James Arthur Lecture on the Evolution of the Human Brain
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Early in the 20th century, James Arthur became associated with the AMNH. His fascination with the human brain led to his bequest to the AMNH permitting the establishment of the James Arthur Lectures on the Evolution of the Human Brain. The first lecture was given March 15, 1932.
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Item Maximizing Darwinian fitness with a costly brain : the neuroeconomics of human decision-making.(2013-04-05) Glimcher, Paul W.Paul Glimcher, a professor of neural science, economics, and psychology at New York University, discusses the neuroeconomics of human decision-making and how Darwinian "fitness" can be maximized with a costly brain. Glimcher presents an overview of our current understanding of the human machine for making decisions and shows how puzzling inconsistencies in human behavior emerge from the trade-offs of costs and benefits imposed by the hardware of the brain.Item Songs to syntax : cognition, computation, and the origin of language.(2013-03-04) Berwick, Robert C.MIT Professor Robert Berwick discusses the evolution of human language and specifically how underlying syntax arose via the introduction of a single, surprisingly simple operation that "glues" words and sentence parts together. The relation of this simple syntax to human sensory-motor and thought systems reveals language to be asymmetric in design. While it precisely matches the representations required for inner mental thought, it also poses computational difficulties for understanding sentences, as everyday experience demonstrates. Despite this mismatch, one can show that syntax leads directly to the rich cognitive array that marks us as a symbolic species, including mathematics, music, etc.Item Language as Kluge(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2010-04-06) Marcus, GaryThe idea of humans as rational and optimal creatures is making a comeback. But Gary Marcus, psychology professor and director of the NYU Center for Child Language, delivers the 80th Annual James Arthur Lecture during which he argues that the mind in general, and language in particular, might be better seen as what engineers call a kluge: clumsy and inelegant, but still remarkably effective.Item Evolutionary Depth of Human Brain Language Areas: Roles of Common Ancestors and Major Adaptive Shifts(American Museum of Natural History, 2009-03-23) Gannon, PatrickItem The brain in hominid evolution (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 38, 1969).(New York, NY : Columbia University Press, 1971) Tobias, Phillip V.Item Evolution and development of self-regulation (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 77, 2007).(American Museum of Natural History, 2008) Posner, Michael I.Item Evolution, cognition, consciousness, intelligence and creativity (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 73, 2003).(American Museum of Natural History, 2003) Cotterill, Rodney, 1933-Item Do we owe our intelligence to a predatory past? (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 70, 2000).(American Museum of Natural History, 2001) Brain, C.K.Item The origin of the human capacity (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 68, 1998).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1998) Tattersall, IanItem Do horses gallop in their sleep? : consciousness, evolution, and the problem of animal minds (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 66, 1996).(American Museum of Natural History, 1996) Cartmill, MattItem Evolution of the brain and cognition in hominids (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 62, 1992).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1992) Falk, DeanItem Brain size and the evolution of mind (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 59, 1989).(American Museum of Natural History, 1991) Jerison, Harry J.Item The uses of consciousness (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 57, 1987).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1987) Humphrey, NicholasItem Hierarchical evolution of the human capacity : the Paleolithic evidence (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 54, 1984).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1985) Marshack, AlexanderItem Human brain evolution in an ecological context (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 52, 1982).(New York, NY :American Museum of Natural History., 1983) Martin, R. D. (Robert D.), 1942-Item The fossil record of primate brain evolution (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 49, 1979).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1979) Radinsky, Leonard B.Item An evolutionary interpretation of the phenomenon of neurosecretion (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 47, 1977).(American Museum of Natural History, 1978) Scharrer, Berta, 1906-Item What squids and octopuses tell us about brains and memories (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 46, 1976).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1977) Young, J. Z. (John Zachary), 1907-Item Persistent problems in the physical control of the brain (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 44, 1974).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1975) Valenstein, Elliot S.Item The role of human social behavior in the evolution of the brain (James Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, no. 43, 1973).(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History., 1975) Holloway, Ralph L.