The lopsided ape : evolution of the generative mind / / Michael C. Corballis

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910808064103321
• Autore: Corballis Michael C
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York ; ; Oxford, : Oxford University Press, 1991
• ISBN: 9780198024521; 0198024525
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: vii, 366 p
• Disciplina: 152.3/35
• Soggetti: Laterality; Brain - Evolution; Human evolution
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- 1. Are Humans Unique? -- 2. Human Evolution -- 3. The Human Condition -- 4. Human Handedness -- 5. Human Language -- 6. The Evolution of Language -- 7. Language and the Brain -- 8. Praxis and the Left Brain -- 9. The Generative Mind -- 10. The Duality of the Brain -- 11. The Plastic Brain -- 12. Conclusions -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.
• Sommario/riassunto: Apes cannot talk; nor are they left or right handed. In this engaging account of language, evolution, and the brain, Michael Corballis shows why these two facts are intimately connected. Humans alone can learn and manipulate language because of a biological device in the left hemisphere of the brain (a specialization that causes handedness). In fascinating detail, he describes how this device emerged through the evolutionary pressures faced by our ancestors. He then shows how it works in a deft account of symbols, grammar, and vocabulary. Ranging across anthropology, biology, and linguistics, this book offers an engrossing look at what makes humans so unique.