The social brain is not enough: on the importance of the ecological brain for the origin of language
| Autor: | Francesco Ferretti |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Ferretti, Francesco |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
ecological brain
narrative Chronesthesia lcsh:BF1-990 Evolution of human intelligence ecological brain global coherence mental time travel narrative origin of language storytelling relevance theory social brain 050105 experimental psychology 03 medical and health sciences origin of language 0302 clinical medicine global coherence storytelling Hypothesis and Theory Psychology 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Narrative mental time travel General Psychology Human communication Ecology Relevance theory social brain 05 social sciences Cognition lcsh:Psychology relevance theory 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Storytelling Origin of language |
| Zdroj: | Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 7 (2016) Frontiers in Psychology |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01138/full |
| Popis: | In this paper, I assume that the study of the origin of language is strictly connected to the analysis of the traits that distinguish human language from animal communication. Usually, human language is said to be unique in the animal kingdom because it enables and/or requires intentionality or mindreading. By emphasizing the importance of mindreading, the social brain hypothesis has provided major insights within the origin of language debate. However, as studies on non-human primates have demonstrated that intentional forms of communication are already present in these species to a greater or lesser extent, I maintain that the social brain is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to explain the uniqueness of language. In this paper, I suggest that the distinctive feature of human communication resides in the ability to tell stories, and that the origin of language should be traced with respect to the capacity to produce discourses, rather than phrases or words. As narrative requires the ability to link events distant from one another in space and time, my proposal is that in order to explain the origin of language, we need to appeal to both the social brain and the ecological brain - that is, the cognitive devices which allow us to mentally travel in space and time. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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