ABSTRACT
In the last few chapters we have discussed the way the mind perceives animate symbols ± images with mentality, purpose, and even memory. Evolutionary psychology and various neurosciences explain why our brains are well suited to formulate experience in terms of animals and beings moving about. But these are not the only ``spirit'' perceptions. Humans did not evolve in a vacuum; we evolved in a speci®c environment ± most likely the African savannah. Furthermore, our evolutionary history built upon highly visual arboreal primates that predate Homo sapiens. Just as there are innate attentional biases and cues in our perceptual/conceptual system regarding animals and humans, there appear to be similar mechanisms that are used when processing environmental data. Aside from the division between animate and inanimate objects, which is an innate classi®cation, we further differentiate environmental information to a degree that seems to be quite detailed. This system aids survival by biasing certain environments as more ``attractive'' ± note again how imagery is innately tied with meaning ± in the same way it orients certain physical features (like symmetry) as more attractive than others.
