A new approach to understanding animal and human cognition
When a chimpanzee stockpiles rocks as weapons or when a frog sends out
mating calls, we might easily assume these animals know their own
motivations--that they use the same psychological mechanisms that we do.
But as Beyond the Brain indicates, this is a dangerous assumption
because animals have different evolutionary trajectories, ecological
niches, and physical attributes. How do these differences influence
animal thinking and behavior? Removing our human-centered spectacles,
Louise Barrett investigates the mind and brain and offers an alternative
approach for understanding animal and human cognition. Drawing on
examples from animal behavior, comparative psychology, robotics,
artificial life, developmental psychology, and cognitive science,
Barrett provides remarkable new insights into how animals and humans
depend on their bodies and environment--not just their brains--to behave
intelligently.
Barrett begins with an overview of human cognitive adaptations and how
these color our views of other species, brains, and minds. Considering
when it is worth having a big brain--or indeed having a brain at
all--she investigates exactly what brains are good at. Showing that the
brain's evolutionary function guides action in the world, she looks at
how physical structure contributes to cognitive processes, and she
demonstrates how these processes employ materials and resources in
specific environments.
Arguing that thinking and behavior constitute a property of the whole
organism, not just the brain, Beyond the Brain illustrates how the
body, brain, and cognition are tied to the wider world.
