In this talk I address the issue of the interaction between evolutionary and developmental processes using the case of pointing gestures as an illustration. Pointing is probably a universal communicative behaviour among humans that can be used in very complex ways. It emerges relatively early in ontogeny and has been claimed to be a precursor to some of the most complex cognitive achievements of humans (language and Theory of mind). In apes, in contrast, manual pointing is not a natural behaviour that can be observed in the wild. However, when reared in captivity, apes seem to spontaneously develop whole-hand, or occasionally even index-finger, pointing gestures that are both similar and different to the pointing gestures of human infants. I will discuss different models of what this case can tell us about how development and evolution interact in creating behavioural and cognitive adaptation.

Dr. Juan-Carlos Gómez obtained his PhD. in 1992 in the Department of Developmental Psychology in The Universidad Autónoma of Madrid with a study on the development of intentional communication in young captive gorillas. In 1995 he was a PostDoc at the MRC Cognitive Development Unit, London, with Prof. A. Karmiloff-Smith. In 1996 he became a Lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of St.Andrews, where he is currenty working as Reader in Psychology. His research interests include the comparative study of early communication and theory of mind skills in non-human primates and typically and atypically developing children. He is a founding member of the Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution Centre, University of St.Andrews, and director of project REFCOM, on the origins of Referential Communication, funded by the FT-6 program of the European Union. He is the author of Apes, monkeys, children and the growth of mind (Harvard University Press), and Associate Editor of Developmental Science.

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