Thompson-Schill Sharon L, Ramscar Michael, Chrysikou Evangelia G
University of Pennsylvania.
Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2009;18(5):259-263. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01648.x.
The prefrontal cortex is crucial for the ability to regulate thought and control behavior. The development of the human cerebral cortex is characterized by an extended period of maturation during which young children exhibit marked deficits in cognitive control. We contend that prolonged prefrontal immaturity is, on balance, advantageous and that the positive consequences of this developmental trajectory outweigh the negative. Particularly, we argue that cognitive control impedes convention learning, and that delayed prefrontal maturation is a necessary adaptation for human learning of social and linguistic conventions. We conclude with a discussion of recent observations that are relevant to this claim of evolutionary tradeoffs in a wide-range of research areas, including attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder, autism spectrum disorders, creativity, and sleep.
前额叶皮质对于调节思维和控制行为的能力至关重要。人类大脑皮质的发育特点是有一段较长的成熟时期，在此期间幼儿在认知控制方面表现出明显缺陷。我们认为，总体而言，前额叶长期不成熟是有益的，而且这种发育轨迹的积极后果超过了消极后果。特别是，我们认为认知控制会阻碍习俗学习，而前额叶成熟延迟是人类学习社会和语言习俗的必要适应。最后，我们讨论了最近的一些观察结果，这些观察结果与广泛研究领域中这种进化权衡的观点相关，包括注意力缺陷多动障碍、自闭症谱系障碍、创造力和睡眠。
