Where evolutionary psychology meets cognitive neuroscience: A précis to evolutionary cognitive neuroscience

Original article:

Where evolutionary psychology meets cognitive neuroscience: A précis to evolutionary cognitive neuroscience

Evolutionary Psychology 5(1): 232-256 Austen L. Krill, Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Ecology Group, The University of Liverpool, School of Biological Sciences, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UKSteven M. Platek, Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Ecology Group, The University of Liverpool, School of Biological Sciences, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK, email: splatek@liv.ac.uk (Corresponding Author)Aaron T. Goetz, Evolutionary Psychology Laboratory, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Davie, Florida 33314, USATodd K. Shackelford, Evolutionary Psychology Laboratory, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Davie, Florida 33314, USA

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience, the study of brain-behavior relationships, has long attempted to map the brain. The discipline is flourishing, with an increasing number of functional neuroimaging studies appearing in the scientific literature daily. Unlike biology and even psychology, the cognitive neurosciences have only recently begun to apply evolutionary meta-theory and methodological guidance. Approaching cognitive neuroscience from an evolutionary perspective allows scientists to apply biologically based theoretical guidance to their investigations and can be conducted in both humans and non- human animals. In fact, several investigations of this sort are underway in laboratories around the world. This paper and two new volumes (Platek, Keenan, and Shackelford [Eds.], 2007; Platek and Shackelford [Eds.], under contract) represent the first formal attempts to document the burgeoning field of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience. Here, we briefly review the current state of the science of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience, the methods available to the evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist, and what we foresee as the future directions of the discipline.

Keywords

evolutionary cognitive neuroscience, modularity, evolved cognitive adaptations

Full article

Download PDF (free)