Abstract
This article extends Leiner et al.'s watershed position that cerebellar mechanisms played prominent roles in the evolution of the manipulation and refinement of ideas and language. First it is shown how cerebellar mechanism of sequence-detection may lead to the foundational learning of a predictive working memory in the infant. Second, it is argued how this same cerebellar mechanism may have led to the adaptive selection toward the progressively predictive phonological loop in the evolution of working memory of pre-humans. Within these contexts, cerebellar sequence detection is then applied to an analysis of leading anthropologists Stout and Hecht's cerebral cortex-based explanation of the evolution of culture and language through the repetitious rigors of stone-tool knapping. It is argued that Stout and Hecht's focus on the roles of areas of the brain's cerebral cortex is seriously lacking, because it can be readily shown that cerebellar sequence detection importantly (perhaps predominantly) provides more fundamental explanations for the origins of culture and language. It is shown that the cerebellum does this in the following ways: (1) through prediction-enhancing silent speech in working memory, (2) through prediction in observational learning, and (3) through prediction leading to accuracy in stone-tool knapping. It is concluded, in agreement with Leiner et al. that the more recently proposed mechanism of cerebellar sequence-detection has played a prominent role in the evolution of culture, language, and stone-tool technology, the earmarks of Homo sapiens. It is further concluded that through these same mechanisms the cerebellum continues to play a prominent role in the relentless advancement of culture.
Highlights
A Monumental Neuroscience BreakthroughSome three decades ago, Leiner et al (1986, 1989, 1991) proposed that just as the cerebellum contributes to the refinement and automaticity of motor skills, the cerebellum’s connections to the prefrontal cortex and Broca’s language areas contribute to planning and language.Prediction Based on Cerebellar Sequence DetectionIn essence, they proposed that, operating below the level of conscious awareness, the cerebellum contributed to increased levels of thought in the following way: Cerebellar connections to Broca’s area may increase the speed and skill of speaking and confer other benefits on humans
Some three decades ago Leiner et al (1986, 1989, 1991) proposed that the cerebellum’s 3–4-fold increase in the size and its projections to the parietal and prefrontal areas of the cerebral cortex in the last million years is an indication of its involvement in cognitive functions including language and the manipulation of thought
Understanding how cerebellar sequence detection further extends the cognitive functions of cerebellum provides more detailed explanations of the evolution of the interrelationships among stone-tool making, language and culture among Homo sapiens
Summary
Some three decades ago, Leiner et al (1986, 1989, 1991) proposed that just as the cerebellum contributes to the refinement and automaticity of motor skills, the cerebellum’s connections to the prefrontal cortex and Broca’s language areas (areas 44 and 45) contribute to planning and language. The evolution of the phonological loop within the pre-existing visual-spatial working memory (and long-term memory) enabled the social sharing of detailed cause-and-effect relationships as well as the silent sub-vocal manipulation of ideas in planning, including the envisioning and manufacture of progressively advanced stone-tool technology To illustrate this cerebellar decomposition and blending process in the evolution of greater prediction capacity of the phonological loop among Homo sapiens, I refer to leading anthropologists (Stout and Hecht, 2017) extensive research on how the cognitive, procedural and social complexities of stone-tool knapping, notably beginning with the complex, skill-intensive Late Acheulean period beginning 700 thousand years ago, might have led to the rise of cumulative culture. This strongly suggests that in the apprentice’s observational learning in stone-tool knapping as described earlier by Stout and Hecht (2017), it is the cerebellum that provides the key neural mechanisms for sequence-detecting (e.g., Leggio and Molinari, 2015), error-correcting (e.g., Ito, 2008) and the automating (e.g., Hayter et al, 2007) of knapping toward optimal levels
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