{"title":"What would be pre-modern human cognition?","authors":"Nicholas Blurton Jones","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000906","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stibbard-Hawkes's detailed demonstration that in the case of hunter-gatherer artifacts, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence must never be forgotten. The belief that there is a single coherent \"human cognitive capacity\" difference between modern humans and some unspecified earlier form should be rigorously re-examined.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"48 ","pages":"e6"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142977387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"All that glitters is not gold: The false-symbol problem in archaeology.","authors":"Claudio Tennie, Ronald J Planer","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000888","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000888","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stibbard-Hawkes forcefully alerts us to the pitfall of false-negative reasoning in symbolic archaeology. We highlight the twin problem of false-positive reasoning in what we call the \"false-symbol problem.\" False symbols are intuitively special entities that, owing to their non-utilitarian nature, invite symbolic interpretation. But they are not symbolic. We link the false-symbol problem to work in comparative primate cognition, taking \"primate art\" as our main example.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"48 ","pages":"e18"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142977354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The cognitive and evolutionary science of behavioural modernity goes beyond material chronology.","authors":"Andoni S E Sergiou, Liane Gabora","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000943","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stibbard-Hawkes' taphonomic findings are valuable, and his call for caution warranted, but the hazards he raises are being mitigated by a multi-pronged approach; current research on behavioural/cognitive modernity is not based solely on material chronology. Theories synthesize data from archaeology, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, and genetics, and predictions arising from these theories are tested with mathematical and agent-based models.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"48 ","pages":"e16"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142977385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, Ben White, Avel Guénin-Carlut, Axel Constant, Andy Clark
{"title":"Material culture both reflects and causes human cognitive evolution.","authors":"Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, Ben White, Avel Guénin-Carlut, Axel Constant, Andy Clark","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X2400092X","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0140525X2400092X","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Our commentary suggests that different materialities (fragile, enduring, and mixed) may influence cognitive evolution. Building on Stibbard-Hawkes, we propose that predictive brains minimise errors and seek information, actively structuring environments for epistemic benefits. This perspective complements Stibbard-Hawkes' view.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"48 ","pages":"e7"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142977364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A terror management theory perspective on the appeal of historical myths.","authors":"Tom Pyszczynski, Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X2400061X","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0140525X2400061X","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Historical myths are appealing primarily because they provide people with views of life and their role in it as significant and enduring. These worldviews help people manage death anxiety by enabling them to view themselves as part of something great that stretches far into the past and endures indefinitely into the future. We review empirical evidence supporting this analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e189"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Historical myths define group boundaries: A mathematical sketch and evidence from Ukraine.","authors":"Matthew R Zefferman, Paul E Smaldino","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000839","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The authors' proposal for the evolutionary origins of historical myths does not hold up to scrutiny, as illustrated by a simple mathematical model. Group-level explanations, such as defining the conditions for in-group membership, are dismissed by the authors but are far more plausible, as illustrated by the ongoing war in Ukraine.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e196"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The influence of stories including myths of origin.","authors":"Keith Oatley, Si Jia Wu","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000815","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000815","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sijilmassi et al. argue that myths serve to gain coalitional support by detailing shared histories of ancestry and cooperation. They overlook the emotional influences of stories, which include myths of human origin. We suggest that influential myths do not promote cooperation principally by signaling common ancestry, but by prompting human emotions of interdependence and connection.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e186"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why some coalitions benefit from historical myths more than others.","authors":"Luuk L Snijder, Carsten K W De Dreu","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000657","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Behavioural ecologies in themselves can create variation in fitness interdependencies among individuals, and hence modulate the functionality of invoking historical myths. We develop this possibility for the case where coalitions form to attack and exploit enemies, or to defend and protect against hostile out-groups. We propose that invoking historical myths are functional and observed especially when groups aggressively expand.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e192"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Group myths can create shared understanding even if they don't act as superstimuli.","authors":"Moshe Hoffman, Cristina Moya","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000785","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sijilmassi et al. argue that myths around shared ancestry and history exploit an evolved psychology of interdependence. In contrast, we argue that psychological exploitation is not required. Rather, such myths may be one method, among many, to create a shared understanding of group boundaries, which can be \"self-enforcing.\" We summarize the game-theoretic basis for this account and some supportive evidence.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e181"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Homo historicus: History as psychological science.","authors":"David Pietraszewski, Michael Moncrieff","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000682","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Historical myths are indeed a mystery in need of explanation, and we elaborate on the present adaptationist account. However, the same analysis can also be applied to motivations to produce and consume history in general: That humans produce and consume history is also a mystery in need of psychological explanation. An adaptationist psychological science of history is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e188"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}