Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Thursday, 25 June 2009
How We Understand Others' Emotions
This paper, in PNAS, links with the previous post. How can we accurately guage another person's emotions? According to this group of Columbia University neuro-scientists we use a combination of parts of the human mirror neuron system and regions involved in theory of mind - mental state attribution - notably the superior temporal sulcus and medial prefrontal cortex. See my chapter 10 - Inside The Brain - for related detail.
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