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A cognitive transition underlying both technological and social aspects of cumulative culture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 August 2020
Abstract
The argument that cumulative technological culture originates in technical-reasoning skills is not the only alternative to social accounts; another possibility is that accumulation of both technical-reasoning skills and enhanced social skills stemmed from the onset of a more basic cognitive ability such as recursive representational redescription. The paper confuses individual learning of pre-existing information with creative generation of new information.
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Target article
The elephant in the room: What matters cognitively in cumulative technological culture
Related commentaries (26)
A cognitive approach to cumulative technological culture is useful and necessary but only if it also applies to other species
A cognitive developmental approach is essential to understanding cumulative technological culture
A cognitive transition underlying both technological and social aspects of cumulative culture
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Author response
The elephant in the China shop: When technical reasoning meets cumulative technological culture