Course material for NACS 645: Introduction to Cognitive Science (Fall 2025) at the University of Maryland. Sessions covered: Evolution of cognition (did language come before or after?).

Required readings:

Fitch, W. T. (2011). The evolution of syntax: An exaptationist perspective. Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, 3, 9.
Putt, S. S., Wijeakumar, S., Franciscus, R. G., & Spencer, J. P. (2017). The functional brain networks that underlie early stone tool manufacture. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(6), 0102.

The material is provided below as a single PDF.

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