Premium
The Evolution of Cognitive Control
Author(s) -
Stout Dietrich
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
topics in cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.191
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1756-8765
pISSN - 1756-8757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01078.x
Subject(s) - cognition , cognitive science , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , neuropsychology , control (management) , psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , computer science , artificial intelligence , biology , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics
One of the key challenges confronting cognitive science is to discover natural categories of cognitive function. Of special interest is the unity or diversity of cognitive control mechanisms. Evolutionary history is an underutilized resource that, together with neuropsychological and neuroscientific evidence, can help to provide a biological ground for the fractionation of cognitive control. Comparative evidence indicates that primate brain evolution has produced dissociable mechanisms for external action control and internal self‐regulation, but that most real‐world behaviors rely on a combination of these. The archeological record further indicates the timing and context of distinctively human elaborations to these cognitive control functions, including the gradual emergence of increasingly complex hierarchical action control.