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Complex behaviors: Evolution and the brain
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2010
Abstract
Three issues are addressed in this commentary. (1) Wilkins & Wakefield are commended for placing the complex behavior they discuss within an evolutionary matrix. (2) They err on a number of points in regard to their treatment of this complex behavior. These involve (a) their emphasis on the evolution of conceptual structure rather than language, (b) their equation of meaning with reference, (c) their minimalist view of learning theory, and (d) their separation of the evolution of speech from that of language. (3) They adopt a framework for neural preconditions that has been clearly discredited on both behavioral and neuroanatomical grounds. Finally, recent research involving modern neuroimaging techniques casts further doubt on the authors' postulated functions for the neural areas they discuss.
- Type
- Open Peer Commentary
- Information
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 18 , Issue 1: An International Journal of Current Research and Theory with Open Peer Commentary , March 1995 , pp. 186 - 188
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995
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