It is widely believed that a cultural and cognitive revolution occurred at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic. Considers the explanation for this revolution offered by Steven Mithen: an explanation that appeals to modularity. Rejects Mithen's account. Suggests another: increase in the power of a general-purpose imaginative capacity. Links this change to recent work on changing patterns of human development, and changes in social organisation in the Upper Palaeolithic.
Keywords: childhood, culture, Mithen, pretence, representation, symbol, Upper Palaeolithic