A model of the transition to behavioural and cognitive modernity using reflexively autocatalytic networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a model of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the transition to behavioural and cognitive modernity in the Upper Palaeolithic using autocatalytic networks. These networks have been used to model life’s origins. More recently, they have been applied to the emergence of cognitive structure capable of undergoing cultural evolution. Mental representations of knowledge and experiences play the role of catalytic molecules, the interactions among them (e.g. the forging of new associations or affordances) play the role of reactions, and thought processes are modelled as chains of these interactions. We posit that one or more genetic mutations may have allowed thought to be spontaneously tailored to the situation by modulating the degree of (i) divergence (versus convergence), (ii) abstractness (versus concreteness), and (iii) context specificity. This culminated in persistent, unified autocatalytic semantic networks that bridged previously compartmentalized knowledge and experience. We explain the model using one of the oldest-known uncontested examples of figurative art: the carving of the Hohlenstein–Stadel Löwenmensch, or lion man. The approach keeps track of where in a cultural lineage each innovation appears, and models cumulative change step by step. It paves the way for a broad scientific framework for the origins of both biological and cultural evolutionary processes.

An Evolutionary Process Without Variation and Selection

“…This transition has been formalised and analysed mathematically, and by using simulations. Moreover, RAF theory has been applied to real biochemical systems [34,35,37,39,55], ecology [7] and cognition [22,23,24];…”

“…The phase transition from no RAF to a RAF incorporating most or all of the elements depends on (1) the probability of any one polymer catalyzing the reaction by which a given other polymer was formed, and (2) the maximum length (number of monomers) of polymers in the system. This transition has been formalised and analysed mathematically, and by using simulations, and RAF theory has been applied to real biochemical systems [36,37,39,41,58], ecology [7] and cognition [24,25,26]. The theory has proven useful for identifying how phase transitions might occur and at what parameter values.…”

“…In a cultural context, the external component of SOR may involve, not direct communal exchange with other individuals, but individual learning of information from the natural environment or from products others have put into the environment [25,26]. In learning, the internal component of SOR involves accommodation, i.e., self-organization of one's conceptual network to accommodate new information.…”

“…We emphasize that both social learning and individual learning involve foodset elements because the newly-acquired information is available as initial reactants; it does not have to be constructed from foodset elements to exist. This brings us to a significant advantage of the RAF approach over other network models: because it distinguishes new items that arise as a result of creative processes (modeled as foodset-derived items) from items that were previously available (modeled as foodset items) the approach offers a straightforward means of identifying where novelty first arises in a lineage and tracking how it gets embellished or modified over time [25,26].…”

“…In the extreme, SOR could work with just one entity. Indeed, learning can be considered a kind of SOR; it occurs through (i) social transmission, or (ii) individual learning of information obtained from products others have put into the environment, or from elements of the natural environment [25,26]. In learning, the internal component of SOR involves self-organization of one's conceptual network to accommodate the new information.…”