Evolution of diverse (and advanced) cognitive abilities through adaptive fine-tuning of learning and chunking mechanisms

TL;DR

The paper explains how complex cognitive abilities evolved through gradual fine-tuning of basic learning and chunking mechanisms in the brain.

Contribution

It introduces a theory that cognitive evolution is driven by adaptive fine-tuning of chunking mechanisms.

Findings

Chunking mechanisms are critical for combining elements into complex cognitive functions.

Fine-tuning of chunking explains differences in cognitive abilities across species.

The approach helps explain the human-animal gap in sequence learning.

Abstract

The evolution of cognition is frequently discussed as the evolution of cognitive abilities or the evolution of some neuronal structures in the brain. However, since such traits or abilities are often highly complex, understanding their evolution requires explaining how they could have gradually evolved through selection acting on heritable variations in simpler cognitive mechanisms. With this in mind, making use of a previously proposed theory, here, we show how the evolution of cognitive abilities can be captured by the fine-tuning of basic learning mechanisms and, in particular, chunking mechanisms. We use the term chunking broadly for all types of non-elemental learning, claiming that the process by which elements are combined into chunks and associated with other chunks, or elements, is critical for what the brain can do, and that it must be fine-tuned to ecological conditions. We discuss the relevance of this approach to studies in animal cognition, using examples from animal foraging and decision-making, problem-solving and cognitive flexibility. Finally, we explain how even the apparent human–animal gap in sequence learning ability can be explained in terms of different fine-tunings of a similar chunking process.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Selection shapes diverse animal minds’.

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