The Evolution of Communication - Softcover

Hauser, Marc

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262581558 ISBN 13: 9780262581554

Publisher: MIT Press, 1997

Synopsis

Bound to become a classic and to stimulate debate and research, The Evolution of Communication looks at species in their natural environments as a way to begin to understand what the real units of analysis of communicating systems are, using arguments about design and function to illuminate both the origin and subsequent evolution of each system. It lights the way for a research program that seriously addresses the problem of how communication systems, including language, have been designed over the course of evolution.

About this title

Review

"Few writers have so far even attempted a general overview ofanimal communication, so Marc Hauser's book is timely if notoverdue. Hauser brings to the task a formidable knowledge of the field(his bibliography contains some 1,500 items) plus a lucid style and aninfectious enthusiasm that carry one smoothly through an immense mazeof information and make complex biological theories accessible even tothe uninitiated. For anyone concerned with the comparative study ofcommunication, this book is likely to remain an indispensable sourcefor some time to come." Derek Bickerton , Nature

Synopsis

The current wave of research activity on the evolution of cognition is rooted, both historically and intellectually, in the question of how human language evolved. But scientific progress on this question has been stalled in a debate about whether the question can even be broached. Breaking this deadlock, "The Evolution of Communication" addresses the problems of how communication systems, including language, have been designed over the course of evolution. "The Evolution of Communication" looks at species in their natural environments as a way to begin to understand what the real units of analysis of communicating systems are, using arguments about design and function to illuminate both the origin and subsequent evolution of each system. The book is broadly integrative, synthesizing conceptual issues and empirical results from neurobiology, cognitive and developmental psychology, linguistics, evolutionary biology, ethology, and anthropology. It covers a diverse group of organisms, including insects, frogs, birds, bats, monkeys and humans, dissecting the unique design features of each species' communication system.

Hauser places comparative communication into the structure of Tinbergen's four causal questions (with some modification) in an examination of communication and neurobiological design, ontogenetic design, adaptive design and psychological design. For each major topic he works through a small set of cases that elegantly and comprehensively illustrate a particular process. The empirical work is restricted to natural communicating systems that use auditory, visual or audiovisual signals.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0262581558
• ISBN 13: 9780262581554
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 776