Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography

This article proposes the important prerequisites for indirect speech that includes at least four major cognitive factors, adequate phonological storage capacity, recursion, a full theory of mind, and executive functions. The phonological store subsystem is considered to play a critical role in language production and comprehension. Adults who have greater phonological storage capacity have also been found to score higher on verbal tests of intelligence and higher on measures of verbal fluency and they also do better on retroactive and proactive interference tasks. The phonological storage capacity represents a short-term memory ensemble that can be phylogenetically tracked to earlier homologues in hominin evolution and to current primate brain systems. The recursion is highly dependent upon the phonological storage capacity. The theory of mind refers to the ability to infer the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others. The theory of mind also consists of four independent skills that include detection of the intentions of others, detection of eye-direction, shared attention, and the final component called the theory of mind module. The final component, whose onset in humans is thought to develop by the age of four, contains a complex set of social-cognitive rules, and combined with the other three components, creates the full-fledged, adult-like theory of mind. The specific executive function might be involved in the theory of mind.

For the last two decades, a major question for paleoanthropologists has been the origins of modernity and modern thinking. Explanations such as symbolic culture, fully syntactic language, or abstract reasoning are all too often proffered without clear or adequate operationalizations. It is purpose of the present paper to suggest both an evolutionary cognitive basis for one aspect of modern thinking and modern language, metaphors, and to offer a potential neurological substrate.In our attempt to trace the evolution of a more circumscribed component of modern cognition, we think the candidate trait should be shared, at least in part, by our closer nonhuman primates. The trait should also be evident early (ontogeny) in humans, and there should be some specifiable and demonstrable neurological substrate. Finally, there should be evidence that the trait unambiguously sets a foundation for modern thinking. We think this trait is numerosity, i.e., the ability to think about and reason with numbers.