Categorical learning plays a foundational role in language development. By reviewing comparative studies on categorical learning in humans and nonhuman animals, we show that categorical learning displays evolutionary continuity across invertebrates and vertebrates. Great apes and parrots can be trained to produce categories of (proto-)language-like symbols in different modalities. From the neurological perspective, we show that as a conserved brain structure, the basal ganglia are involved in categorical learning across species, and language processing in humans. This raises the possibility that categorical learning is one of the crucial cognitive foundations for language evolution.
Metaphor is central to human language and cognition. It has also been proposed to play an important role in language evolution. For these reasons, the evolution of metaphor and the cognitive processes supporting it are an important explanatory target for evolutionary accounts of human language. Here, we focus on the evolution of one particular capacity supporting metaphor, that of analogy. We integrate data from comparative psychology and cognitive archaeology to investigate the evolution of analogy as well as its evolutionary foundations. We present evidence that many aspects of analogy display evolutionary continuity between humans and non-human animals. In addition, we propose that analogical capacities can also be inferred from the archaeological record by looking at productional diversity in tool-making. Overall, we argue that analogy as an important cognitive process supporting metaphor has deep evolutionary roots.
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