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Investigates the avoidance of carrion meat by chimpanzees, baboons and human hunters. Preference of the primates to supplement diets; Digestive strategy of primates; Significance of the contamination of carcasses on avoidance; Proposal on the development of abhorrence for carrion.

The article discusses the importance of studying human evolution and development for cognitive psychology and science. Topics discussed include relationships between individual cognitive capacities and cultural achievements, between brain size and cognitive capacities, and importance of evolutionary anthropology. Other topics discussed include self-organization in complex cultural systems and impact of human community practices on cognitive functions.

Vaesen infers unique properties of mind from the appearance of specific cultural innovation – a correlation without causal direction. Shifts in habitat, population density, and group dynamics are the only independently verifiable incentives for changes in cultural practices. The transition from Acheulean to Late Stone Age technologies requires that we consider how population and social dynamics affect cultural innovation and mental function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages emerge in response to the negotiation of shared meaning in social groups, where transparency of grammar is necessitated by demands of communication with relative strangers needing to consult on a wide range of topics (Ragir 2002). This communal exchange is automated and stabilized through activity- dependent fine-tuning of information-specific neural connections during postnatal growth and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on a study on brain evolution. Discussion of arguments about the evolution of cognitive function; Constriction of the anterior-posterior dimension of the hominine pelvis; Information on the episodes of encephalization.

The article presents the author's comments about the article "Glottogenesis and Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens: The Evidence for and Implications of a Late Origin of Vocal Language," by Richard G. Milo and Duane Quiatt, published in the present issue of the journal. According to the author, Milo and Quiatt have failed to defend their claim that gesture originated before spoken language and that rapid speech originated in modern human beings.

The article presents comments of the author on the article "Primate Calls, Human Language, and Nonverbal Communication," by Robbins Burling. The author acknowledges the views of Robbins and states that primate gesture-call systems resemble human gesture and tonality in content as well as form. He describes the article of Robbins as a part of the long discussion about the nature of cognition.

The study of twin behavior offers the opportunity to study differential patterns of social and communicative interactions in a context where the adult partner and same-age peer are equally familiar. We investigated the development of social engagement, communicative gestures, and imitation in 7- to 25-month-old twins. Twin dyads (N=20 pairs) participated in 10-min, semi-structured play sessions, with the mother seated in a chair completing paperwork for half the session, and on the floor with her children for the other half. Overall, twins engaged more with their mothers than with their siblings: they showed objects and imitated speech and object use more frequently when interacting with their mothers than with their siblings. When the mother was otherwise engaged, the twins played with toys separately, observed each other's toy play, or were unengaged. These results demonstrate that adult scaffolding of social interactions supports increased communicative bids even in a context where both familiar peers and adults are available as communicative partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]