Working Memory and the Speed of Life

Current Anthropology Volume 51, Number S1.

By April Nowell

Hominin evolution is the result of complex interactions of biology and behavior within particular physical, social, and cultural environments. While evolution takes place at the species level, species are made up of individuals engaging in a social world. Extensive research into topics such as theory of mind and social intelligence have highlighted the importance of sociality and social factors in understanding the evolution of the hominin brain. The hominin brain has trebled in size throughout our evolution and has undergone significant reorganization. These changes have associated life‐history costs and benefits and can be understood only in the context of alterations in hominin ranging behavior, locomotion, diet, energetic requirements, subsistence strategies, childbirth, ontological development, demography, communication/play, and technology. Many of the significant changes in these variables, as well as in cranial development, coincide with the emergence of Homo erectus. It is with this species that we see a clear movement away from pongid life‐history patterns toward a pattern that we would eventually recognize as human. I discuss key changes in hominin life history that can reasonably be associated with H. erectus and the cognitive implications of these changes for an early enhancement of working memory away from ape‐grade abilities.

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