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, 30 December 2010
Seven-month-old babies can 'read minds'
Fascinating article about recent research suggesting that babies as young as 7 months have substantial understanding of beliefs - i.e. are far more advanced, far earlier, with respect to "theory of mind" than we thought they were. Because babies this young cannot verbalise, the experiments take advantage of a protocol that measures how long an individual looks at a scene portrayed on a screen. The more it violates some rule the more interesting they will find it and they will gaze longer. However, read the very important caveats at the end of the paper, including a very important constructive criticism by Alison Gopnik.
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