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Tinkering with cognitive gadgets: Cultural evolutionary psychology meets active inference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Paul Benjamin Badcock Open the ORCID record for Paul Benjamin Badcock [Opens in a new window] ,
Axel Constant  and
Maxwell James Désormeau Ramstead
Paul Benjamin Badcock
Affiliation:
Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. pbadcock@unimelb.edu.au Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia Orygen, National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Axel Constant
Affiliation:
Charles Perkins Centre, Johns Hopkins Drive, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. axel.constant.pruvost@gmail.com Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London WC1N3BG, United Kingdom Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H1Y 3A1, Canada
Maxwell James Désormeau Ramstead
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London WC1N3BG, United Kingdom Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H1Y 3A1, Canada Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T7, Canada. maxwell.d.ramstead@gmail.com Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A1, Canada
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Abstract

Cognitive Gadgets offers a new, convincing perspective on the origins of our distinctive cognitive faculties, coupled with a clear, innovative research program. Although we broadly endorse Heyes’ ideas, we raise some concerns about her characterisation of evolutionary psychology and the relationship between biology and culture, before discussing the potential fruits of examining cognitive gadgets through the lens of active inference.

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e171
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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