Origin of Mind 5 Modular Mind Basic argument

Origin of Mind 5: Modular Mind Basic argument: Mind is organized around three hierarchically constructed processing domains: Folk Physics: reasoning about the physical world movement shelter spatial relations tool use

Folk Physics Sensitive to invariant features of physical environment – Movement patterns (inanimate vs. animate) – Color, shading, stability, shape (tool use) – Shelter vs. exposure (aesthetics) Brain regions: hippocampus (navigation) parietal cortex (spatial cognition, “how to” pathway) Evidence of expansion of parietal cortex in hominin evolution

Folk Biology: reasoning about the living world – Plant and animal classifications (edible vs. nonedible; prey/predators, essential thinking) Folk Psychology: reasoning about the social world (ingroups/outgroups; kinnonkin; dominant/subordiant; TOM)

Folk Biology Universal feature: categorizing flora and fauna – Categorization based on common salient features: ecological niche, movement, body shape, etc. – Essential thinking: internal, invariant properties unchanged by physical variations (horseness vs. zebra-ness) – Extension to folk psychology – Importance of temporal cortex (“what” pathway) – Evidence of “soft modularity” in cross-cultural assessments of “typical” mammals

Folk Psychology Specific competencies – Self-awareness: autobiographical memory; autonoetic awareness; TOM – Reading non-verbal communicative signals – Language – Face perception Neural correlates: Fusiform gyrus: face perception Left temporal/frontal (Broca/Wernike’s areas): language R occipital/temporal: body movements Amygdala/limbic/o. MFC: reading social emotions Language/TOM areas most highly “evolved”

Folk Psychology Group Psychology – Immediate kin…extended kin…. ingroup vs. outgroup – In groups share cultural customs; language/dialects; myths/religious beliefs – Moral evolution – Importance of coalitional competition in hominin evolution

Folk Psychology Group psychology in hominin evolution Superpredator status and social selection Resource abundance and coalitional “pull” Conscious processing, individualizing vs. group categorizing Limbic inhibition/pre-frontal activation

Soft modularity: Developmental considerations Juvenile period as “calibration” period for soft modular structures involved in folk physic, biology, and psychology processing. Universal: bio categories flora vs. fauna Specific: niche-specific prey vs. predators Universal: language Specific: particular language/dialect Sex-specific interpersonal relations – Male/male competitive games, resource acquisition skills – Female relational/domestic interpersonal networks