PSYCH 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Sug, Brain Size, Cave Painting
Document Summary
How has the human brain changed in its recent evolutionary history: until about 300,000 years ago, after which cranial capacity begins to increase much faster. This pattern sug- gests that something important, some new selective pressure or some new kind of adaptation, occurred about 300,000 years ago. What is the psychological significance of changing tool kits: upgraded brains enable us to take our cultural inheritance and to develop it further, then to pass it on to the next generation, which can do the same. As these traditions develop, our species becomes more and more capable, and eventually we began to use our behavioral flexibility to develop specialization, as we saw in the evolution of toolkits. What was the human revolution: ceremonial burials, cave painting, and constructed shelters. Clearly some sort of significant cognitive change had occurred. This change has often been called the human revolution, because a host of modern behavioral traits suddenly appeared together in europe. (cid:1) (cid:1)
