Deck 3: Evolutionary Origins of Social Intelligence and Culture

Question 1

A shared set of values, skills, beliefs, and artifacts amongst a group of individuals is known as:

A) Social intelligence
B) Anthropology
C) Machiavellianism
D) Culture

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What conclusion has been suggested from the fact that at least one non-human species (red deer) has a descended larynx?

A) The descended larynx did not arise out of evolutionary pressures for language.
B) A descended larynx is not important for human speech.
C) Red deer may possess human-like speech and language.
D) Group size is the main predictor of whether a descended larynx is found.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What did the study of Gergely et al. (2002) on imitation in human infants find?

A) They imitate the motor aspects of the action, rather than the goal
B) Human infants fail to spontaneously imitate at all.
C) Human infants will imitate innate actions (e.g. yawning) but not arbitrary actions.
D) They imitate the goals of the action, rather than the motor aspects of the action

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What is a meme?

A) Units of culture that are transmitted from person-to-person according to their own perceived fitness
B) A memory trace for social information
C) A type of neuron that supports imitative learning
D) The receptive field of a mirror neuron

Question 5

What is meant by 'extended cognition' as used by Clark (2008)?

A) The reallocation of brain resources from non-social cognition to social cognition
B) Neural resources, set aside for other functions in our evolutionary past, may be recruited by cultural knowledge
C) Cognitive functioning that has its physical basis both in terms of neural use and the material-based world
D) The use of one's own bodily processes to understand social processes

Question 6

What is meant by 'neuronal recycling'?

A) Connectivity between regions of the 'social brain' and non-social connection enable the learning of cultural knowledge.
B) Neural resources, set aside for other functions in our evolutionary past, may be recruited by cultural knowledge.
C) The use of external technologies (e.g. writing systems, tools, computers) to alter or increase human cognition
D) The reallocation of brain resources from non-social cognition to social cognition

Question 7

What is meant by 'taking the intentional stance'?

A) Attributing mental states to others in order to account for their behaviour
B) Assuming that non-human primates perform imitative acts using the same mechanism as humans
C) Inferring intentions on the basis of activity within mirror systems
D) Assuming that body language (e.g. eye gaze) is a clue to intentions

Question 8

What is the social intelligence hypothesis?

A) That social intelligence is linked to a theory-of-mind mechanism
B) That social intelligence arose as a by-product of increased tool use
C) That social intelligence depends on cultural rather than biological evolution
D) Evolutionary pressures to be socially smarter lead to more general changes (e.g. to brain size) that support increased intellect in non-social domains.

Question 9

What statement is true concerning the imitative ability of chimpanzees?

A) Chimpanzees can learn a 'do-as-I-do' rule but only after considerable training.
B) Chimpanzees spontaneously perform a 'do-as-I-do' rule.
C) Chimpanzees are incapable of learning a 'do-as-I-do' rule.
D) Chimpanzees can learn a 'do-as-I-do' rule but only if they learn it from another chimpanzee.

Question 10

What was the main conclusion of the study of Hermann et al. (2007)?

A) Human toddlers excel in the physical domain but not the social domain (relative to chimps and orangutans)
B) Human toddlers excel in the social domain but not the physical domain (relative to chimps and orangutans)
C) Human toddlers excel in both the physical domain and the social domain (relative to chimps and orangutans)
D) Human toddlers perform equivalently in both the physical domain and the social domain (relative to chimps and orangutans)

Question 11

Which of the following species is (apparently) unable to recognise themselves in the mirror?

A) Dolphins
B) Monkeys
C) Elephants
D) Great Apes

Question 12

Which region of the brain is most closely associated with mirror neurons in monkeys?

A) Anterior cingulate cortex
B) Medial prefrontal cortex
C) Premotor cortex
D) Ventral stratum

Question 13

Who argued that language evolved to facilitate the bonding of larger social groups?

A) Gould (1991)
B) Pinker (1994)
C) Dunbar (2004)
D) Chomsky (1980)

Question 14

Who has argued that language evolved out of general brain changes (e.g. brain size) rather than being driven by communicative needs?

A) Steven Pinker
B) Richard Dawkins
C) Paul Bloom
D) Stephen Jay Gould

Question 15

What changes did Iriki, Tanaka, & Iwamura (1996) demonstrate following monkey tool use?

A) The tactile receptive field extended to include the tool as well as the hand/limb.
B) Increased connectivity in the intra-parietal sulcus
C) Decreased connectivity in the intra-parietal sulcus
D) The visual receptive field extended to include the tool as well as the hand/limb

Question 16

What brain differences were found by Iriki & Sakura (2008) in macaques who had learned tool use versus those who had not?

A) Greater number of mirror neurons in the intra-parietal region
B) Less connectivity between the intra-parietal sulcus and the tempero-parietal junction
C) Extra connectivity between the intra-parietal sulcus and the tempero-parietal junction
D) Greater number of mirror neurons in the premotor region

Question 17

According to Darwin (1871) what evolutionary change accompanied the greater hominid use of stone tools?

A) Evolutionary expansions in brain volume
B) Evolution of bipedalism (walking on two legs)
C) Evolution of handedness
D) Evolution of language

Question 18

According to Dunbar (1992) the predicted group size of humans (based on an extrapolation from other primates) is:

A) 150
B) 50
C) 500
D) 1000

Question 19

According to evidence from biological anthropology, changes in hominid use of stone tools were linked to what?

A) Evolution of bipedalism (walking on two legs)
B) Evolutionary expansions in brain volume
C) Evolution of handedness
D) Evolution of language

Question 20

According to the 'culture pyramid' of Whiten & van Schaik (2007), how does human culture differ from that in other species?

A) Human group sizes are far larger
B) It is the only culture based on the mechanism of imitation
C) It is cumulative in nature
D) It is reliant on tools

Question 21

According to the model of Whiten & van Schaik (2007), a species of bird that developed regionally different patterns of song structure would be an example of what?

A) A tradition
B) A culture
C) A cumulative culture
D) Social-information transfer

Question 22

Emery et al. (2007) found that brain size in birds is linked to what?

A) Group size
B) Mating strategies
C) Maternal care
D) Imitation

Question 23

In humans, which region of the frontal lobes has been suggested as a locus for action-based mirror systems?

A) Wernicke's area
B) Medial prefrontal cortex
C) Anterior cingulate cortex
D) Broca's area

Question 24

In social learning, what is meant by 'stimulus enhancement'?

A) The fact that some objects have an obvious use that doesn't need to be learned (e.g. hollowed objects can act as containers)
B) Rewarding an animal for interacting with an object.
C) Having another individual draw attention to an object increases the likelihood that the observer will engage with the object.
D) Certain stimuli are primary reinforcers during social learning.

Question 25

On what grounds did Chittka & Niven (2009) argue that brain size is unlikely to be related to social intelligence?

A) Many insects live in large-scale social networks
B) Brain size is related primarily to the extent of tool use
C) Many animals with large (relative) brain size have low social intelligence.
D) Brain size and mirror-self recognition are unrelated.

Question 26

The socially based repetition of innate behaviours is typically called what?

A) Stimulus enhancement
B) Mimicking
C) Taking the intentional stance
D) Contagion

Question 27

The study of Reader & Laland (2002) found that 'executive' brain size increases amongst primates were related to:

A) Social learning but not innovation (e.g. tool use)
B) Neither social learning nor innovation (e.g. tool use)
C) Both social learning and innovation (e.g. tool use)
D) Innovation (e.g. tool use) but not social learning

Question 28

Umilta et al. (2001) investigated the responses of mirror neurons to an implied action on an object hidden from view. What was the finding of the study?

A) Mirror neurons respond only to seen actions on an object (not to hidden actions on an object, or seen actions in the absence of an object)
B) Mirror neurons respond both to actions towards seen and hidden objects, and to actions in which no object is present.
C) Mirror neurons respond both to actions towards seen and hidden objects, but not to actions in which no object is present.
D) Mirror neurons respond only to seen actions (irrespective of whether an object is present or not) but not to hidden actions on an object.

Question 29

Who is most closely linked to the discovery of mirror neurons?

A) Frith
B) Ramachandran
C) Rizzolatti
D) Iriki