9 - Origins of humanity (evolution)

Question 1

marker

Answer 1

• arts reflect cognitive capacities

Question 2

behavioral modernity

Answer 2

-> patterns of behavior uniquely associated with anatomically modern humans
- we have some genes from neanderthals who coexisted with us before they got extinct (30 000 years ago; last common human ancestors)
- relates to arts artification, ritual and tool creation (cumulative culture; passing on knowledge)
- depends in cognitive and material capacity

Question 3

evolution vs revolution

Answer 3

over time vs quickly

Question 4

cognitive revolution vs gradual evolution

Answer 4

40-50 000 years ago ~ cumulative change over 200 000+ years

the human revolution ~

the symbolic explosion ~

European archeology ~ African archeology

brain macro mutation (FoxP2) ~

Question 5

tool making

Answer 5

from stone tools (2 mio years ago) to tools from logical source (ex. bones)
-> increased craftsmanship complexity

Question 6

visual art

Answer 6

art as indicator of cognitive capacity, since it needs sense of motor skill (also symbolic capacities needed to be there)

Question 7

2 stages of art evolution

Answer 7

77 000 years ago: geometrics
45 000 years ago: figuratives (2D/3D art)

Question 8

red ochre

Answer 8

• used for body painting -> body ornamentation (200 000 years ago)
• also used to ornament objects (ex. shells)
• has some sort of ritual -> engaging in red ochre ornamentation (showing symbolic behavior in humans 100 000 years ago)

Question 9

musical instrument - oldest found

Answer 9

35 000 years old bone flute in Europe (same age as oldest cave art/figurines in Europe)

Question 10

musical artifacts

Answer 10

• lithophone (prehistoric instrument); caves with outstanding stones resonate sounds very well
• body percussion (attaching something to the body to make sounds -> locomotively, ex. beads
• rhythm evolved from mutual entrainment (visual & haptic cues; dance)

Question 11

oldest musical instrument

Answer 11

the voice

Question 12

revolution or evolution?

Answer 12

more gradual -> evolution
(increased evidence in the past 10 years by seeing how much we share with neanderthals)

Question 13

encephalized (evolution if brain size)

Answer 13

; highly
- humans have larger brain size compared to body size (about relative brain size)
- expansion occurred after bipedalism and stone tool use due to social brain hypothesis (need for social intelligence; increasing group size, more social relationship, need for greater brain size)

Question 14

mentalizing system
& interactions

Answer 14

-> inferring emotions/beliefs/intentions of others
- supports social brain hypothesis

• TPJ & PCC increased significantly from monkeys to humans and the brain and scalp became rounder (globular brain hypothesis) -> areas for social cognition
• TPJ more active in tasks whereby one needs to coordinate with someone instead of when task is done alone (needed to predict what partner is doing)
  -> brain responses to fictional characters the same way it does to real people
• TPJ & PCC active when people read stories and generate stories of fictional characters (mentalizing areas engage in same way as when actually interacting with people) / active for story generation using speech, pantomime and drawing -> allows us to watch theater in that sense

Question 15

TPJ and PCC summarized

Answer 15

both active during partnered interaction (coordination), but also during story perception and story production across all modalities

Question 16

the vocal brain

Answer 16

• vocal as unique sensorimotor capacities; humans voluntary control of vocalization, learning of vocal imitation (learning speech)
• larynx is organ for vocalization; holds vocal folds, which vibrate, making sound (lips, jaw, tongue, and swallowing) -> major vocal center in humans brain for speech and song (pre-motor cortex); went through change in location (compared to monkeys) transitioning from non vocal to vocal functionality (evolution to voluntary control) -> novel human area

Question 17

actuate fasciculus

Answer 17

connects Wernickes area for auditory i formation TO Broca’s area for motor-planning
-> auditory transporting motor
- arcuate = arch shaped
- expanded significantly from monkeys to humans
—> in combination with expansion of Broca’s area for better vocal learning of speech and song

Question 18

species and tissue specificity

Answer 18

• 60 new human-specific genes have been characterized
• 15 of them are expressed in the cerebral cortex

Question 19

brain size - genes

Answer 19

• microcephalin
• Notch2
• ARHGAP11

Question 20

speech and language - genes

Answer 20

• FoxP2 (in many tissues of the body)

Question 21

axon path finding and synapse formation

Answer 21

• SRGAP2 [regulates ROBO1] (expressed in brain, arises due to duplication, regulates ROBO1 during cortical development, also found in neanderthals)