Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution

Looks at how humans have evolved complex behaviours such as language and culture.

Kathleen R. Gibson (Author), Tim Ingold (Author)

9780521485418, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 January 1995

496 pages, 25 b/w illus. 14 tables
24.8 x 17.5 x 2.4 cm, 1 kg

"While most chapters are written on a level appropriate for people from other fields, the breadth of coverage insures that experts in all relevant fields will find plenty of new food for thought. Consequently, this is a rather rare book in that it can be highly recommended for readers ranging from students to experts. All that is required is an interest in tools, language and human cognition, and this will surely be provoked by the book if not already present." Thomas R. Alley, Human Ethology Bulletin

The question addressed by this volume is how human beings have evolved as creatures who can make and use more complex tools, communicate in more complex ways and engage in more complex forms of social life than any other species in the animal kingdom. Leading researchers from fields as diverse as biological and social anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, neurology and ethology have come together to present a unique interdisciplinary study of this central question in human evolution. The topics explored include the parallels between speech, manual gesture and other modes of communication; comparisons of the tool-using skills and imitative abilities of humans and non-human primates and the neurological links between the cognitive processes involved in language. This important volume will be essential reading for all those interested in human evolution, be they philosophers, humanists or scientists.

Preface
Prologue: General introduction: Animal minds, human minds Kathleen Gibson
A history of speculation on the relation between tools and language Gordon Hewes
Part I. Word, Sign and Gesture: General introduction: Relations between visual-gestural and vocal-auditory modalities of communication Tim Ingold
1. Human gesture Adam Kendon
2. When does gesture become language? Susan Goldwin-Meadow
3. The emergence of language Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Duane Rumbaugh
4. A comparative approach to language parallels Charles Snowdon
Part II. Technological Skills and Associated Social Behaviors of the Non-Human Primates: Introduction: Generative interplay between technical capacities, social relations, imitation and cognition Kathleen Gibson
5. Capuchin monkeys Elisabetta Visalberghi
6. The intelligent use of tools William McGrew
7. Aspects of transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees Christophe Boesch
Part III. Connecting Up The Brain: Introduction: Overlapping neural control of language, gesture and tool use Kathleen Gibson
8. Disorders of language and tool use Daniel Kempler
9. Sex differences in visuospatial skills Dean Falk
10. The unitary hypothesis William H. Calvin
11. Tool use, language and social behaviour in relationship to information processing capacities Kathleen Gibson
Part IV. Perspectives on Development: Introduction: Beyond neotony and recapitulation Kathleen Gibson
12. Human language development and object manipulation Andrew Lock
13. Comparative cognitive development Jonas Langer
14. Higher intelligence, propositional language and culture as adaptations for planning Sue Parker and Constance Milbrath
Part V. Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives: Introduction: Tools, techniques and technology Tim Ingold
15. Early stone industries and inferences regarding language and cognition Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick
16. Tools and language in human evolution Iain Davidson and William Noble
17. Layers of thinking in tool behaviour Thomas Wynn
18. The complementation theory of language and tool use Peter Reynolds
19. Tool-use, sociality and intelligence Tim Ingold
Epilogue: Technology, language, intelligence Tim Ingold
Index.

Subject Areas: Animal behaviour [PSVP], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]