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Evolution's 'missing link': a hypothesis upon neural plasticity, prefrontal working memory and the origins of modern cognition.

J R Skoyles
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Abstract

Many activities such as reading, mathematics and chess depend upon cognitive processes which arose after our evolution. Why could they arise if not evolved? I argue four things fortuitously came together to make our nonevolved cognitive skills possible: (i) neural plasticity; (ii) large functionally uncommitted prefrontal, temporal and parietal cerebral cortices; (iii) the ability of their neural circuits (due to neural plasticity), if trained, to take on novel symbolic and nonsymbolic skills; and (iv) a large prefrontal cortex which could use its working memory as a tuition management sketch pad in which to train them. Pre-evolved for other reasons, these four (together with invented symbolic systems and technology) together enable modern humans to 'upgrade' our already evolved cognitive skills to do new and nonevolved things.

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AnimalsBiological EvolutionBrainCognitionHumansMemoryModels, NeurologicalNerve NetNeuronal PlasticityPrefrontal CortexJournal Article

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J R Skoyles. 1997. Evolution's 'missing link': a hypothesis upon neural plasticity, prefrontal working memory and the origins of modern cognition.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-9877(97)90119-5

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