To provide an overview of the complex behaviour of modern humans, and consider how it differs from that of non-human Primates and our hominin ancestors.
To describe and analyze how modern humans resolve physical and social problems, and the extent to which comparable strategies are employed by other Primates facing analogous problems.
To discuss aspects of cognitive versatility, planning, theory of mind, procedural memory, symbolic activities, culture, language, and cerebral evolution.
To consider human and Primate technologies in evolutionary context, with special reference to the cognitive capacities required to use or produce tools and the underlying neuronal circuits and systems in the brain.
The general aim is to introduce participants to significant aspects of the evolutionary pathways that have led to the complex brains and behaviour of great apes and humans.