How the Brain Evolved Language

by Donald Loritz

Book Overview

How can an infinite number of sentences be generated from one human mind? How did language evolve in apes? In this book Donald Loritz addresses these and other fundamental and vexing questions about language, cognition, and the human brain. He starts by tracing how evolution and natural adaptation selected certain features of the brain to perform communication functions, then shows how those features developed into designs for human language. The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195151240
• ISBN13: 9780195151244
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Biology of Language

In his 1998 book "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge," biologist E. O. Wilson argues that all of the sciences fit together in a hierarchical structure. Physics forms the foundation of the edifice of science. Chemistry builds on physics-theories in chemistry must be consistent with what is known in physics, although phenomena may arise at the chemical level that are not necessarily predictable from physical laws. Likewise, biology must be consilient with chemistry, and psychology with biology. Wilson goes on to argue that no real progress will be made in the social sciences until the biological underpinnings of human behavior are recognized. This is a stance that many social scientists would disagree with. Indeed, the so-called Standard Social Science Model argues that human behavior is not limited in any way by biology. Hence, social scientists need not take any of the natural sciences into consideration when building their theories. Early in the development of generative linguistics, the general expectation was that this approach was consilient with biology and psychology. Chomsky talked of an innate language acquisition device and critical periods, and he argued that universal grammar was hard-wired in the brain. Furthermore, transformational-generative grammar was intended to be a psychological explanation of language processing, and it produced hypotheses that were testable by the methods of the newly developing field of cognitive psychology. However, after successive failures to confirm the predictions of generative linguistics, Chomsky and his followers retreated to the safety of the Standard Social Science Model. However, minority of linguists has held on to the belief that, if linguistics is to be a legitimate science, its theories must be psychologically and biologically plausible. One such linguist is Donald Loritz, who, in his 2002 book "How the Brain Evolved Language," builds a strong case for the consilience of linguistics with biology. A major issue for linguists attempting a brain-based explanation of language has to do with the distinction between parallel and serial processors. The brain is a massively parallel computational device. Although its processing speed is slow, the brain can accomplish complex computations quickly because it divides problems into component parts that are each processed simultaneously. Most human-made computers, on the other hand, are serial processors. They solve problems on step at a time, but because their processing speed is so fast, they can far outperform brains on many tasks. Language is clearly a serial process. Phonemes are produced (roughly) one at a time; word follows word, sentence follows sentence. Yet, if serial-processed language is produced by a parallel-processing brain, then there is a gap that needs to be explained. In principle, a parallel processor can mimic a serial processor (and vice versa), and it is a general assumption among cognitive psychologists and artificial intellig

Loritz & Hawkins' On Intelligence

When I first read this book (or attempted to read it) a few years back, I got bogged down at several points in the mass of detail Loritz presents. I "finished" it, but I can't say I understood it. Loritz's narrative started off engagingly enough, and he sprinkled humor throughout the book in an effort to keep it light, but there was an incredible amount of detail. In retrospect, Loritz prepared the reader for every new concept, but he rarely says anything twice, so again and again I found myself having to go back to understand how I got to the current page. Loritz made a big deal about Stephen Grossberg, so I looked at some of his publications. They were even harder to read, but between the two of them I began to get a clearer notion of how brain and language might fit together, and after much rereading, I think I've got their basic arguments straight. Then, a few weeks ago, I read Jeff Hawkins' book "On Intelligence". Hawkins presents many of the same arguments that Loritz and Grossberg do, but while Loritz presents them in intricate contexts of language and biology, (and Grossberg presents them in differential difference equations!), Hawkins (or maybe his professional science co-writer, Sandra Blakeslee) presents them in the context of more everyday experiences. I wish I had read Hawkins first. It would have made Loritz and Grossberg so much easier. Loritz loses a star in my book because I didn't "get it" the first time, but if you harbor a suspicion that the brain has something to do with intelligence, if you read and liked Hawkins, and if you have any special interest in language at all, then you should read this book. There is definitely a "new" model of intelligence out there (is the neocortex really "new"??), and these books are definitely onto it.

A deeper understanding of how the brain learns language

If you've ever wondered how humans are able to learn, this book is for you. Even thought Don Loritz's book concentrates on language learning, the same cognitive model can be extended to learning in general. From the inner workings of a small set of neurons to the combined computational power of potentially billions (or more) neural connections, he builds on solid brain science and biology. Unlike other authors who approach neural network research from a purely engineering perspective, Loritz approach is grounded in physiology, and his assertions are largely supported by what we know about the brain's structure and how the emergent properties of mind are formed. I would highly recommend it: it's a nice change from the myriad of books which posit how the brain/mind work without even mentioning the word "neuron."