Representation And The Human Mind

Introduction

The aim of this report is to outline evolution from the chimpanzee to modern humans and demonstrate how the mind has evolved literacy. The main emphasis will be on the evolutionary phases described in The Prehistory of the Mind by Stephen Mithen. The second part of the report will look at the functioning of the modern mind with regard to representation and examine ways in which injury can be a help or hindrance to the author.

Evolutionary Phases Steven Mithen Categorises evolution of the mind into three phases: . General intelligence, with general purpose learning and decision making. . General intelligence supplemented by specialised intelligences, working independently. . Minds in which specialised intelligences appear to be working together.

Phase one - the common ancestor Around six million years ago human evolution began with an ancestor shared with monkeys and apes. In the absence of any artefacts or bones which might present clues to his mental state, a good starting point for this ancestor is the chimpanzee, as scientists are confident there has been minimal evolution in terms of brain processing power along the ape line. Intelligence in chimpanzees Technical Intelligence Chimps use simple tools for catching insects, cracking nuts and acquiring honey. Natural History Intelligence Richard Wrangham found that they have a continually updating mental map of the area and are excellent botanists, enabling them to move directly to patches with ripe plant material. However, he could find no evidence to suggest they could find food patches about which they had no prior knowledge. Social Intelligence In 1988, a book entitled Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Enterprise and the Evolution of Intellect in monkeys, apes and humans, edited by Dick Byrne and Andrew Whiten was published, in which it was argued that there was something special about the cognitive process used for social interaction. Cunning, deception and the construction of alliances are critical in the social life of many primates. Chimps possess theory of mind, but this is less complex than in humans. Linguistic capacity The most intelligent chimpanzees are able to use sign language to piece together sentences below the standard of a three year old human. Phase two - the evolution of specialist intelligences Four million years after the common ancestor, the human mind had evolved to a state where there exists several mental modules dedicated to social interaction alone, which can be classed as social intelligence and a suite of generalized learning and problem solving rules referred to as general intelligence. Supplementing these are a number of mental modules relating to the understanding of physical objects and the natural world. This period was classified as the speciation phase by Colin Renfrew (2007). He argues that whereas some behaviours where inherited, others had to be learnt from parents and friends. Cognitive domains in early humans Technical Intelligence Homo erectus demonstrated evidence of planning ahead when toolmaking, producing artefacts far superior to his predecessors. Thus, the evolution of a technical intelligence is assumed. Natural History Intelligence The colonisation of landscapes outside of Africa indicates the existence of a natural history intelligence in homo erectus. Social Intelligence Substantial evidence for the existence of a social intelligence domain, can be found in early humans from homo erectus onwards. The size of the human brain, which had increased significantly, has implications for the size of social groups, which can be used as a measure for the degree of social intelligence. Linguistic Intelligence According to Aiello and Dunbar, language capacity appeared at least by 250,000 years ago with the purpose of assisting social interaction. They argue that the capacity for language evolved in line with increasing group size and social intelligence, but the general purpose language we know today evolved at a later date. From the information presented above it is clear that social interaction was a key factor in the evolution of the human mind. One of the major differences between the behaviour of a chimpanzee and Homo habilis was the amount of meat consumed. According to Glyn Isaac this can be demonstrated as a stack of cards: Increased consumption of meat ? Food sharing, division of labour, organisation of labour around a home base? Pair bonding, male investment in child rearing? Prolonged infant dependency? Enhanced communicative abilities. These early humans had multiple intelligences, each dedicated to a specific behaviour, with no interaction between them. They had evolved much from their predecessors but differed from modern humans in the respect that they lacked cognitive fluidity. Phase three - The Tectonic Phase When humans left Africa 60,000 years ago, so began a phase of cultural development classed as the tectonic phase by Colin Renfrew. When the first modern humans, Homo sapien, sapiens emerged, 100,000 years ago they had evolved cognitive fluidity only partially. They placed parts of animal carcasses within human graves, implying ritualised burial activity and religious beliefs. They were also more efficient hunters than their Neanderthal rivals. These developments derive from an integration of natural history and social intelligence. Technical intelligence, however, remained isolated. According to Steven Mithen, cognitive fluidity occurred as a result of the change from a social to a general purpose language. He argues that once people started talking, they couldn't stop. Although language originated purely as a social vehicle, Mithen believes there were snippets of other issues such as animal behaviour or toolmaking. In order for this to happen, the domain of social intelligence was invaded by non-social information, giving a select few an advantage. These individuals exploited the non-social knowledge of others by using language rather than behavioural observations alone. Consequently, a social language would have rapidly evolved into a general purpose language. Cognitive scientist Dan Sperber describes this improved social intelligence module as 'the module for meatarepresentation'. He states: "As a result of the development of communication, the actual domain of the metarepresentational module is teeming with representations made manifest by communicative behaviours." In 1991 archaeologist Paul Mellors produced a list of behavioural changes that characterise the transition towards the tectonic phase. Along with the appearance of representational art for the first time he also placed much emphasis on technological advancement, suggesting the evolution of a fully integrated technical intelligence. The integration of technical intelligence to the already combined social and natural history intelligences led to a cultural revolution 60,000 years ago. Cognitive fluidity and the origins of art According the Steven Mithen the mind needs three functions to enable the production of art: . The capacity to intentionally create or mark objects of a preconceived form . The capacity for intentional communication . An ability to attribute meaning to inanimate objects or marks. The cognitive domains of early humans where capable of all these tasks, found in the domains of technical, social and natural history intelligence respectively. Art, and therefore the earliest form of representation, was therefore made possible when these domains were able to interact. This argument is supported by the quality of the first images discovered.

Consciousness Another consequence of cognitive fluidity was a change in the nature of consciousness, which originally existed to enable our ancestors to predict the behaviour of other people. Daniel Schater identified the new role as: "In addition to creating the subjective feelings of knowing, remembering and perceiving, consciousness should be viewed as a global database that integrates the output of modular processes." He goes on to argue that such a system is crucial for the representation of different types of information which are held in separate modules. General intelligence was not sufficient to play this integrating role in early humans. Once language acted as a vehicle for delivering non social thoughts to the social domain, consciousness could provide the integration necessary for representation. This resulted in a vast increase in creativity. Conscious Experience Sufferers of petit mal seizures undergo a loss of conscious awareness and their mind is transformed to a state before cognitive fluidity. Referring to the manner in which his patients undertook activities such as playing a piano John Searle (1992) writes: "the patients were performing actions which were habitual, routine and memorised. Normal human conscious behaviour has a degree of flexibility that is absent from these cases of unconscious drivers and pianists. One of the evolutionary advantages conferred on us by consciousness is the much greater flexibility, sensitivity and creativity we derive from being conscious."

Phase Four-the origins of writing Colin Renfrew (2007) describes the stages of development as outlined by Merlin Donald in his book Origins of the Modern Mind (1991). The final stage is classed as theoretic and is characterised by 'institutionalised paradigmatic thought' and by massive external memory storage ie. writing . The Neolithic Revolution Between 10000 and 7000 years ago came the domestication of animals and the move to agriculture. David Lewis Williams (2009) cites Eduard Hann, who argues that the domestication of animals came as a consequence of religious beliefs and the need to have a supply available for sacrifice. Along with the domestication of plants and animals came sedentism which in turn led to a massive population increase and a more complex society. The Evolution of writing If we were to apply Stephen Mithen's theory that increased group size equals increased social intelligence, and assuming the development of paradigmatic thought was a domain of social intelligence, as were other linguistic developments, it could be argued that the move from hunter gather life style to that of a farmer would have provided the basis for an evolutionary phase which eventually led to writing around 3500 BC.

The temporal lobes and representation Temporal lobe functions The left temporal lobe deals speech and verbal memory, the right auditory perception and visual memory. Hence, they are areas of the brain that are vital to representation. Another function of the temporal lobes is emotional memories, the left being responsible for positive events and the right for negative. Therefore, if asked for an emotional memory a person suffering from a legion of the right temporal lobe is more likely to recall positive emotional memory, and vice versa. A person with a right temporal legion is also likely to have a very vivid account of a positive emotional memory, whereas someone with a left legion will have a vivid account of a negative emotional memory. If we were to revisit the definition of consciousness given by Daniel Schater, we could conclude that the representation of information could be greatly distorted by a temporal lobe legion. This could offer a possible explanation to the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and greatness as speculated on Wikipedia. Conclusion Man evolved the ability to represent himself over millions of years; it did not purely happen by chance. From a common ancestor he evolved a set of cognitive domains which began to interact with increased social activity, allowing the early origins of language. When language became more than just a social tool, total cognitive fluidity evolved triggering a period of cultural evolution and the origins of representation. One of the by-products of cognitive fluidity was religion which led to the domestication of animals, sedentism and eventually the need for literacy. The temporal lobes are vital components for representation; damage can seriously effect a person's consciousness and therefore the information represented. This could be an aid to the author if he can harness the extreme emotions and find the right techniques.