Cognitive Archaeology, Body Cognition, and the Evolution of Visuospatial Perception
- 1st Edition - June 9, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Editor: Emiliano Bruner
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 9 1 9 3 - 3
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 9 3 8 4 - 5
Cognitive Archaeology, Body Cognition, and the Evolution of Visuospatial Perception offers a multidisciplinary and comprehensive perspective on the evolution of the visuospat… Read more
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Request a sales quoteCognitive Archaeology, Body Cognition, and the Evolution of Visuospatial Perception offers a multidisciplinary and comprehensive perspective on the evolution of the visuospatial ability in the human genus. It presents current topics in cognitive sciences and prehistoric archaeology, to provide a bridge between evolutionary anthropology and neurobiology.
This book explores how body perception and spatial sensing may have evolved in humans, as to enhance a “prosthetic capacity” able to integrate the brain, body, and technological elements into a single functional system. It includes chapters on touch and haptics, peripersonal space, parietal lobe evolution, somatosensory integration, neuroarchaeology, visual behavior, attention, and psychometrics.
Cognitive Archaeology, Body Cognition, and the Evolution of Visuospatial Perception represents an essential resource for evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and neuroscientists who are interested in the role of body perception and spatial ability in human cognition.
- Addresses the role of body perception and sensing in human evolution
- Supplies a comprehensive overview on the cognitive mechanisms associated with the integration between brain, body and tools
- Offers a bridge between evolutionary anthropology, archaeology, and cognitive sciences
Researchers in human evolution and anthropology
Advanced undergraduate and graduate students in evolutionary biology, anthropology, and cognitive archaeology disciplines; researchers in psychology and neurobiology
Advanced undergraduate and graduate students in evolutionary biology, anthropology, and cognitive archaeology disciplines; researchers in psychology and neurobiology
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Contributors
- Biography
- Preface
- Section I. Visuospatial Cognition and Evolution
- Chapter 1. Somatosensation and body perception: the integration of afferent signals in multisensory cognitive processes
- The sensory origin of body perception
- Central processing and integration of somatosensory signals
- Conclusion and future perspectives
- Chapter 2. Perception by effortful touch and a lawful approach to (the evolution of) perceiving and acting
- A (the) predominant approach to understanding how perceiving occurs
- Assumption 1: The fundamental separation of animal and environment
- Assumption 2: The primacy of animal-independent variables
- Evolutionary puzzles and paradoxes and (brief) hints at resolutions
- An ecological account of perceiving of, and behavior in, the surroundings
- The ecological approach to perceiving by touch
- Task-specificity and anatomical independence in perceiving properties of wielded objects
- Task-specificity and anatomical independence in perception by means of wielded objects
- What function(s) has the touch system evolved to serve?
- What architectural configuration of the touch system coevolved to support this function?
- Concluding thoughts: what to make of (the evolution of) tool use?
- Chapter 3. Evolutionary perspective on peripersonal space and perception
- Introduction
- Functions and definition of the peripersonal space
- Brain expansion and evolution
- Tool-use
- Social and cultural societies
- Conclusion
- Chapter 4. The body in the world: tools and somato-centric maps in the primate brain
- Introduction
- The evolution of a biological substrate conducive to tool usage
- Tool representation in the brain
- Mapping the tool-usage space
- Cognitive components of tool use
- The tool with the body and the body in the world
- Conclusion
- Chapter 5. Parietal cortex and cumulative technological culture
- Introduction
- Motor control
- Visuospatial skills
- Technical reasoning
- Evolution of the parietal cortex and technical reasoning
- Conclusion
- Chapter 6. Body-tool integration: past, present, and future
- Introduction
- Body-tool integration during motor control
- Body-tool integration during sensing
- Future of integrated technology
- Conclusion
- Section II. Visuospatial Behaviour and Cognitive Archaeology
- Chapter 7. The evolution of the parietal lobes in the genus Homo: the fossil evidence
- Paleoneurology and functional craniology
- Parietal endocasts
- The fossil evidence on parietal lobe evolution in the human genus
- Anatomy, cognition, and behavior
- Chapter 8. Parietal lobe expansion, its consequences for working memory, and the evolution of modern thinking
- Working memory
- Regions of the parietal lobes
- The SMG, phonological storage, and the evolution of language
- The parietal lobes and the default mode network of the brain
- Egocentric and allocentric frames of reference and emotional regulation
- The episodic buffer and the evolution of modern thinking
- Do future simulations enhance prospective memory?
- Chapter 9. Experimental neuroarchaeology of visuospatial behavior
- Introduction
- Neuroarchaeology as evolutionary neuroscience
- Comparative evidence
- Experimental evidence
- Evolutionary interpretation
- Conclusion
- Chapter 10. Cognitive archaeology, attention, and visual behavior
- Vision, attention, and human evolution
- Eye tracking technology
- Visual attention in cognitive archaeology
- Vision and cognition in prehistory
- Chapter 11. Handling prehistory: tools, electrophysiology, and haptics
- A brain at hand: from haptics to cognition
- Minds, hands, and stone tools
- Perceiving tools: attention, activation, and emotional reaction
- Electrodermal responses to Lower Paleolithic stone tool manipulation
- Final considerations
- Chapter 12. A comparative approach to evaluating the biomechanical complexity of the freehand knapping swing
- Introduction
- Mechanics of the freehand Oldowan knapping swing
- Nut-cracking mechanics in bearded capuchins
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Chapter 13. Psychometrics, visuospatial abilities, and cognitive archaeology
- Psychometrics and cognition
- Psychometrics and visuospatial ability
- Psychometrics and archaeology
- Human evolution: the body and beyond
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: June 9, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- No. of pages: 324
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780323991933
- eBook ISBN: 9780323993845
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Emiliano Bruner
Emiliano Bruner has a Ph.D. in Animal Biology. Since 2007, he is the Research Group Leader in Hominid Paleoneurobiology at the National Research Center for Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain. He works in brain evolution, bridging anthropology and neuroscience. His research over the last 20 years has largely dealt with the evolution of the parietal lobes in the human genus, with visuospatial cognition, and with the relationships between brain, body, and environment. He has published more than 150 scholarly articles, writes in several dissemination magazines, and is the editor of two books on paleoneurology.
Affiliations and expertise
Research Group Leader in Hominid Paleoneurobiology, National Research Center for Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain; Adjunct Professor, Center for Cognitive Archaeology, University of Colorado, USARead Cognitive Archaeology, Body Cognition, and the Evolution of Visuospatial Perception on ScienceDirect