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PubMed · 16750185

Cognitive architecture and descent with modification.

Gary F Marcus
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Abstract

Against a background of recent progress in developmental neuroscience, some of which has been taken as challenging to the modularity hypothesis of , this article contrasts two competing conceptions of modularity: sui generis modularity, according to which modules are treated as independent neurocognitive entities that owe nothing to one another, and descent-with-modification modularity, according to which current cognitive modules are understood to be shaped by evolutionary changes from ancestral cognitive modules. I argue that sui generis modularity is incompatible with a range of data, from the co-occurrence of deficits to the patterns of activation in neuroimaging studies, but that same range of data is compatible with descent-with-modification modularity. Furthermore, I argue that the latter conception of modularity may have important implications for the practice and conception of fields such as developmental disorders and linguistics.

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Biological EvolutionBrainCognitionHumansLanguageJournal ArticleResearch Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReview

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Gary F Marcus. 2006-06-05. Cognitive architecture and descent with modification.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.04.009

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