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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 7, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Things to think with: words and objects as material symbols.

Andreas Roepstorff¹

¹Department of Social Anthropology and Centre for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark. andreas@pet.au.dk

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|February 27, 2008

Summary

Material symbols link our thoughts to the world, explaining the slow innovation in early humans. This suggests cognition evolved through complex material culture.

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Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

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Published on: June 21, 2019

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Last Updated: Jul 7, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

Published on: June 21, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive archaeology
Neuroscience
Anthropology

Background:

The sapient paradox highlights slow material innovation in anatomically modern humans.
Understanding the link between internal representations and external objects/words is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To integrate archaeology, anthropology, and brain imaging to study word and object cognition.
To propose material symbols as a bridge between internal cognition and the external world.
To reframe the sapient paradox through the lens of extended and distributed cognition.

Main Methods:

Review of recent functional brain imaging experiments.
Application of cognitive principles to archaeological and anthropological data.
Theoretical integration of cognitive science, archaeology, and neuroscience.

Main Results:

Material symbols are proposed as the key link between internal representations and external words/objects.
The sapient paradox can be explained by a gradual accumulation of distributed cognition.
Increasing complexity of material symbols correlates with the development of extended cognition.

Conclusions:

Material symbols play a critical role in human cognition and action.
The evolution of complex material culture reflects the development of extended and distributed cognitive systems.
This framework offers a new perspective on early human innovation and cognitive evolution.