6 votes

The cognitive tradeoff hypothesis

4 comments

  1. [3]
    lonjil
    Link
    Should be noted that the underlying premise of this hypothesis, that chimps have better short term memory than humans, may be false. Snopes has an article about this, with links to further reading...

    Should be noted that the underlying premise of this hypothesis, that chimps have better short term memory than humans, may be false. Snopes has an article about this, with links to further reading and citations, but the tl;dr is that the chimps had lots of practice with the task, and humans match the chimps if they are also allowed to practice.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      0d_billie
      Link Parent
      Well well well, I didn't know this. Thanks for sharing! Tildes meta-conversation time: if I've posted something that's been debunked, I feel like I should remove the post... Should I take it down?

      Well well well, I didn't know this. Thanks for sharing!
      Tildes meta-conversation time: if I've posted something that's been debunked, I feel like I should remove the post... Should I take it down?

      1 vote
      1. NoblePath
        Link Parent
        I vote no. There’s two reasons. First, it’s valuable to the community to witness examples of people coming to understand and acknowledge their mistakes. Second, i think it will lead to better...

        Should I take it down?

        I vote no. There’s two reasons.

        First, it’s valuable to the community to witness examples of people coming to understand and acknowledge their mistakes.

        Second, i think it will lead to better understanding from others to follow the discourse. More, and more nuanced, information is always better to idea generation.

        4 votes
  2. 0d_billie
    Link
    Michael from Vsauce explores the cognitive tradeoff hypothesis, which suggests that the evolution of complex language in humans was at the cost of other cognitive abilities.

    Michael from Vsauce explores the cognitive tradeoff hypothesis, which suggests that the evolution of complex language in humans was at the cost of other cognitive abilities.

    1 vote