Delegation to automaticity: the driving force for cognitive evolution?

J. M. Shine; R. Shine

doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00090

Delegation to automaticity: the driving force for cognitive evolution?

J. M. Shine^*, R. Shine

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

23 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The ability to delegate control over repetitive tasks from higher to lower neural centers may be a fundamental innovation in human cognition. Plausibly, the massive neurocomputational challenges associated with the mastery of balance during the evolution of bipedality in proto-humans provided a strong selective advantage to individuals with brains capable of efficiently transferring tasks in this way. Thus, the shift from quadrupedal to bipedal locomotion may have driven the rapid evolution of distinctive features of human neuronal functioning. We review recent studies of functional neuroanatomy that bear upon this hypothesis, and identify ways to test our ideas

Original language	English
Article number	90
Pages (from-to)	1-8
Number of pages	8
Journal	Frontiers in Neuroscience
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2014.00090
Publication status	Published - 29 Apr 2014
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2014. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

automaticity
delegation
bipedality
evolution

Access to Document

10.3389/fnins.2014.00090Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 526 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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Delegation to automaticity: the driving force for cognitive evolution?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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