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To what adaptive problems is human teaching a solution?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Mikołaj Hernik  and
György Gergely
Mikołaj Hernik
Affiliation:
Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, 1051 Budapest, Hungary. hernikm@ceu.hugergelygy@ceu.huhttp://www.babakutato.hu/lab-members/hernik-mikolajhttp://people.ceu.hu/gyorgy_gergely
György Gergely
Affiliation:
Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, 1051 Budapest, Hungary. hernikm@ceu.hugergelygy@ceu.huhttp://www.babakutato.hu/lab-members/hernik-mikolajhttp://people.ceu.hu/gyorgy_gergely
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Abstract

We welcome Kline's systematic overview of teaching from a functional evolutionary perspective. However, Kline's framework does not provide satisfying characterization of the adaptive problems driving the evolution of teaching through communication found in humans, where the key function is better characterized in terms of licensing inferences to opaque generic content than in terms of overcoming shortages of access and attention.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e42
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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