Prehistoric action grammar 
Diagnosing knapping skill 
Understanding action recognition 
Action learning in macaques 
Neuroimaging of human tool use 
Vocal tract reconstructions 
Neanderthal speech modelling 
Primate cranial nerves Workpackage 8: Neuroimaging of human tool use
Brain basis of action comprehension and socially mediated skill acquisition in humans
Dr Dietrich Stout, Institute of Archaeology, University College London 
Dr Jan Apel, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
Start 01/ 10/2006 End 31/03/2009
Objective
To study the behavioral organization, cognitive structure and neural foundations of stone knapping and its social reproduction through demonstration, observation and deliberate practice.
Activities
To develop an operational and cognitive analysis of skill development and conceptual understanding in Lower Paleolithic toolmaking.
To use this analysis to help map the brain basis of human action comprehension and observational learning with respect to Lower Paleolithic toolmaking skills.
To apply the insights and methods developed in the first two stages to the analysis of knapping skill and it cognitive implications in a Middle Pleistocene archaeological assemblage.
Related publications
Stout, D. and Chaminade, T. (2007) The evolutionary neuroscience of tool making. Neuropsychologia . 45(5):1091-1100.
Dietrich Stout (under review) Making tools and making sense: complex, intentional behaviour in human evolution. Cambridge Archaeological Journal.