•  4
    An Evolutionary Perspective on Primate Social Cognition (edited book)
    with Francesca De Petrillo and Fabio Di Vincenzo
    Springer. 2018.
    The Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis and the social brain hypothesis have revolutionized traditional views on how primate cognition can be studied. Beyond the study of individual problem-solving capacities of various primates, these hypotheses have demonstrated the close relationship between the complexity of primate social life and the emergence of more sophisticated cognitive skills. The social brain hypothesis demonstrated the existence of a close correlation between the volume of the ne…Read more
  •  2
    Emulation, imitation and Social Creation of Cultural Information
    with Fabio Di Vincenzo
    In Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, Fabio Di Vincenzo & Francesca De Petrillo (eds.), Evolution of Primate Social Cognition, Springer Verlag. pp. 267-282. 2018.
    The creation of cultural information by humans is an ability that requires to compound together different factors. Although information needs to be transmitted faithfully enough so to prevent errors, space must be left to create innovations at the same time. Individual trial and error is the principal source of innovations among all primate species, especially in emulative contexts, but it does not explain the quantity, quality or rapidity of human cultural production. On the other hand, imitati…Read more
  •  11
    Evolution of Primate Social Cognition (edited book)
    with Fabio Di Vincenzo and Francesca De Petrillo
    Springer Verlag. 2018.
    This interdisciplinary volume brings together expert researchers coming from primatology, anthropology, ethology, philosophy of cognitive sciences, neurophysiology, mathematics and psychology to discuss both the foundations of non-human primate and human social cognition as well as the means there currently exist to study the various facets of social cognition. The first part focusses on various aspects of social cognition across primates, from the relationship between food and social behaviour …Read more
  •  17
    Hierarchy, multidomain modules, and the evolution of intelligence
    with Mauricio de Jesus Dias Martins
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 40. 2017.
    In this commentary, we support a complex, mosaic, and multimodal approach to the evolution of intelligence. Using the arcuate fasciculus as an example of discontinuity in the evolution of neurobiological architectures, we argue that the strict dichotomy of modules versus G, adopted by Burkart et al. in the target article, is insufficient to interpret the available statistical and experimental evidence.