Original Intelligence: The Architecture of the Human Mind

Reveals the innate characteristics of human intelligence

Humans are the inheritors of millenia of animal evolution­­indeed, a mere 1.6 percent genetic difference separates us from our closest relative, the chimp­­and yet clearly human intelligence is a thing apart. Leading experimental psychologist David Premack and his long-time collaborator, Ann Premack, have made an extraordinary joint career of teasing out exactly what are the deep characteristics of the human mind that separates us from our closest animal relatives. In Original Intelligence, the Premacks draw upon years of brilliant experimental work of their own and others with animals and children, and human babies as young as four months. Carefully comparing and contrasting the abilities of animals and humans, they present compelling evidence for the existence of "modules," or inborn intuitions that enable even extremely young humans to recognize basic physical laws such as gravity, do arithmetic, draw analogies, understand music, and, of course use language. Finally, they explore the psychological, social, and ethical implications of these findings, and offer prescriptions for how educational methods should be reformed in light of this new understanding of how the mind works.

David Premack Ph.D. is emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. A pioneer, with Ann, in chimpanzee language study, they showed why chimps cannot acquire human language. Premack proposed a theory of reward or reinforcement still used after forty years (Premack Principle), and introduced the concept of Theory of Mind, a keystone of human social intelligence. His book The Mind of an Ape, which he wrote with Ann Premack, summarized his work on animal intelligence and was given an award by the American Psychological Association. Ann Premack's book Why Chimps Can Read was featured in "New and Noteworthy" in the New York Times and translated into five languages. She is an editor of Causal Cognition, and listed in Who's Who in the World.