How human brains evolved Flashcards
Why can children absorb their native language effortlessly but struggle with reading or math?
Recognizing faces and speaking a first language are biologically primary skills that our brains evolved to learn naturally, while reading and math are biologically secondary skills requiring guided instruction.
What are biologically primary skills?
Skills like recognizing faces or speaking a first language that our brains have evolved to learn naturally and easily.
What are biologically secondary skills?
Skills like reading and math that are not naturally developed through evolution and require effort and guided practice to learn.
How does a baby’s brain develop early in life?
Neurons migrate to their final positions, axons extend to find targets, and synaptic connections grow rapidly, peaking at around two years of age.
What happens to the brain as children grow older?
The brain undergoes pruning, where unnecessary neural connections are removed to make the brain more efficient.
How does the environment affect neural pruning?
A healthy, varied environment preserves more neural connections, while a restricted or stressful environment can cause excessive pruning.
Which area of the brain matures last, and why is it important?
The prefrontal cortex, responsible for planning and judgment, matures last, supporting complex decision-making and self-regulation.
Do neural connections stop changing after maturity?
No, new synaptic connections and pruning continue throughout a person’s lifetime.
Why is recognizing faces considered an easy task for humans?
It’s a biologically primary skill that evolution has fine-tuned, making it rare for people to struggle with facial recognition.
How does vocabulary learning change in young children?
Around 20-24 months, children triple their productive vocabularies due to a fast-mapping process, needing to hear a word only a few times to learn it.
How do human brains differ from other species in terms of learning?
Human brains are uniquely flexible, repurposing neural circuits originally developed for other tasks to learn new abilities like reading and math.
What is the neuronal recycling hypothesis?
It’s the idea that the brain reconfigures existing neural circuits for new skills, using areas with functions most similar to the new ability.
Why can’t new skills grow anywhere in the brain?
The brain’s plasticity is limited by pre-existing neural connections and anatomical constraints, so new skills develop in areas with evolutionary similarities.
Which brain region is repurposed for reading and recognizing characters?
The occipitotemporal cortex, which normally detects objects and scenes, is repurposed for letters and characters.
