This initiative aims to investigate why humans are different:
What features make our cognitive abilities unique?
What are the origins of these features?
Why this question? Because:
Today, a more integrated understanding of the human mind/brain and its specific features should allow to open up new scientific opportunities
It provides a way to bring together cognitive sciences and related disciplinary areas that can all contribute to explore the opportunities at the interface
Projects may have different individual objectives. However, they must address "what features make human cognitive abilities unique, and what are the origins of these features?"
focus on higher cognitive faculties, (thinking, reasoning, using language) and individual cognitive development (in the context of social and cultural factors)
take a comparative and evolutionary perspective
be highly interdisciplinary
In all cases however, the research must address the key question: why are humans different?