# PTE RL #16: Evolution of Human Cognitive Function

Re-tell Lecture #16 - Level 3 - Feeds Speaking + Listening

> You will hear a lecture. When it ends, you have 10 seconds to prepare, then 40 seconds to retell the lecture in your own words.

## Explanation

The lecture discusses the rapid evolution of human cognitive function over the last 200,000 years. It suggests that a small number of genetic changes may be responsible for the development of modern human cognitive abilities, as the time frame was too short for more extensive genetic adaptation.

## Hints

- Focus on the speaker's main argument regarding the speed of human cognitive evolution.
- Note the speaker's point about the limited number of genetic changes required for these cognitive advancements.

## Transcript

So the pace at which human minds have evolved over the last million years and more recently, probably the last 200,000 years has been so frighteningly rapid that, I mean, the evolution of cognitive function and perception can only occur in small number of genes. If one needed to adapt dozens of gene changes in concert in order to acquire the penetrating minds that we now have, which our ancestors 5,000 years ago, didn't have, the evolution could not have taken place. It, I mean, it really couldn't have occurred so quickly. And so for that reason alone, one begins to really suspect that, well, that, you know, the genetic differences between people who, say, lived 5,000 years ago is evidence that the difference between their cognitive functions and ours is not actually as large. Therefore, I mean, a rather small number of genes may be responsible for the powerful minds that humans have, which most of us now possess.

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