As proposed for the emergence of modern languages, we argue that modern uses of languages (pragmatics) also evolved gradually in our species under the effects of human self‐domestication, with three key aspects involved in a complex feedback loop: (a) a reduction in reactive aggression, (b) the sophistication of language structure (with emerging grammars initially facilitating the transition from physical aggression to verbal aggression); and (c) the potentiation of pragmatic principles governing conversation, including, but not limited to, turn‐taking and inferential abilities. (...) Our core hypothesis is that the reduction in reactive aggression, one of the key factors in self‐domestication processes, enabled us to fully exploit our cognitive and interactional potential as applied to linguistic exchanges, and ultimately to evolve a specific form of communication governed by persuasive reciprocity—a trait of human conversation characterized by both competition and cooperation. In turn, both early crude forms of language, well suited for verbal aggression/insult, and later more sophisticated forms of language, well suited for persuasive reciprocity, significantly contributed to the resolution and reduction of (physical) aggression, thus having a return effect on the self‐domestication processes. Supporting evidence for our proposal, as well as grounds for further testing, comes mainly from the consideration of cognitive disorders, which typically simultaneously present abnormal features of self‐domestication (including aggressive behavior) and problems with pragmatics and social functioning. While various approaches to language evolution typically reduce it to a single factor, our approach considers language evolution as a multifactorial process, with each player acting upon the other, engaging in an intense mutually reinforcing feedback loop. Moreover, we see language evolution as a gradual process, continuous with the pre‐linguistic cognitive abilities, which were engaged in a positive feedback loop with linguistic innovations, and where gene‐culture co‐evolution and cultural niche construction were the main driving forces. (shrink)

According to Chomsky, creativity is a critical property of human language, particularly the aspect of ?the creative use of language? concerning the appropriateness to a situation. How language can be creative but appropriate to a situation is an unsolvable mystery from the Chomskyan point of view. We propose that language appropriateness can be explained by considering the role of the human capacity for Mental Time Travel at its foundation, together with social and ecological intelligences within a triadic language-grounding system. Our (...) proposal is based on the change of perspective from the analysis of individual sentences to the flux of speech in which the temporal dimension of language is much more relevant. (shrink)

Models of discourse and narration elaborated within the classical compositional framework have been characterized as bottom-up models, according to which discourse analysis proceeds incrementally, from phrase and sentence local meaning to discourse global meaning. In this paper we will argue against these models. Assuming as a case study the issue of discourse coherence, we suggest that the assessment of coherence is a top-down process, in which the construction of a situational interpretation at the global meaning level guides local meaning analysis. (...) In support of our hypothesis, we explore the role of executive functions (brain functions involved in planning and organization of goal-oriented behaviors) in coherence’s establishment, discussing the results of several studies on narrative abilities of patients with brain injuries. We suggest that, compared to other models of discourse processing focused on comprehension, our model is a viable candidate for an integrated account of discourse comprehension and production. (shrink)

Classical cognitive science has been characterized by an association with the computational theory of mind. Although this association has produced highly significant results, it has also limited the scope of scientific psychology. In this paper, we analyse the limits of the specific kind of computational model represented by the Chomskian-Fodorian tradition in the study of mind and language. In our opinion, the adhesion to the principle of formality imposed by this specific computational model has motivated the exclusion of consciousness in (...) the reflection on language and, consequently, has led to the inability to account for some aspects of language functioning at the processing level of discourse. The aim of this article is to restore the role of consciousness in discourse comprehension and production processes. Specifically, we argue that the ability to produce and understand discourses is based on individuals’ capacity for navigation in space and time. We will show that the space–time orientation is guaranteed by the projection of the self, which involves a special kind of consciousness. (shrink)

This study analyzed the relation between mental time travel (MTT) and the ability to produce a storytelling focusing on global coherence, which is one of the most notable characteristics of narrative discourse. As global coherence is strictly tied to the temporal sequence of the events narrated in a story, we hypothesized that the construction of coherent narratives would rely on the ability to mentally navigate in time. To test such a hypothesis, we investigated the relation between one component of MTT—namely, (...) episodic future thinking (EFT)—and narrative production skills by comparing the narratives uttered by 66 children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with those produced by 66 children with typical development. EFT was assessed by administering a task with minimal narrative demands, whereas storytelling production skills were assessed by administering two narrative production tasks that required children to generate future or past episodes with respect to the target stimuli. The results showed that EFT skills were impaired only in a subgroup of children with ASD and that such subgroup performed significantly worse on the narrative production task than ASD participants with high EFT skills and participants with typical development. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

Individuals with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties in the recollection of past experiences (Episodic Memory). Accumulating evidence suggests that they might have also difficulties in the ability to imagine potential future scenarios (Episodic Future Thinking, EFT) and in narrative generation skills. This investigation aimed to determine 1) whether impairments of EFT can be identified in a large cohort of children with high functioning ASD using a task with minimal narrative demands; and 2) if such impairments are related to the (...) ability to generate a narrative's scenario. 77 children with high-functioning ASD and 77 children with typical development were recruited for the study. The two groups were balanced for age, level of formal education, and IQ. EFT was assessed by administering a task with minimal narrative demands, whereas narrative generation skills were assessed with three tasks requiring children to generate past, middle or future episodes in a narrative discourse. With respect to control participants, a subgroup of children with ASD had impaired EFT skills and also showed significant impairments in the ability to generate adequate narratives. On the contrary, participants with spared EFT had normal performance on the narrative generation task. Interestingly, EFT skills predicted narrative generation abilities in both groups. The results of this study support the hypothesis that EFT may be impaired in some but not all children with ASD and of a relation between difficulties with EFT and impairments in the process of narrative generation. The assessment of EFT should employ tasks that do not require narrative production, as children with impaired EFT may also have reduced narrative skills. (shrink)

In this paper we propose a narrative hypothesis on the nature of language and a proto-discursive hypothesis on the origin of our communicative abilities. Our proposal is based on two assumptions. The first assumption, concerning the properties of language, is tied to the idea that global discourse coherence governs the origin of our communicative abilities as well the functioning of these abilities. The second assumption, concerning processing devices, is connected to the idea that the systems of spatial and temporal navigation (...) are implicated in discourse coherence processing. Analysis of the relationship between these two assumptions allows us to integrate the model of language based on clues proposed by Sperber and Wilson with Relevance Theory with the discursive foundation of human communication. In this respect, our proposal can be considered as a tentative extension of Relevance Theory. (shrink)

The main intent of this paper is to give an account of the relationship between bio-cognition and culture in terms of coevolution, analysing religious beliefs and language evolution as case studies. The established view in cognitive studies is that bio-cognitive systems constitute a constraint for the shaping and the transmission of religious beliefs and linguistic structures. From this point of view, religion and language are by-products or exaptations of processing systems originally selected for other cognitive functions. We criticize such a (...) point of view, showing that it paves the way for the idea that cultural evolution follows a path entirely autonomous and independent from that of biological evolution. Against the by-product and exaptation approaches, our idea is that it is possible to interpret religion and language in terms of coevolution. The concept of coevolution involves a dual path of constitution: one for which biology (cognition) has adaptive effects on culture, the other for which, in turn, forms of culture have adaptive effects on biology (cognition). This dual path of constitution implies that religion and language are (at least in some aspects) forms of biological adaptations. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between brain and language in terms of coevolution. Nowadays, the thesis of coevolution is defended by the exponents of the neoculturalist paradigm to claim that language is the product of cultural evolution. In our opinion, this claim is misleading. From our point of view, in fact, we can refer to the relationship between brain and language in terms of coevolution only if we are prepared to maintain that language is (...) the product of natural selection. In our opinion, in other words, the coevolution thesis involves the idea of language as biological adaptation. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between brain and language in terms of coevolution. Nowadays, the thesis of coevolution is defended by the exponents of the neoculturalist paradigm to claim that language is the product of cultural evolution. In our opinion, this claim is misleading. From our point of view, in fact, we can refer to the relationship between brain and language in terms of coevolution only if we are prepared to maintain that language is (...) the product of natural selection. In our opinion, in other words, the coevolution thesis involves the idea of language as biological adaptation. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to justify the role of mental imagery in creativity. In more specific terms the central idea of this paper is that the justification for the role of mental images in the creative process lies in the analysis of the relationship between vision and imagery. Mental images are present in thought just in those situations in which the ideal way to solve a problem would be the perception of those same things before our own eyes. (...) The production of a mental image is, from this point of view, an analogous process to the perception of an object in its absence. In these cases the images become a good substitute for reality: this is possible because they share common structural elements with percepts. These shared common characteristics provide a validation to the idea that the role of imagery in creativity depends on the structural properties which mental images share with the representation of the perceived information. Such a result opens the way to the idea that there is a close link between imagery and vision and, thus, provide justification for the theory that imagery is closer to perceiving than to thinking. (shrink)

In this paper, we show how the embodied revolution within cognitive sciences has relevant consequences for the topic of language origins. The empirical findings of the embodied approaches, indeed, allow to elaborate a motor theory of language origins according to which human language originated from the gestural communication of our ancestors. Theories that propose that human language emerged from gesture suggest that an important stage in the evolution of human communication was that of pantomime, i.e. a spontaneous bodily mode of (...) expression in which meaning is conveyed through resemblance. Adhering to this idea, we suggest that pantomime can be considered a platform for the emergence of human communication as it is a primordial mode of expression to tell stories without language. Based on that, we maintain that the possibility to explain the advent of language with reference to pantomime represents a way to support a narrative model of language origins. (shrink)

Riassunto: Al centro di questo articolo è l’analisi dei fondamenti neurocognitivi dei deficit macrolinguistici, discorsivo-narrativi nello specifico, osservabili nei pazienti affetti da schizofrenia. Tale analisi è condotta in riferimento alle ricerche svolte negli ultimi decenni nell’ambito della psicolinguistica e delle neuroscienze. I risultati di queste ricerche hanno mostrato che alcuni aspetti dei disturbi macroelaborativi che caratterizzano il profilo linguistico dei pazienti schizofrenici possono essere spiegati chiamando in causa i deficit di tre sistemi cognitivi: teoria della mente, funzioni esecutive, memoria semantica. (...) In questo articolo si sostiene che un tale quadro esplicativo vada integrato attraverso il riferimento a un ulteriore processo cognitivo cruciale per l’elaborazione macrolinguistica: la costruzione di scenari. Tale processo è fondamentale per la comprensione e produzione discorsiva in quanto responsabile della costruzione della rappresentazione globale degli eventi del discorso narrativo. Alla luce di queste considerazioni, in questo lavoro si propone che un ruolo cruciale nella spiegazione di alcuni aspetti dei disturbi macrolinguistici nella schizofrenia sia svolto da una compromissione nel processo di costruzione di scenari mentali e si avanza l’ipotesi che tale compromissione sia determinata, a sua volta, da problematiche che agiscono sul piano del funzionamento delle aree cerebrali preposte alla percezione e all’assemblaggio multimodale delle rappresentazioni sensomotorie. Parole chiave: Abilità macrolinguistiche; Costruzione di scenari; Elaborazione discorsiva: Embodied Cognition; Narrazione; Schizofrenia; Percezione; Modelli mentali The role scenario building in the explanation of macrolinguistic disorders in schizophrenia: This article analyzes the neurocognitive foundations of macrolinguistic deficits, specifically narrative, observable in patients with schizophrenia. This analysis is conducted with reference to the investigations carried out in recent decades in the field of psycholinguistics and neuroscience. The results of these investigations showed that some aspects of macrolinguistic deficits of schizophrenics can be explained in terms of impairments of three cognitive systems: theory of mind, executive functions, and semantic memory. In this article, it is suggested that this explanatory framework has to be integrated with the reference to a further cognitive process: scenarios construction. Such process turns out to be critical for discourse comprehension and production as it is responsible for the building of the global representation of events of a narrative. In the light of these considerations, it is claimed that a crucial role in the explanation of some aspects of macrolinguistic disorders in schizophrenia is played by an impairment in the process of constructing mental scenarios. The hypothesis is that this impairment is, in turn, determined by problems affecting the brain areas responsible for the perception and multimodal assembly of sensorimotor representations. Keywords: Discourse Processing; Embodied Cognition; Macrolinguistic Skills; Scenario Building; Narrative; Schizophrenia; Perception; Mental Models. (shrink)

In this paper we propose a narrative hypothesis on the nature of language and a proto-discursive hypothesis on the origin of our communicative abilities. Our proposal is based on two assumptions. The first assumption, concerning the properties of language, is tied to the idea that global discourse coherence governs the origin of our communicative abilities as well the functioning of these abilities. The second assumption, concerning processing devices, is connected to the idea that the systems of spatial and temporal navigation (...) are implicated in discourse coherence processing. Analysis of the relationship between these two assumptions allows us to integrate the model of language based on clues proposed by Sperber and Wilson with Relevance Theory with the discursive foundation of human communication. In this respect, our proposal can be considered as a tentative extension of Relevance Theory. (shrink)