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What exists in the environment that motivates the emergence, transmission, and sophistication of tool use?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2012

Tetsushi Nonaka
Tetsushi Nonaka
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Health and Welfare, Kibi International University, Takahashi, Okayama, 716-8508, Japan; and Advanced Research Center for Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan. [email protected]://www.kiui.ac.jp/~nonaka_t/
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Abstract

In his attempt to find cognitive traits that set humans apart from nonhuman primates with respect to tool use, Vaesen overlooks the primacy of the environment toward the use of which behavior evolves. The occurrence of a particular behavior is a result of how that behavior has evolved in a complex and changing environment selected by a unique population.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , August 2012 , pp. 233 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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