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"Intelligence" has long been considered to be a feature unique to human beings, giving us the capacity to imagine, to think, to deceive, to make complex connections between cause and effect, to devise elaborate stategies for solving problems. However, like all our other features, intelligenceis a product of evolutionary change. Until recently, it was difficult to obtain evidence of this process from the frail testimony of a few bones and stone tools. It has become clear in the last 15 years that the origins of human intelligence can be investigated by the comparative study ofprimates, our closest non-human relatives, giving strong impetus to the case for an "evolutionary psychology", the scientific study of the mind.
Extends and evaluates the Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis for intelligence's social basis.
'Insight' is not a very popular word in psychology or biology. Popular terms-like "intelligence", "planning", "complexity" or "cognitive"- have a habit of sprawling out to include everyone's favourite interpretation, and end up with such vague meanings that each new writer has to redefine them for use. Insight remains in everyday usage: as a down-to-earth, lay term for a deep, shrewd or discerning kind of understanding. Insight is a good thing to have, so it's important to find out how it evolved, and that's what this book is about. Coming 20 years after publication of Richard Byrne's seminal book The Thinking Ape, Evolving Insight develops a new theory of the evolutionary origins of human a...
In this wonderfully inventive book, Bella is taking her dog for a stroll across the page but halfway across, he disappears! Unable to quite believe what's just happened Bella watches, transfixed, with changing emotions of surprise, indignation, moments of renewed hope (as the authorities arrive to take control) followed by shock (as they too succumb to the book's inexplicable behaviour) and finally action when Bella marches toward the dangerous middle of the book . . . only to disappear herself! At this point, the book has consumed its characters and it's down to the reader to step in to help. A note from Bella appears directly appealing for assistance and, with a rigorous shake, the characters reappear. Normality is restored and Bella is finally able to take her dog for an uninterrupted walk . . . or is she?!
This book provides up-to-date, practical information on functional mapping in order to assist neurosurgeons responsible for safely removing lesions in and around eloquent cortex – one of the greatest challenges in neurosurgery. The roles of pre- and intraoperative mapping techniques are clearly explained, highlighting the advantages and limitations of each tool available to the neurosurgeon. The inclusion of treatment algorithms for applications in specific clinical circumstances ensures that the book will serve as a clear guide to this most complex of neurosurgical problems. To further assist the reader, instructive clinical case examples, accompanied by intraoperative photos and other illustrative material, help to explain the applications of functional mapping of eloquent cortex in different pathologies. Practitioners will find the book to be a ready guide to navigation of the practical decisions commonly faced when operating in eloquent cortex.
The fifty-seven original essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. The contributors include cognitive ethologists, behavioral ecologists, experimental and developmental psychologists, behaviorists, philosophers, neuroscientists, computer scientists and modelers, field biologists, and others. The diversity of approaches is both philosophical and methodological, with contributors demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or disdain for such terms as "consciousness" and varying degrees of concern for laboratory experimentation versus naturalistic research. In addition to primates, particularly the nonhuman great apes, the animals ...
Finlay (a little dinosaur) is counting out jelly beans to share with his friend. He is sitting on a grassy mound. A big dinosaur comes along and demands the jelly beans. He is rather rude, a bit of a show-off, and he thinks that Finlay's friend is a figment of his imagination. What follows is a lot of posturing from the big dinosaur as he attempts to prove his worth with various antics on and around the grassy mound. As the book progresses it will gradually become clear to the reader that the 'grassy mound' is in fact, Finlay's friend, the really, really, really big dinosaur! The big dinosaur certainly doesn't realize until his bravado propels him into a dark cave that turns out to be the mouth of the really, really, really big dinosaur. It's only then that the big dinosaur learns that in order to make friends it's a good idea not to show off and it's a good idea to be prepared to share.
In the pine forest, there's a perplexing puzzle. The moon is getting smaller every day and Rabbit wants to know why. She asks her friend Aldrin, the raccoon. Although he doesn't have the answer to her question, Aldrin decides the issue needs a 'proper investigation'. And, because he's a bit of a know-it-all, over the course of the next few days, Aldrin dreams up a far-fetched explanation for the shrinking moon that points the finger of blame at two bumbling bears called Hubble and Lovell. In fact the bears turn out to be rather smart and it's thanks to them that the other animals learn their first fun lesson in astronomy. Join Aldrin and friends for a whodunit of astronomical proportions!
Research on the mental abilities of chimpanzees and bonobos has been widely celebrated and used in reconstructions of human evolution. In contrast, less attention has been paid to the abilities of gorillas and orangutans. This 1999 volume aims to help complete the picture of hominoid cognition by bringing together the work on gorillas and orangutans and setting it in comparative perspective. The introductory chapters set the evolutionary context for comparing cognition in gorillas and orangutans to that of chimpanzees, bonobos and humans. The remaining chapters focus primarily on the kinds and levels of intelligence displayed by orangutans and gorillas compared to other great apes, including performances in the classic domains of tool use and tool making, imitation, self-awareness, social communication and symbol use. All those wanting more information on the mental abilities of these sometimes neglected, but important primates will find this book a treasure trove.
How did we become the linguistic, cultured, and hugely successful apes that we are? Our closest relatives--the other mentally complex and socially skilled primates--offer tantalizing clues. In Tree of Origin nine of the world's top primate experts read these clues and compose the most extensive picture to date of what the behavior of monkeys and apes can tell us about our own evolution as a species. It has been nearly fifteen years since a single volume addressed the issue of human evolution from a primate perspective, and in that time we have witnessed explosive growth in research on the subject. Tree of Origin gives us the latest news about bonobos, the make love not war apes who behave so...