Neural correlates of Early Stone Age toolmaking: technology, language and cognition in human evolution

Author:

Stout Dietrich1,Toth Nicholas23,Schick Kathy23,Chaminade Thierry4

Affiliation:

1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK

2. Stone Age Institute1392 West Dittemore Road, Gosport, IN 47433, USA

3. Department of Anthropology and Cognitive Science Program, Indiana UniversityStudent Building 130, 701 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405-7100, USA

4. Functional Imaging Lab, Institute of Neurology, University College London12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK

Abstract

Archaeological and palaeontological evidence from the Early Stone Age (ESA) documents parallel trends of brain expansion and technological elaboration in human evolution over a period of more than 2 Myr. However, the relationship between these defining trends remains controversial and poorly understood. Here, we present results from a positron emission tomography study of functional brain activation during experimental ESA (Oldowan and Acheulean) toolmaking by expert subjects. Together with a previous study of Oldowan toolmaking by novices, these results document increased demands for effective visuomotor coordination and hierarchical action organization in more advanced toolmaking. This includes an increased activation of ventral premotor and inferior parietal elements of the parietofrontal praxis circuits in both the hemispheres and of the right hemisphere homologue of Broca's area. The observed patterns of activation and of overlap with language circuits suggest that toolmaking and language share a basis in more general human capacities for complex, goal-directed action. The results are consistent with coevolutionary hypotheses linking the emergence of language, toolmaking, population-level functional lateralization and association cortex expansion in human evolution.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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