Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id LAA13810 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 20 Feb 2001 11:10:51 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C92@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Lesser genes than expected Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 11:10:20 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Show me a person kept in isolation from birth who spontaneously and
idiosyncratically speaks perfect French. It wouldn't happen. The extent to
which we are inbuilt with tendencies for certain language structures has
been at the centre of debates about the origins of language for many years.
But whatever the answer to that, it's never going to be at the point of
people have French or German or whatever encoded in their genes.
That's all I was saying. I see no problem with strong genetic bases for
things like facial recognition and certain kinds of categorisation, or more
fundamentally the capacity to categorise and differentiate objects.
Categorisation is not a problem- but children have to be told what the names
of different categories are, they don't know those names innately.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Zylogy@aol.com
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 7:08 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Cc: Zylogy@aol.com
> Subject: Re: Lesser genes than expected
>
> Ah, but might it be that we ARE born with enhanced ability to learn
> certain
> classes of structures within language, certain types of vocabulary before
> others, and certain memes similarly? Consider the face-recognizer in the
> cortex. Nobody had to be taught the importance of a face. Imprinting in
> birds? Learning and decision tasks put into formats compatible with an
> animal's normal activities will be better executed than those which in
> alien
> ones.
>
> Jess Tauber
>
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