Heyes does well to argue that some of the apparently innate human capabilities for cultural learning can be considered in terms of more general-purpose mechanisms. In the application of this to language, she overlooks some of its most interesting properties. I review three, and then illustrate how mindreading can come from general-purpose mechanism via language.

A method is proposed where static patterns or snapshots of cortical activity that could be stored as hyperassociative indices in hippocampus can subsequently be retrieved and reinjected into the neocortex in order to enable neocortex to then proceed to unfold the corresponding sequence, thus implementing an index-based sequence memory storage and retrieval capability.

Arbib's How the brain got language is a major achievement in defining a trajectory for the evolution of complex imitation and the language-ready brain leading to human language. In addition to these capabilities, I will suggest that it is useful to consider two additional components of human brain function that are intricately related to the emergence of language. These are, first, the profound human motivation to represent and share the psychological states of others, and second, the related complex semantic system that represents the contents of what is communicated in language. In this sense, these two components represent part of what is under the iceberg, where language is the emerging tip.

As there is “dark matter” in the neuroscience of individuals engaged in dynamic interactions, similar dark matter is present in the domain of interaction between humans and cognitive robots. Progress in second-person neuroscience will contribute to the development of robotic cognitive systems, and such developed robotic systems will be used to test the validity of the underlying theories.

Recognizing limitations of the “syntactocentric” perspective, Jackendoff proposes a model in which phonology, syntax, and conceptual systems are each independently combinatorial. We can ask, however, whether he has taken this issue to its logical conclusion. The fundamental question that is not fully addressed is whether the combinatorial aspect of syntax originated in, and derives from, the indeed “far richer” conceptual system, a question to be discussed.