Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle

Archaeological discoveries describing the first abstract engravings and ornamentations of the body, through objects of adornment and the use of pigments, suggest that the use of signs and/or symbols is not limited to Homo sapiens. From a neuro-archaeological perspective, our study aims to infer the...

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Main Author: Mathilde Salagnon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 2023-09-01
Series:Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/bmsap/12150
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author Mathilde Salagnon
author_facet Mathilde Salagnon
author_sort Mathilde Salagnon
collection DOAJ
description Archaeological discoveries describing the first abstract engravings and ornamentations of the body, through objects of adornment and the use of pigments, suggest that the use of signs and/or symbols is not limited to Homo sapiens. From a neuro-archaeological perspective, our study aims to infer the neural bases required for the emergence of these first potentially symbolic types of behaviour. We used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to record participants' brain activity when we presented them with stimuli from potentially symbolic cultural innovations. These were schematic versions and photographs of early Palaeolithic engravings, followed by faces that were culturally ornamented with wooden beads and red paint strokes. Their perception involved associative visual brain areas. The salience network was mobilized to attribute a human origin to abstract patterns and a social status to ornamented faces. The latter also involved frontal regions belonging to the "social brain". My work suggests that the neural bases that not only enable relevant elements of the environment to be selected in order to recognize intentional productions of others, but also probably culturally determined meaning to be attached to these productions, were already functional in the Middle Palaeolithic, in the context of an increasingly complex social organization.
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spelling doaj-art-b7d66f8f5ae14ebd831fa948e90ee7702025-01-30T11:27:46ZengSociété d'Anthropologie de ParisBulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris1777-54692023-09-013510.4000/bmsap.12150Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelleMathilde SalagnonArchaeological discoveries describing the first abstract engravings and ornamentations of the body, through objects of adornment and the use of pigments, suggest that the use of signs and/or symbols is not limited to Homo sapiens. From a neuro-archaeological perspective, our study aims to infer the neural bases required for the emergence of these first potentially symbolic types of behaviour. We used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to record participants' brain activity when we presented them with stimuli from potentially symbolic cultural innovations. These were schematic versions and photographs of early Palaeolithic engravings, followed by faces that were culturally ornamented with wooden beads and red paint strokes. Their perception involved associative visual brain areas. The salience network was mobilized to attribute a human origin to abstract patterns and a social status to ornamented faces. The latter also involved frontal regions belonging to the "social brain". My work suggests that the neural bases that not only enable relevant elements of the environment to be selected in order to recognize intentional productions of others, but also probably culturally determined meaning to be attached to these productions, were already functional in the Middle Palaeolithic, in the context of an increasingly complex social organization.https://journals.openedition.org/bmsap/12150neuroarchaeologyvisual perceptioncognitive evolutionculturized body
spellingShingle Mathilde Salagnon
Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris
neuroarchaeology
visual perception
cognitive evolution
culturized body
title Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
title_full Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
title_fullStr Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
title_full_unstemmed Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
title_short Naissance de la pensée symbolique chez l’Homme : étude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paléolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalisés en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
title_sort naissance de la pensee symbolique chez l homme etude des bases neurales de la perception des gravures paleolithiques abstraites et des visages culturalises en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle
topic neuroarchaeology
visual perception
cognitive evolution
culturized body
url https://journals.openedition.org/bmsap/12150
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