Skip to Main Content

Mind Shift: How culture transformed the human brain

Online ISBN:
9780191926082
Print ISBN:
9780198801634
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Mind Shift: How culture transformed the human brain

John Parrington
John Parrington
Associate Professor in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Oxford
Find on
Published online:
17 June 2021
Published in print:
22 April 2021
Online ISBN:
9780191926082
Print ISBN:
9780198801634
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book draws on the latest research on the human brain to show how it differs strikingly from those of other animals in its structure and function at molecular and cellular level. It argues that this ‘shift’, enlarging the brain, giving it greater flexibility and enabling higher functions such as imagination, was driven by tool use, but especially by the development of one remarkable tool—language. The complex social interaction brought by language opened up the possibility of shared conceptual worlds, enriched with rhythmic sounds and images that could be drawn on cave walls. This transformation enabled modern humans to generate an exceptional human consciousness, a sense of self that arises as a product of our brain biology and the social interactions we experience. Linking early work by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky to the findings of modern neuroscience, the book also explores how language, culture, and society mediate brain function, and what this view of the human mind may bring to our understanding and treatment of mental illness.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close