Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Massive redeployment, exaptation, and the functional integration of cognitive operations

  • Published:
Synthese Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The massive redeployment hypothesis (MRH) is a theory about the functional topography of the human brain, offering a middle course between strict localization on the one hand, and holism on the other. Central to MRH is the claim that cognitive evolution proceeded in a way analogous to component reuse in software engineering, whereby existing components—originally developed to serve some specific purpose—were used for new purposes and combined to support new capacities, without disrupting their participation in existing programs. If the evolution of cognition was indeed driven by such exaptation, then we should be able to make some specific empirical predictions regarding the resulting functional topography of the brain. This essay discusses three such predictions, and some of the evidence supporting them. Then, using this account as a background, the essay considers the implications of these findings for an account of the functional integration of cognitive operations. For instance, MRH suggests that in order to determine the functional role of a given brain area it is necessary to consider its participation across multiple task categories, and not just focus on one, as has been the typical practice in cognitive neuroscience. This change of methodology will motivate (even perhaps necessitate) the development of a new, domain-neutral vocabulary for characterizing the contribution of individual brain areas to larger functional complexes, and direct particular attention to the question of how these various area roles are integrated and coordinated to result in the observed cognitive effect. Finally, the details of the mix of cognitive functions a given area supports should tell us something interesting not just about the likely computational role of that area, but about the nature of and relations between the cognitive functions themselves. For instance, growing evidence of the role of “motor” areas like M1, SMA and PMC in language processing, and of “language” areas like Broca’s area in motor control, offers the possibility for significantly reconceptualizing the nature both of language and of motor control.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson M.L. (2003). Embodied cognition: A field guide. Artificial Intelligence, 149(1): 90–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson M.L. (2006). Evidence for massive redeployment of brain areas in cognitive function. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society, 28, 24–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson M.L. (2007a). Evolution of cognitive function via redeployment of brain areas. The Neuroscientist, 13(1): 13–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson M.L. (2007b). How to study the mind: An introduction to embodied cognition. In Santoianni F., Sabatana C. (eds). Brain development in learning environments: Embodied and perceptual advancements. Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson M.L. (2007c). The massive redeployment hypothesis and the functional topography of the brain. Philosophical Psychology, 21(2): 143–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson M. L. (in press). Action-grounded cognition: Evolution, embodiment and the nature of the mind. Keynote address, Cognitio 2006. In B. Hardy-Vallee & N. Payette (Eds.), Beyond the brain: embodied, situated & distributed cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press

  • Barsalou L.W. (1999). Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 577–660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bickle J. (2003). Philosophy and neuroscience, a ruthlessly reductive account. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Binkofski F., Amunts K., Stephan K.M., Posse S., Schormann T., Freund H.-J., Zilles K., Seitz R.J. (2000). Broca’s region subserves imagery of motion: A combined cytoarchitectonic and fMRI study. Human Brain Mapping, 11, 273–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabeza R., Nyberg L. (2000). Imaging cognition II: An empirical review of 275 PET and fMRI studies. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 1–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides L. (1989). The logic of social exchange: Has natural selection shaped how humans reason? Studies with the Wason selection task. Cognition, 31, 187–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruse H. (2003). The evolution of cognition—a hypothesis. Cognitive Science, 27, 135–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio A.R., Tranel D. (1993). Nouns and verbs are retrieved with differently distributed neural systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 90, 4957–4960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Decety J., Grézes J., Costes N., Perani D., Jeannerod M., Procyk E., Grassi F., Fazio F. (1997). Brain activity during observation of actions. Influence of action content and subject’s strategy. Brain, 120, 1763–1777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fauconnier G., Turner M. (2002). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York, Basic Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor J. (1983). The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA, Bradford Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler C.A., Rubin P., Remez R.E., Turvey M.T. (1980). Implications for speech production of a general theory of action. In Buttersworth B. (eds). Language production, Volume 1: Speech and talk. London, Academic Press, pp. 373–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J. J. (1979/1987). The ecological approach to visual perception. New York, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

  • Gil-da-Costa R., Braun A., Lopes M., Hauser M.D., Carson R.E., Herscovitch P., Martin A. (2004). Conceptual representations in a nonhuman primate: Species-specific vocalizations activate visual and affective processing systems in the macaque. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 101, 17516–17521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glenberg A., Kaschak M. (2002). Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9, 558–565

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorniak P., Roy D. (2006). Perceived affordances as a substrate for linguistic concepts. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society, 28, 279–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould S.J. (1991). Exaptation: A crucial tool for an evolutionary psychology. Journal of Social Issues, 3, 43–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould S.J., Vrba E. (1982). Exaptation: A missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology, 8, 4–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Graziano M.S.A., Taylor C.S.R., Moore T. (2002a). Complex movements evoked by microstimulation of precentral cortex. Neuron, 34, 841–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graziano M.S.A., Taylor C.S.R., Moore T., Cooke D.F. (2002b). The cortical control of movement revisited. Neuron, 36, 349–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagoort P. (2005). On Broca, brain and binding. In Grodinsky Y., Amuts K. (eds). Broca’s region. Oxford, Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamzei F., Rijntjes M., Dettmers C., Glauche V., Weiller C., Büchel C. (2003). The human action recognition system and its relationship to Broca’s area: An fMRI study. Neuroimage, 19, 637–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heineman G.T., Councill W.T. (2001). Component-based software engineering: Putting the pieces together. New York, Addison-Wesley

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelso J.A.S., Fuchs R., Lancaster T., Holroyd D., Cheyne H., Weinberg H. (1998). Dynamic cortical activity in the human brain reveals motor equivalence. Nature, 23, 814–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch C., Segev I. (2000). The role of single neurons in information processing. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 1171–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G., Johnson M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G., & Johnson M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York, Harper Collins

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G., Núñez R. (2000). Where mathematics comes from. New York, Basic Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus G. (2004). The birth of the mind. New York, Basic Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin A., Wiggs C.L., Ungerleider L.G., Haxby J.V. (1996). Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge. Nature, 379, 649–652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundale J. (2002). Concepts of localization: Balkanization in the brain. Brain and Mind, 3(3): 313–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishitani N., Schürmann M., Amunts K., Hari R. (2005). Broca’s region: From action to language. Physiology, 20, 60–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz J. (2005). Is the mind really modular?. In: Stainton R. (eds). Contemporary debates in cognitive science. New York, Blackwell

    Google Scholar 

  • Riegler A. (2001). The cognitive ratchet: The ratchet effect as a fundamental principle in evolution and cognition. Cybernetics and Systems, 32, 411–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolati G., Arbib M.A. (1998). Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences, 21, 188–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandler W., Lillo-Martin D. (2006). Sign language and linguistic universals. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Skarda C., Freeman W. (1987). How the brain makes chaos to make sense of the world. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 10, 161–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sporns, O., & Kötter, R. (2004). Motifs in brain networks. PLoS Biology, 2, e369.

  • Thoenissen D., Zilles K., Toni I. (2002). Differential involvement of parietal and precentral regions in movement preparation and motor intention. Journal of Neuroscience, 22, 9024–9034

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson E., Varela F. (2001). Radical embodiment: Neural dynamics and consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 418–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uttal W. (2001). The new phrenology. Cambridge, MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson M. (2001). The case for sensorimotor coding in working memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 8, 44–57

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Michael L. Anderson

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

    Authors
    1. Michael L. Anderson
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Michael L. Anderson.

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    About this article

    Cite this article

    Anderson, M.L. Massive redeployment, exaptation, and the functional integration of cognitive operations. Synthese 159, 329–345 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-007-9233-2

    Download citation

    • Accepted:

    • Published:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-007-9233-2

    Keywords

    Search

    Navigation