Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking

Knowledge Graph: Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking (Cecilia Heyes, 2018)

Editorial spotlight: ↑ culture installs minds, not genes

Concepts

• cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018) (importance 5): A cognitive mechanism that is culturally inherited, constructed in development through social interaction rather than genetically evolved. Distinguished from cognitive instincts.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cognitive instinct (Heyes contrast term) (importance 4): The traditional evolutionary psychology view: distinctively human cognitive abilities are genetically evolved, innate adaptations. Heyes argues against this for key mechanisms.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Heyes's starter kit (importance 4): The genetically inherited building blocks that enable cultural learning: domain-general associative learning, attentional biases, motivation systems. Not specialized cognitive modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• social learning (Heyes mechanism) (importance 4): Learning that is facilitated by observation of or interaction with others. The transmission mechanism for cognitive gadgets across generations.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• associative learning (Heyes foundation) (importance 3): Domain-general learning mechanism that builds connections between stimuli and responses through experience. Foundation of the starter kit that enables gadget construction.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• sensorimotor learning (Heyes mechanism) (importance 3): Learning that builds connections between sensory inputs and motor outputs. Critical for developing imitation through self-observation and social feedback.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• enculturation (Heyes process) (importance 3): The process by which immersion in human cultural practices shapes cognitive development. Distinguished from general social exposure.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• massive modularity hypothesis (importance 3): Evolutionary psychology's claim that the mind consists of many specialized, domain-specific modules. Heyes's primary theoretical opponent.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural ratchet (Heyes consequence) (importance 3): The process by which cultural knowledge accumulates and improves over generations, made possible by high-fidelity transmission through cognitive gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural selection (Heyes mechanism) (importance 3): Selective retention and transmission of cultural variants, analogous to natural selection but operating on learned behaviors and cognitive tools.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• ostensive teaching (Heyes cultural practice) (importance 3): Deliberate teaching behaviors that direct attention and facilitate learning. A cultural practice that installs gadgets in the next generation.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural inheritance system (importance 3): The transmission of information across generations through social learning, distinct from genetic inheritance. The mechanism that propagates gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• genetic accommodation (Heyes acknowledgment) (importance 2): The possibility that genes could eventually evolve to support gadgets that are initially purely cultural. Heyes acknowledges but argues hasn't happened for core gadgets yet.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• attentional biases (starter kit component) (importance 2): Genetically influenced tendencies to attend to certain stimuli (faces, voices). Part of the starter kit but not specialized cognitive modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• motivation systems (starter kit component) (importance 2): Genetically inherited drives and reward systems. Enable cultural learning but don't specify cognitive content.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• selective social learning (importance 2): Learners don't copy indiscriminately; they use cues (success, prestige, conformity) to select what to learn. Shapes gadget transmission.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• dual inheritance theory context (importance 2): Framework recognizing both genetic and cultural inheritance as evolutionary forces. Heyes's work contributes cultural evolutionary perspective on cognition.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• pretend play (mindreading practice) (importance 2): Symbolic play where children act 'as if.' Heyes argues this cultural practice helps build mindreading abilities through repeated mental state attribution.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• gaze following (precursor behavior) (importance 2): Following another's line of sight. Present in many species; Heyes discusses as potential starter kit component that enables but doesn't constitute mindreading.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• mental files (mindreading substrate) (importance 2): Cognitive structures that represent individuals and track information about them. Heyes discusses as learned component of mindreading.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• conversation (mindreading practice) (importance 2): Verbal exchange requiring perspective-taking. A cultural practice that builds mindreading through repeated mental state inference.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• intention reading (mindreading component) (importance 2): Attributing goals and purposes to agents. A specific mindreading ability Heyes argues is culturally learned.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• belief attribution (mindreading component) (importance 2): Representing others' beliefs, including false beliefs. The canonical mindreading ability, learned through cultural practices.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• body schema mapping (imitation substrate) (importance 2): The learned correspondence between observed body movements and one's own motor commands. Constructed through sensorimotor experience.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• joint attention (cultural practice) (importance 2): Shared focus on an object or event. A cultural practice that supports gadget development, not itself an innate module.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• emulation vs imitation (Heyes distinction) (importance 2): Emulation copies outcomes/goals; imitation copies specific actions. Heyes argues true imitation is culturally learned, while emulation may be more basic.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• overimitation (cultural transmission signal) (importance 2): Children copy even causally irrelevant actions. Heyes interprets as cultural fidelity mechanism that enables gadget transmission.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural niche construction (importance 2): Process where cultural practices create environment that shapes development of next generation. Mechanism perpetuating gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• active teaching (human-specific practice) (importance 2): Deliberate instruction behaviors rare in nature. A cultural practice that efficiently transmits gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• perspective-taking (learned skill) (importance 2): Ability to represent situations from another's viewpoint. Component of mindreading gadget, learned through cultural practices.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural variant (transmission unit) (importance 2): A specific version of a cultural practice or cognitive strategy. Unit of cultural selection and transmission in gadget evolution.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural fidelity mechanisms (importance 2): Practices ensuring accurate transmission across generations (teaching, correction, overimitation). Essential for gadget stability.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• attention-sharing routines (importance 1): Cultural practices where adults direct infant attention. Scaffolds development of multiple gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• social referencing (cultural practice) (importance 1): Infants checking adult reactions to guide their own responses. A cultural practice contributing to gadget development.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural epidemiology framework (importance 1): Approach treating cultural transmission like disease spread. Heyes uses to model how gadgets propagate through populations.. Source: (from training memory of book).

Claims

• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis (importance 5): Distinctively human cognitive mechanisms—imitation, mind-reading, language—are not genetic instincts but cultural inventions installed through social learning during development.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• imitation is culturally learned (Heyes) (importance 4): Infants are not born imitators. They learn to imitate through specific social experiences that build the sensorimotor mappings required to match observed actions.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes) (importance 4): Theory of mind abilities emerge from accumulated social experiences and cultural practices (conversation, pretend play), not from maturation of an innate module.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• syntax is culturally learned (Heyes) (importance 4): Grammatical structures are learned through social interaction and statistical learning, not specified by innate universal grammar. Language is a cultural technology.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• mirror neurons are experience-dependent (Heyes) (importance 4): Mirror neuron properties arise from sensorimotor experience, not genetic specification. They are products of associative learning, not innate imitation modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• reading as paradigm gadget (importance 4): Reading is the clearest example of a cognitive gadget: a complex skill built on genetic capacities but entirely culturally transmitted, varying by writing system.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• domain-general learning suffices (Heyes) (importance 4): The starter kit of domain-general mechanisms is sufficient to build complex cognitive abilities through cultural learning, without requiring specialized innate modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture (importance 4): Once imitation and language are culturally installed, they enable ratchet effects: knowledge accumulates across generations, creating human cultural complexity.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• language as cultural technology (importance 4): Language is a culturally evolved tool that adapts to human learning biases, not a biological adaptation with innate grammatical constraints.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• no language instinct (Heyes vs Pinker) (importance 4): Direct challenge to Pinker's 'language instinct': there is no genetically specified universal grammar, only culturally transmitted linguistic structures.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• culture explains human uniqueness (Heyes) (importance 4): Human cognitive distinctiveness is primarily due to cultural evolution of cognitive gadgets, not genetic evolution of specialized brain modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• genes enable, culture specifies (Heyes motto) (importance 4): Genetic inheritance provides learning mechanisms and biases, but cultural inheritance specifies the content and structure of cognitive abilities.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• no theory of mind module (Heyes) (importance 4): There is no innate, domain-specific theory of mind module. Mindreading abilities are assembled from domain-general learning mechanisms.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• thinking itself is culturally evolved (importance 4): Not just content but the mechanisms of thought—how we reason, infer, imagine—are shaped by cultural learning, not just genetic evolution.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• autism as gadget construction failure (importance 3): Autism spectrum conditions may reflect difficulties in the cultural learning process that constructs mindreading and social cognition gadgets, not broken innate modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• automatic imitation is learned (importance 3): Even simple automatic imitation effects in adults result from learned associations, not innate action-perception matching.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• reading existence proves gadgets possible (importance 3): Reading is uncontroversially a cultural invention that reorganizes brain circuits. If reading is possible, so are imitation, mindreading, language gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• no grammar gene (Heyes on FOXP2) (importance 3): FOXP2 and similar genes affect general speech/learning abilities, not grammatical knowledge. No genes specifically encode syntactic rules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• culture is inheritance system (Heyes) (importance 3): Culture is not merely environment but a second inheritance system transmitting information across generations, parallel to genes.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• gadgets enable their own transmission (importance 3): Once imitation and language gadgets exist, they create cultural environment that installs gadgets in next generation, creating self-perpetuating cycle.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• apparent modularity from practice (importance 3): Cognitive abilities can appear modular and automatic through extensive practice, creating illusion of innate modules when they're actually learned.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• gadgets assemble gradually in development (importance 3): Cognitive gadgets aren't triggered by maturation but constructed piece-by-piece through accumulated social learning experiences.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• new gadgets can still emerge (importance 2): The cultural evolutionary process that created existing gadgets continues. New cognitive tools (like programming) may be gadgets in formation.. Source: (from training memory of book).

Empirical results

• neonatal imitation replication failures (importance 3): Classic Meltzoff-Moore neonatal imitation findings have failed to replicate robustly, undermining claims that imitation is innate from birth.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cross-cultural variation in ToM (importance 3): Theory of mind tasks show cultural variation in timing and performance, suggesting developmental pathways shaped by cultural practices rather than universal maturation.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• great ape imitation is limited (importance 3): Non-human apes show minimal spontaneous imitation, suggesting it requires specific cultural transmission practices present in human societies.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• poverty of stimulus argument weakened (importance 3): Recent findings show child-directed speech contains more grammatical information than Chomsky assumed, undermining the argument for innate grammar.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• literacy reshapes visual cortex (importance 3): Learning to read reorganizes visual processing areas, demonstrating cultural practices can fundamentally reshape neural circuits.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• theory of mind is trainable (importance 3): Interventions can improve theory of mind performance, suggesting it's a learnable skill rather than maturation of innate module.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• statistical learning acquires syntax (importance 3): Experimental evidence that domain-general statistical learning can extract grammatical patterns from input, without innate grammar.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• wild apes show minimal cumulative culture (importance 2): Great apes in natural settings show little cultural accumulation, consistent with lacking robust imitation gadgets.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• non-human animals lack full ToM (importance 2): Even great apes show at most rudimentary mindreading. Consistent with it requiring specific cultural transmission absent in other species.. Source: (from training memory of book).

Methods

• cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework) (importance 5): Heyes's alternative to standard evolutionary psychology: human cognitive uniqueness explained by cultural evolution operating on domain-general learning mechanisms, not genetic evolution of specialized modules.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• comparative animal cognition evidence (importance 3): Heyes uses animal cognition studies showing similar mechanisms can be learned, not innate, to support cultural learning account of human abilities.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• developmental systems approach (importance 3): Framework emphasizing development as constructed through gene-environment interaction over time, not genetic blueprint unfolding. Informs Heyes's gadgets theory.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• statistical learning (language acquisition) (importance 3): Domain-general ability to extract patterns from input statistics. Heyes argues this suffices for grammar acquisition without innate universal grammar.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cross-cultural developmental studies (importance 3): Comparing cognitive development across cultures to reveal cultural shaping of supposedly universal capacities. Key evidential strategy for Heyes.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• neuroscientific plasticity evidence (importance 3): Neural plasticity findings showing brains are shaped by experience, not rigidly predetermined. Supports cultural learning account.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• training intervention evidence (importance 2): Studies showing cognitive abilities can be enhanced through targeted training. Evidence that these are learned skills, not fixed capacities.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• historical changes in cognition (importance 2): Examining historical variations in cognitive practices to demonstrate cultural shaping. If abilities were innate, they wouldn't vary historically.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• evo-devo framework application (importance 2): Applying evolutionary developmental biology insights to cognition: development is constructive process shaped by environment, not genetic blueprint.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• computational cultural evolution models (importance 2): Formal models of cultural transmission and selection. Heyes uses to show how gadgets could evolve and stabilize.. Source: (from training memory of book).

Entities

• imitation (as cognitive gadget) (importance 5): The ability to copy novel actions by observing others. Heyes argues this is culturally learned, not innate—children must learn to map observed movements onto their own body schema.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• mindreading (as cognitive gadget) (importance 5): The ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions) to others. Heyes argues this develops through cultural learning practices, not as an innate theory of mind module.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• language (as cognitive gadget) (importance 5): The capacity for syntactic language. Heyes argues grammatical structures are culturally transmitted and learned, not genetically specified by a universal grammar.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• evolutionary psychology (Heyes opponent) (importance 3): The dominant paradigm Heyes argues against: assumes human cognitive abilities are innate adaptations shaped by natural selection in the Pleistocene.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Chomsky's universal grammar (importance 3): The theory that grammatical principles are innately specified. Heyes's primary opponent on language origins.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• mirror neuron system (importance 3): Neural circuits that fire both when acting and observing action. Often cited as evidence for innate imitation; Heyes argues they are themselves learned.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Pinker's language instinct (importance 3): Steven Pinker's influential argument for innate language faculty. Primary opponent on language evolution.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural evolution research program (importance 3): Interdisciplinary field studying cultural change as evolutionary process. Heyes contributes cognitive mechanism perspective to this program.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Tomasello's shared intentionality (importance 2): Michael Tomasello's theory emphasizing cooperative communication and shared goals. Heyes engages with but diverges from this framework.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• false belief task (ToM measure) (importance 2): Standard test of theory of mind: can child predict behavior based on another's false belief? Cultural variations in performance challenge innate module account.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Baron-Cohen's ToM module (TOMM) (importance 2): Simon Baron-Cohen's theory of an innate theory of mind module. A specific target of Heyes's criticism.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Meltzoff's neonatal imitation studies (importance 2): Andrew Meltzoff's influential but now-questioned findings of imitation in newborns. Central evidence for innate imitation that Heyes challenges.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• connectionist models (Heyes evidence) (importance 2): Neural network models showing domain-general learning can acquire complex cognitive abilities. Support for Heyes's anti-modularity stance.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• cultural group selection (importance 2): Selection operating on cultural groups, favoring those with adaptive cultural practices. Possible mechanism for gadget evolution that Heyes acknowledges.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Gopnik's theory-theory (importance 2): Alison Gopnik's account of theory of mind as intuitive theories children construct. Heyes engages with but modifies toward cultural learning.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology (importance 2): Tradition emphasizing cultural tools shaping cognition. Heyes's work is compatible with but extends this framework.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• social brain hypothesis (importance 2): Theory linking brain size to social group size. Heyes's alternative: culture drives brain evolution through gadget-enabled cumulative culture.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• Baldwin effect possibility (importance 2): Theoretical process where learned behaviors guide genetic evolution. Heyes acknowledges as possibility but argues gadgets haven't undergone this yet.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• gene-culture coevolution (importance 2): Framework where genetic and cultural evolution interact. Heyes argues culture has done most of the recent work in human cognitive evolution.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• controlled experimental evidence (importance 2): Laboratory studies of learning and development. Heyes synthesizes extensive experimental literature supporting cultural learning account.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• dual-process theories (importance 1): Frameworks distinguishing automatic vs controlled processing. Heyes argues both can be culturally constructed, not just controlled processes.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• extended mind thesis (importance 1): Philosophical position that cognition extends into environment. Heyes's gadgets are internal but culturally constructed, distinct from extended mind.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• situated cognition approaches (importance 1): Perspectives emphasizing cognition as embodied and environmentally embedded. Compatible with but distinct from Heyes's focus on cultural transmission.. Source: (from training memory of book).
• embodied cognition research (importance 1): Field studying how body and action shape cognition. Heyes incorporates sensorimotor learning as gadget substrate.. Source: (from training memory of book).

Relations

• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis requires cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018) contradicts cognitive instinct (Heyes contrast term)
• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis exemplifies imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis exemplifies mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis exemplifies language (as cognitive gadget)
• cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018) requires Heyes's starter kit
• cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018) requires social learning (Heyes mechanism)
• cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework) supports Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis
• cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework) contradicts evolutionary psychology (Heyes opponent)
• imitation is culturally learned (Heyes) supports imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes) supports mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• syntax is culturally learned (Heyes) supports language (as cognitive gadget)
• neonatal imitation replication failures evidences imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• cross-cultural variation in ToM evidences mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• associative learning (Heyes foundation) exemplifies Heyes's starter kit
• attentional biases (starter kit component) exemplifies Heyes's starter kit
• motivation systems (starter kit component) exemplifies Heyes's starter kit
• Chomsky's universal grammar contradicts syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• mirror neurons are experience-dependent (Heyes) refutes mirror neuron system
• sensorimotor learning (Heyes mechanism) enables imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• great ape imitation is limited evidences imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• enculturation (Heyes process) enables cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• reading as paradigm gadget exemplifies cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• massive modularity hypothesis contradicts domain-general learning suffices (Heyes)
• domain-general learning suffices (Heyes) supports Heyes's starter kit
• developmental systems approach supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture requires imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture requires language (as cognitive gadget)
• cultural ratchet (Heyes consequence) supports cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture
• statistical learning (language acquisition) enables syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• poverty of stimulus argument weakened refutes Chomsky's universal grammar
• Baron-Cohen's ToM module (TOMM) contradicts mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• cultural selection (Heyes mechanism) enables cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• autism as gadget construction failure supports mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• ostensive teaching (Heyes cultural practice) exemplifies social learning (Heyes mechanism)
• cross-cultural developmental studies supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• Meltzoff's neonatal imitation studies contradicts neonatal imitation replication failures
• language as cultural technology supports syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• connectionist models (Heyes evidence) supports domain-general learning suffices (Heyes)
• cultural inheritance system enables cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• no language instinct (Heyes vs Pinker) contradicts Pinker's language instinct
• neuroscientific plasticity evidence supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• literacy reshapes visual cortex evidences reading as paradigm gadget
• pretend play (mindreading practice) enables mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• gaze following (precursor behavior) exemplifies Heyes's starter kit
• automatic imitation is learned supports imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• training intervention evidence supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• theory of mind is trainable evidences mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• conversation (mindreading practice) enables mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• culture explains human uniqueness (Heyes) supports Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis
• intention reading (mindreading component) exemplifies mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• belief attribution (mindreading component) exemplifies mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• false belief task (ToM measure) exemplifies belief attribution (mindreading component)
• historical changes in cognition supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• body schema mapping (imitation substrate) enables imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• genes enable, culture specifies (Heyes motto) supports Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis
• joint attention (cultural practice) exemplifies ostensive teaching (Heyes cultural practice)
• evo-devo framework application supports developmental systems approach
• no theory of mind module (Heyes) contradicts Baron-Cohen's ToM module (TOMM)
• cultural evolution research program builds-on cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• wild apes show minimal cumulative culture evidences cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture
• overimitation (cultural transmission signal) exemplifies cultural fidelity mechanisms
• reading existence proves gadgets possible supports reading as paradigm gadget
• cultural niche construction enables cultural inheritance system
• no grammar gene (Heyes on FOXP2) supports syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• computational cultural evolution models supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• active teaching (human-specific practice) exemplifies ostensive teaching (Heyes cultural practice)
• statistical learning acquires syntax evidences statistical learning (language acquisition)
• gadgets enable their own transmission supports cognitive gadgets enable cumulative culture
• gene-culture coevolution builds-on dual inheritance theory context
• perspective-taking (learned skill) exemplifies mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• thinking itself is culturally evolved supports Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis
• non-human animals lack full ToM evidences mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• apparent modularity from practice refutes massive modularity hypothesis
• gadgets assemble gradually in development supports cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• controlled experimental evidence supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• new gadgets can still emerge supports cognitive gadget (Heyes 2018)
• cultural fidelity mechanisms enables cultural inheritance system
• selective social learning exemplifies social learning (Heyes mechanism)
• emulation vs imitation (Heyes distinction) contradicts imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• Tomasello's shared intentionality builds-on cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology builds-on cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• culture is inheritance system (Heyes) supports cultural inheritance system
• genetic accommodation (Heyes acknowledgment) builds-on Baldwin effect possibility
• cultural variant (transmission unit) requires cultural selection (Heyes mechanism)
• social brain hypothesis contradicts culture explains human uniqueness (Heyes)
• Heyes's cognitive gadgets thesis requires cultural inheritance system
• Heyes's starter kit requires associative learning (Heyes foundation)
• imitation (as cognitive gadget) requires imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• mindreading (as cognitive gadget) requires mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• language (as cognitive gadget) requires syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• mirror neurons are experience-dependent (Heyes) supports imitation is culturally learned (Heyes)
• comparative animal cognition evidence enables great ape imitation is limited
• literacy reshapes visual cortex exemplifies neuroscientific plasticity evidence
• Gopnik's theory-theory supports mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• social referencing (cultural practice) exemplifies social learning (Heyes mechanism)
• attention-sharing routines exemplifies ostensive teaching (Heyes cultural practice)
• poverty of stimulus argument weakened evidences syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• mental files (mindreading substrate) enables mindreading (as cognitive gadget)
• no language instinct (Heyes vs Pinker) supports syntax is culturally learned (Heyes)
• cultural group selection exemplifies cultural selection (Heyes mechanism)
• theory of mind is trainable exemplifies training intervention evidence
• neonatal imitation replication failures refutes Meltzoff's neonatal imitation studies
• body schema mapping (imitation substrate) requires sensorimotor learning (Heyes mechanism)
• reading existence proves gadgets possible requires literacy reshapes visual cortex
• statistical learning acquires syntax evidences no grammar gene (Heyes on FOXP2)
• overimitation (cultural transmission signal) supports imitation (as cognitive gadget)
• wild apes show minimal cumulative culture supports great ape imitation is limited
• gadgets enable their own transmission enables cultural ratchet (Heyes consequence)
• cultural niche construction supports gadgets enable their own transmission
• gadgets assemble gradually in development supports developmental systems approach
• pretend play (mindreading practice) supports conversation (mindreading practice)
• false belief task (ToM measure) exemplifies cross-cultural variation in ToM
• joint attention (cultural practice) builds-on gaze following (precursor behavior)
• apparent modularity from practice supports domain-general learning suffices (Heyes)
• genes enable, culture specifies (Heyes motto) supports Heyes's starter kit
• genes enable, culture specifies (Heyes motto) supports cultural inheritance system
• culture is inheritance system (Heyes) supports gene-culture coevolution
• cultural evolution research program builds-on dual inheritance theory context
• cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework) builds-on cultural evolution research program
• thinking itself is culturally evolved supports culture explains human uniqueness (Heyes)
• new gadgets can still emerge builds-on reading as paradigm gadget
• active teaching (human-specific practice) exemplifies cultural fidelity mechanisms
• non-human animals lack full ToM supports wild apes show minimal cumulative culture
• emulation vs imitation (Heyes distinction) exemplifies Heyes's starter kit
• embodied cognition research supports sensorimotor learning (Heyes mechanism)
• cultural epidemiology framework exemplifies computational cultural evolution models
• evo-devo framework application supports cultural evolutionary psychology (Heyes framework)
• connectionist models (Heyes evidence) supports associative learning (Heyes foundation)
• selective social learning enables cultural selection (Heyes mechanism)
• cultural variant (transmission unit) requires cultural fidelity mechanisms
• automatic imitation is learned supports mirror neurons are experience-dependent (Heyes)
• no theory of mind module (Heyes) supports mindreading is culturally learned (Heyes)
• no grammar gene (Heyes on FOXP2) supports no language instinct (Heyes vs Pinker)
• autism as gadget construction failure supports no theory of mind module (Heyes)
• intention reading (mindreading component) precedes belief attribution (mindreading component)
• gaze following (precursor behavior) precedes joint attention (cultural practice)
• Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology supports cultural niche construction

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