The Rise of Homo Sapiens: The Evolution of Modern Thinking

The Rise of Homo sapiens is an introduction to human cognitive evolution written by psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge and archaeologist Thomas Wynn. The text differs from other treatments of cognitive evolution in its reliance on the archaeological record, and its emphasis on working memory, the most thoroughly investigated cognitive model of the last half-century.

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The Rise of Homo sapiens provides an unrivalled interdisciplinary introduction to the subject of hominin cognitive evolution that is appropriate for general audiences and students in psychology, archaeology, and anthropology.

The book includes chapters on neural anatomy, working memory, evolutionary methods, and non-human primate cognition, but the bulk of the text reviews major developments in cognition over the span of hominin evolution from the ape-like cognition of Ardipithecus to the final developments that enabled the modern mind. The most provocative chapters of the first edition - the explicit discussion of the role of sleep in hominin evolution and the difference between Neandertal and modern human cognition - incorporate significant developments in both areas since the publication of the first edition. This revised edition updates the former text and adds greater emphasis to the growing fields of epigenetic inheritance, embodied cognition, and neuroaesthetics. The new edition provides greater emphasis on role and status of Homo heidelbergensis.