Collective Intelligence Holds a Stronger Ancestral Evolution

In an attempt to adapt to the dramatic environmental and climatic variabilities that occurred over hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors evolved to specialize in different, but complementary, ways of thinking as per the new theory of human cognitive evolution entitled 'Complementary Cognition' published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal by researchers at the University of Cambridge. "This system of complementary cognition functions in a way that is similar to evolution at the genetic level but instead of underlying physical adaptation, may underlay our species' immense ability to create behavioral, cultural, and technological adaptations. It provides insights into the evolution of uniquely human adaptations like language suggesting that this evolved in concert with specialization in human cognition," says Lead author Dr. Helen Taylor, Research Associate at the University of Strathclyde and Affiliated Scholar at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

The Complementary Cognition

The study for the first time explored the notion that individual members of our ancestral species are neurocognitively specialized in complementary cognitive search strategies which enable behavioral adaptation.

The exceptional level of cultural adaptation in our species can be very much explained by complementary cognition and this provides an explanatory framework for the emergence of language.

Language is viewed as an integral part of the system of complementary cognition that can be both facilitating as well as an inheritance mechanism for complementary cognitive search. Varying observations from disparate disciplines add to the same underlying phenomenon of cognitive search.

Hence these observations suggest that our species' evolution was highly variable and this might explain the cumulative cultural evolution.

Variability in Cognitive Evolution

Complementary cognition has thus enabled us to adapt to different environments in a much faster and effective way than any other highly complex organism and contributed to the increased ability of human groups to produce adaptive knowledge.

One of the striking examples of complementary cognition is the impact of human activity on the environment. The self-imposed limitations that were put forth by us to overcome the difficulties and challenges of collaborative adaptation at varying scales may restrict our capacity to find and act upon innovative and creative solutions.

"Complementary cognition should be seen as a starting point in exploring a rich area of human evolution and as a valuable tool in helping to create an adaptive and sustainable society. Our species may owe our spectacular technological and cultural achievements to neurocognitive specialization and cooperative cognitive search, but our adaptive success so far may belie the importance of attaining equilibrium of approaches. If this system becomes maladjusted, it can quickly lead to equally spectacular failures to adapt - and to survive, it is critical that this system be explored and understood further," says, Taylor.

Source-Medindia