recognize the physical properties of an object and then determine the most effective way in which to manipulate it as a tool to achieve a specific goal. The authors argue that apes (Hominoidea) lack the human cognitive ability of imagining how to blend reality, which requires drawing on memory in order to envisage alternative future situations, and thereby modifying behavior determined by procedural memory. This book reviews neuroscientific findings on short-term working memory, long-term procedural memory, prospective memory, and imaginative forward thinking in relation to manual behavior. Since the manipulation of objects by Hominoidea in the wild (particularly in order to obtain food) is regarded as underlying the evolution of behavior in early Hominids, contrasts are highlighted between the former and the latter, especially the cognitive implications of ancient stone-tool preparation.
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Michael J. Walker is Honorific Emeritus Professor in the Department of Zoology & Physical Anthropology at University of Murcia, Spain
Héctor M. Manrique is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology & Sociology at University of Zaragoza, Spain
Héctor M. Manrique is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology & Sociology at University of Zaragoza, Spain
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Early Evolution of Human Memory
Book Subtitle: Great Apes, Tool-making, and Cognition
Authors: Héctor M. Manrique, Michael J. Walker
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64447-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-64446-2Published: 08 September 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-87796-9Published: 11 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-64447-9Published: 22 August 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 150
Number of Illustrations: 10 b/w illustrations
Topics: Cognitive Psychology, Biological Psychology, Zoology, Evolutionary Biology, Neuropsychology