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Taking symbols for granted? Is the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds the product of external symbol systems?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2008

Gary Lupyan
Gary Lupyan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. lupyan@cornell.eduhttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/~glupyan
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Abstract

The target article provides a convincing argument that nonhuman animals cannot process role-governed rules, relational schemas, and so on, in a human-like fashion. However, actual human performance is often more similar to that of nonhuman animals than Penn et al. admit. The kind of rule-governed performance the authors take for granted may rely to a substantial degree on language on external symbol systems such as those provided by language and culture.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 140 - 141
Copyright
Copyright ©Cambridge University Press 2008

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