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A cognitive transition underlying both technological and social aspects of cumulative culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Liane Gabora Open the ORCID record for Liane Gabora [Opens in a new window]  and
Cameron M. Smith
Liane Gabora
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, Kelowna, BCV1V 1V7, Canadaliane.gabora@ubc.cahttps://people.ok.ubc.ca/lgabora/
Cameron M. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland, OR97207. b5cs@pdx.eduhttps://www.pdx.edu/anthropology/cameron-smith
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Abstract

The argument that cumulative technological culture originates in technical-reasoning skills is not the only alternative to social accounts; another possibility is that accumulation of both technical-reasoning skills and enhanced social skills stemmed from the onset of a more basic cognitive ability such as recursive representational redescription. The paper confuses individual learning of pre-existing information with creative generation of new information.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e163
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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