1. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
What does that mean?
Broad or narrow function?
How formed?
Good for?

2. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
What does that mean? Trait preserved by selection because of its contribution to fitness in ancestral environments.
Broad or narrow function?
How formed?
Good for?

3. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
What does that mean? Trait preserved by selection because of its contribution to fitness in ancestral environments.
Broad or narrow function? Specialized, domain- specific.
How formed?
Good for?

4. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
What does that mean? Trait preserved by selection because of its contribution to fitness in ancestral environments.
Broad or narrow function? Specialized, domain- specific.
How formed? Selective retention of favorable mutations.
Good for?

5. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
What does that mean? Trait preserved by selection because of its contribution to fitness in ancestral environments.
Broad or narrow function? Specialized, domain- specific.
How formed? Selective retention of favorable mutations.
Good for? The transmission of the underlying genes.

6. PART II: Psychological traits as adaptations
Psychological adaptations are costly.
Not necessarily conscious.
Seem “effortless” (phoneme perception; vision).
Cognitively impenetrable.

7. Sensation and Perception
Poster children for domain-specific adaptations.
Each sense specialized to handle particular kinds of input.
For the most part processing is localized to particular brain areas (but not a logical requirement of modularity).

8. Two views of perception:
Provides knowledge
Guides action: respond to risk and opportunities.
distance judgments
looming

26. Sensory ecology: What kind of reliable, behavior-guiding cues are out there in the world?
Senses have evolved to exploit different categories of cues.
Vision: narrow portion of electromagnetic spectrum.

28. Sensory ecology: What kind of reliable, behavior-guiding cues are out there in the world?
Hearing: Pressure waves in air (water, etc.) produced by movement.
Can hear in the dark.
Sound travels around corners.
Frequencies produced proportionate to size. Distance issues.
Frequencies heard proportionate to needs. (sex differences?)

29. Sensory ecology: What kind of reliable, behavior-guiding cues are out there in the world?
Chemical senses: taste and smell.
distance/contact
dimensionality
taste: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami

30. Sensory ecology: What kind of reliable, behavior-guiding cues are out there in the world?
Touch is several senses: pressure, temperature, tickle, itch, pain.

31. Sensory adaptation: Loss of sensation to a steady stimulus.
Attend to changes.
Also involves range-shifting.
Increased sensitivity to the changes that do occur.