La Cerra P, Bingham R
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Sep 15;95(19):11290-4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.19.11290.
The model of the human neurocognitive architecture proposed by evolutionary psychologists is based on the presumption that the demands of hunter-gatherer life generated a vast array of cognitive adaptations. Here we present an alternative model. We argue that the problems inherent in the biological markets of ancestral hominids and their mammalian predecessors would have required an adaptively flexible, on-line information-processing system, and would have driven the evolution of a functionally plastic neural substrate, the neocortex, rather than a confederation of evolutionarily prespecified social cognitive adaptations. In alignment with recent neuroscientific evidence, we suggest that human cognitive processes result from the activation of constructed cortical representational networks, which reflect probabilistic relationships between sensory inputs, behavioral responses, and adaptive outcomes. The developmental construction and experiential modification of these networks are mediated by subcortical circuitries that are responsive to the life history regulatory system. As a consequence, these networks are intrinsically adaptively constrained. The theoretical and research implications of this alternative evolutionary model are discussed.
狩猎采集生活的需求产生了大量的认知适应。在此，我们提出一种替代模型。我们认为，人类祖先及其哺乳动物前身的生物市场中固有的问题需要一个适应性灵活的在线信息处理系统，并推动了功能可塑性神经基质——新皮层的进化，而不是一系列预先设定好的社会认知适应。与最近的神经科学证据一致，我们认为人类认知过程源于构建的皮层表征网络的激活，这些网络反映了感觉输入、行为反应和适应性结果之间的概率关系。这些网络的发育构建和经验性修改由响应生命历史调节系统的皮层下回路介导。因此，这些网络在本质上受到适应性约束。我们讨论了这种替代进化模型的理论和研究意义。
