Human cognitive plasticity extends through enduringly plastic development shaped by culture

Evidence

Natural selection has made us a cultural species by altering our development in ways that (1) slowed the growth of our bodies through a shortened infancy and extended childhood but added a growth spurt in adolescence, and (2) altered neurological development in complex ways that make our brain advanced at birth yet both highly expandable and enduringly plastic. As we go along, I will consider how our fast genetic evolution, big adult brains, slow bodily development, and gradual wiring-up are made possible only as part of a larger package of features that include the sexual division of labor, intensive parental investment in children, and the long postreproductive lives we associate with menopause. These features of our species will interact in crucial ways with cultural evolution. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 220

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘gradual wiring-up’ and ‘enduringly plastic’ brain directly bears on the reader’s model: if brain wiring completes slowly over childhood-adolescence, social-learning biases like conformist transmission are active across a long window affecting who stays coercion-vulnerable. — connects to: Humans keep brains plastic and unmyelinated well into the third decade of life — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 214; Human childhood and adolescence are specialized periods for cultural learning that other primates lack. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 216; Human cumulative culture emerges from evolved domain-specific cognitive adaptations for social learning — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 16 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Cultural adaptation physically rewires the brain and perception #expands (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2238
• Accumulating culture continuously drives selection for bigger brains and better learners #corroborates (0.78) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 206
• A culturally evolved tool can restructure an individual’s mental capacities #expands (0.78) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 747
• Brain plasticity operates across development, lifelong modulation, and repair #qualifies (0.76) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 39
• Cumulative cultural evolution drives selection for brains specialized to acquire cultural information. #corroborates (0.75) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 218
• Human cumulative culture emerges from evolved domain-specific cognitive adaptations for social learning #complicates (0.72) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 16