title: The evolutionary origins of cognitive control.
abstract: The question of domain-specific versus domain-general processing is an ongoing source of inquiry surrounding cognitive control. Using a comparative evolutionary approach, Stout (2010) proposed two components of cognitive control: coordinating hierarchical action plans and social cognition. This article reports additional molecular and experimental evidence supporting a domain-general attentional process coordinating hierarchical action plans, with the earliest such control processing originating in the capacity of dynamic foraging behaviors-predating the vertebrate-invertebrate divergence (c. 700 million years ago). Further discussion addresses evidence required for additional, domain-specific, cognitive control processes, noting that proposed social processes may simply provide emotionally valenced representational information to the above hierarchical process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Basel.
authors.forename: Thomas T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Hills
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011323:Primates / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Comparative biology; Dopamine; Evolutionary psychology; Executive control; Foraging; Social evolution