Becoming Human: From Pointing Gestures to Syntax (Advances in Consciousness Research)

What do the pointing gestures, the imitation of new complex motor patterns, the evocation of absent objects, and the grasping of others’™ false beliefs all have in common? Apart from being (one way or another) involved in the language, they all would share a demanding requirement €“ a second mental center within the subject. This redefinition of simulationism is extended in the present book in two directions. Firstly, mirror neurons and, likewise, animal abilities connected with the visual field of their fellows, although they certainly constitute important landmarks, would not require this second mental center. Secondly, others™ beliefs would have given rise to predicative communicative function and pre-grammatical syntax. The inquiry about the evolutionary-historic origin of language focuses on the cognitive requirements on it as a faculty (but not on the indirect causes such as environmental changes or greater cooperation), pays attention to children,