On the Phylogenesis of Executive Functions and Their Connection with Language Evolution

Abstract

According to some models, Executive Functions (EFS) appeared 150,000 years ago in connection with the advent of language grammar.By reviewing studies coming from Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology(ECA), I suggest that Executive Functions evolved in the context of toolmaking before the appearance of Homo sapiens. By virtue of this, I treat the issue of the relationship between EFs and language evolution in a different manner to the models that assigned a prominent role to grammar. I hypothesize that language could have had a narrative origin and that the study of the evolution of EFs together with the investigation of the role of EFs in language processing can corroborate this hypothesis.

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