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The role of developmental immaturity and plasticity in evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

David F. Bjorklund*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL33431http://www.psy.fau.edu/chez/dfb/

Abstract:

Aspects of cognitive immaturity may serve both to adapt children to their immediate environment and to prepare them for future ones. Language may have evolved in children's groups in the context of play. Developmental plasticity provides variability upon which natural selection operates, and such plasticity, that likely played an important role in the evolution of language, characterizes human children today.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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