Questions tagged [evolution]
For questions about the interaction of biological (or artificial) evolution and the cognitive agents that are influenced by it.
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Theories of Hunter/Gatherers in the 21st Century [closed]
Are there any theories or schools of thought that assume most humans still act as if they are still hunters/gatherers?
Hunter/gatherer societies of today would still prefer to sit around and talk ...
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Non coitus sexual activity and the brain
Most animals will only engage in sexual activity that can result in reproduction. There are some exceptions; Bonobos, for instance, engage in a lot of sexual activity that does not involve coitus.
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user10932
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What evolutionary process(es) are thought to have enabled humans to experience dreams?
As some theories suggest, most, if not all, biological features in organisms exist due to environmental factors that trigger the organism's eventual adaptation to these factors for survival purposes. ...
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what is the reptile brain?
As a Carl Sagan fan, I remember (in Cosmos TV shoe) "territoriality, aggression and ritual" are products of the reptile brain while higher-level stuff like loyalty, planning for future are mammalian, ...
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Why do humans enjoy works of fiction?
Why humans (most of them, and certainly all those around me) enjoy fictional stories in one form or the other - novels, films, theater performances?
The starting assumption is that there must be an ...
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What explains the relative importance of physical versus mental features in human mate selection?
I assume that it is the brain that has put human beings at the top of the food chain (Biped and opposable thumbs aside).
Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest suggest that the best specimens of ...
user10932
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Why is the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard so intolerable?
I am curious as to what current research shows regarding why scraping noises such as fingernails on a chalkboard, a knife/fork scraping against a plate, metal grinding against metal or stone etc are ...
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What drives civilization? [closed]
Fossil record indicates humanity arose on the African Continent - in/around Gauteng. Yet the oldest civilizations on record are far afield - Ebla, Mesopotamia
What drives civilization? Why is the ...
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How did the unique features of human intelligence evolve?
I have been debating the following topic with a friend.
She argues that humans do not descend from chimpanzees or orang-utans, because if we did, such animals would share the same cognitive thinking ...
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What makes someone attractive psychologically?
What makes a person particularly attractive to another person, specifically the opposite sex?
Why would the brain evolve this trait to target specific genes (that make someone look pretty), and ...
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How is intelligence correlated to beauty?
Recently, I read several interesting questions on the web about the relationship between IQ and general intelligence and physiological symmetry. But more importantly, what explains the correlation? Or ...
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Neurotransmitters appearance in the evolutionary process
Recently I disagreed with the assumption, that lots of neurotransmitters came within recent 10,000 years of Homo Sapiens evolution.
Judging from the available information sources, there is possibility ...
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When did neurotransmitters derived from monoamines first appear in evolutionary history? [closed]
When did neurotransmitters derived from monoamines first appear in evolutionary history?
What are main the points in evolution for monoamines based on the neurotransmitter system ?
Edition
I'm ...
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What is the status of evolutionary psychology in academia today?
Having an interest in human psychology (but no formal training) I decided to take Coursera's Introduction to Psychology as a Science. Here's a snippet from an introductory lecture (it requires signup,...
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Why do humans like being touched?
Why do people like to be touched so much, why would it make sense from a evolutionary perspective.
I know people enjoy hugs and company of opposite sex, but even people from the same sex hug and ...
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Does an exceptional working memory inhibit intelligence?
According to the Fox News article "Chimps Smarter Than Humans in Memory Test" chimps were able to significantly outperform humans in a simple working memory task. I quote one part of the article in ...
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Why are most people right handed?
How did right handedness win over left handedness in numbers?
Is it only a coincidence that there are more right handed people than left handed ones? Or, has some effect in nature explicitly made ...
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Why do we seem to have an internal drive to use different expressions(mostly when writing)? [closed]
How come we have so many words/phrases that share the same meaning?
I suppose the most obvious answer to this would be that through communication between people with accent/language A and B, new ...
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Desire to climb from evolutionary perspective?
When I go near a hill or dune, I feel desire to climb there and have a wider look on the surroundings. I know a lot of people who love mountains and want to climb higher and higher, but never have ...
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How similar are human brains within the same haplogroup?
I've read about neuroscience and listen to talks like this one Juan Enriquez: Will our kids be a different species, I'm starting to realize that humans are not all the same, and are instead quite ...
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Why do humans prefer symmetrical arrangement of objects?
Most of the times, we associate symmetry with beauty. The symmetry may be in architectural/interior design for instance. Why would this be so ?
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Cultural brain hypothesis and gene-culture co-evolution
Recently, Joseph Henrich of UBC has been promoting his cultural brain hypothesis. The goal is to explain a selection pressure behind the development of the human brain and general intelligence. The ...
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Development of social cognition as an alternative to the obstetrical dilemma
Human infants are strange in that they are born more helpless than the infants of other great apes. They are born with about 25-30% of their brain developed, compared to the 40-50% of other great apes....
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Why do humans have sex in private?
Human couples usually have sex in private, hidden not only from predators, but also - other humans. It is unlike behavior of most species, including our relatives: bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas.
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What causes gender differences in responses to farting?
Background: By casual observation, I have noticed that males tend to react differently to the sound of a fart. It seems that men are more likely to laugh whereas women are more likely to show signs of ...
user914
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Is the Neanderthal Theory of Autistic brain a reasonable scientific theory?
I've recently learned about The Neanderthal Theory, that explains autistic (and especially Asperger's) brain functioning as the effect of genetical similarity with Neanderthals.
The author gives a ...
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Evolutionary game theory in the cognitive sciences
Game theory models something very relevant to psychologists (in particular social psychologists): conflict and cooperation between decision-makers. Unfortunately, classical game theory demands that ...
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Do people like those who are similar to them and why?
Questions
Is it true that people 'like' those who are similar to them?
Why is it so? Is there an evolutionary explanation?
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Can experience alter one's preferences for beauty?
My friend (a woman) is convinced that all men who find those posters of "women scantily clad in their bathing suits or thongs and big breasts (often fake)" attractive are simply brainwashed by society....
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What are biological primary mathematical skills?
In doing a bit of background reading for this question I came across a section in the book Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind on page 602 stating:
There are no sex-related differences ...
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Why does neuroplasticity decrease in adults?
Although adult brains are malleable and even undergo limited neuorgenesis, the extent of the neuroplasticiy is much lower than in children. This is most obvious in language acquisition, and recovery ...
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What can we learn from the neural networks of C.elegans to understand human brains?
Recently I am reading some works about Caenorhabditis Elegans. A C.elegans has 302 neurons and we already know the function and connection of every one of their neurons so that we can exactly ...
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Is procrastination greater when skill is low and rewards offer low status boost and does this lead to efficient task allocation in groups?
I am very interested in procrastination, because it is such a clear sign of lack of motivation. I have a hypothesis about why we procrastinate, which I would like to get tested by you.
The assumption ...
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How does evolution help in Minsky's theory of a resourceful mind?
I've read Minsky's book The Emotion Machine, where he explains how the mind can be seen as a set of resources interacting and self-interacting based on several levels of change. The explanation is in ...
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