Evo-Devo 2 novembre 2008

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/07/evolution_of_hormone_signaling.php Cooption. Add this one to your list of synonyms. First there was the term "preadaptation" with its unfortunate teleological implications; then Gould & Vrba coined the better term "exaptation"; nowadays the magic word you hear most used by developmental biologists is "cooption." The idea here is that modules get coopted, or used in novel [...]

Diversity itself creates opportunities for specialization 2 novembre 2008

The Modular theory of mind proposed by evolutionary psychology holds that human brains (and, by extention, behavioral and mental traits) are composed of a number of specialized, domain-specific adaptations. That is, the brain is essentially a "Swiss Army knife", with specific tools designed by evolution to cope with specific problems. Theoretically and empirically, there are [...]

Modèle explicatif de la variation des comportements incluant les interractions causales entre les différents niveaux d’organisations 2 novembre 2008

Many of you have heard of the Ultimatum Game: The ultimatum game is an experimental economics game in which two parties interact anonymously and only once, so reciprocation is not an issue. The first player proposes how to divide a sum of money with the second party. If the second player rejects this division, neither [...]

Diversité des variations individuelles causée par diversité des pression sélective 2 novembre 2008

Certainly there are plenty of human universals. But there are plenty of non-universals. We are familiar with the Red Queen hypothesis in relation to our immune systems. This model arose in large part because of the necessity for constant evolution in the forever war with parasites. If humans are a cultural animal par excellence for [...]

David Fitzpatrick – Plasticité cérébrale – Dévelopement visuel 29 octobre 2008

In order to determine whether moving visual stimuli were sufficient to induce the emergence of direction-selective responses, the animals were exposed to two "training" stimuli consisting of grating patterns which drifted back and forth across the visual field perpendicular to the orientation of the grating in opposite directions. These stimuli were presented to the ferrets [...]

Developmental modularity vs Evolutionnary modularity 24 octobre 2008

Précis of Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition Another important implication is the central role of developmental trajectories in the interpretationof adult cognition. There is no teleology involved in development; mature, normative cognition is an outcome of development, not a pre-specified target (Thomas & Karmiloff-Smith 2003).

Theory of concepts 20 septembre 2008

“Conceptual semantics – the language of thought – must be distinct from language itself, or we would have nothing to go on when we debate what our words mean.” Pinker, The stuff of thought, p.4 That’s where I differ with Pinker too. Two identical utterances can have different meaning whitout having to posit anything else [...]

Assignation de fonction suite à une lésion – Distinction entre role cognitif et travail cogntif (cognitive working) 19 septembre 2008

http://talkingbrains.blogspot.com/2008/01/semantics-and-brain-more-on-atl-as-hub.html Suppose the evidence does pan out that the ATL is critically involved in the semantic deficits found in semantic dementia. Can we conclude that the architecture in the bottom panel of the above figure is correct? Not necessarily, as pointed out in our class by Mary Louise Kean. Just because a single region is [...]