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Berthaume M, Elton S. Biomechanics in anthropology. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22019. [PMID: 38217465 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
Biomechanics is the set of tools that explain organismal movement and mechanical behavior and links the organism to the physicality of the world. As such, biomechanics can relate behaviors and culture to the physicality of the organism. Scale is critical to biomechanical analyses, as the constitutive equations that matter differ depending on the scale of the question. Within anthropology, biomechanics has had a wide range of applications, from understanding how we and other primates evolved to understanding the effects of technologies, such as the atlatl, and the relationship between identity, society, culture, and medical interventions, such as prosthetics. Like any other model, there is great utility in biomechanical models, but models should be used primarily for hypothesis testing and not data generation except in the rare case where models can be robustly validated. The application of biomechanics within anthropology has been extensive, and holds great potential for the future.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah Elton
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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2
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Pestana C, de Sousa AA, Todorov OS, Beaudet A, Benoit J. Evolutionary history of hominin brain size and phylogenetic comparative methods. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2023; 275:217-232. [PMID: 36841569 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
Abstract
An absolutely and relatively large brain has traditionally been viewed as a distinctive characteristic of the Homo genus, with anatomically modern humans presented at the apex of a long line of progressive increases in encephalization. Many studies continue to focus attention on increasing brain size in the Homo genus, while excluding measures of absolute and relative brain size of more geologically recent, smaller brained, hominins such as Homo floresiensis, and Homo naledi and smaller brained Homo erectus specimens. This review discusses the benefits of using phylogenetic comparative methods to trace the diverse changes in hominin brain evolution and the drawbacks of not doing so.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Pestana
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | | | - Orlin S Todorov
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Amélie Beaudet
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Julien Benoit
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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3
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Homo sapiens and Neanderthals share high cerebral cortex integration into adulthood. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:42-50. [PMID: 36604552 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01933-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
There is controversy around the mechanisms that guided the change in brain shape during the evolution of modern humans. It has long been held that different cortical areas evolved independently from each other to develop their unique functional specializations. However, some recent studies suggest that high integration between different cortical areas could facilitate the emergence of equally extreme, highly specialized brain functions. Here, we analyse the evolution of brain shape in primates using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics of endocasts. We aim to determine, firstly, whether modern humans present unique developmental patterns of covariation between brain cortical areas; and secondly, whether hominins experienced unusually high rates of evolution in brain covariation as compared to other primates. On the basis of analyses including modern humans and other extant great apes at different developmental stages, we first demonstrate that, unlike our closest living relatives, Homo sapiens retain high levels of covariation between cortical areas into adulthood. Among the other great apes, high levels of covariation are only found in immature individuals. Secondly, at the macro-evolutionary level, our analysis of 400 endocasts, representing 148 extant primate species and 6 fossil hominins, shows that strong covariation between different areas of the brain in H. sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis evolved under distinctly higher evolutionary rates than in any other primate, suggesting that natural selection favoured a greatly integrated brain in both species. These results hold when extinct species are excluded and allometric effects are accounted for. Our findings demonstrate that high covariation in the brain may have played a critical role in the evolution of unique cognitive capacities and complex behaviours in both modern humans and Neanderthals.
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Bruner E, Beaudet A. The brain of Homo habilis: Three decades of paleoneurology. J Hum Evol 2023; 174:103281. [PMID: 36455402 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In 1987, Phillip Tobias published a comprehensive anatomical analysis of the endocasts attributed to Homo habilis, discussing issues dealing with brain size, sulcal patterns, and vascular traces. He suggested that the neuroanatomy of this species evidenced a clear change toward many cerebral traits associated with our genus, mostly when concerning the morphology of the frontal and parietal cortex. After more than 30 years, the fossil record associated with this taxon has not grown that much, but we have much more information on cranial and brain biology, and we are using a larger array of digital methods to investigate the paleoneurological variation observed in the human genus. Brain volume, the size of the frontal lobe, or the gross hemispheric asymmetries are still relevant issues, but they are considered to be less central than before. More attention is instead being paid to the cortical organization, the relationships with the cranial architecture, and the influence of molecular or ecological factors. Although the field of paleoneurology can currently count on a larger range of tools and principles, there is still a general lack of anatomical information on many endocranial traits. This aspect is probably crucial for the agenda of paleoneurology. More importantly, the whole science is undergoing a delicate change, because of the growing influence of the social environment. In this sense, the disciplines working with fossils (and, in particular, with brain evolution) should take particular care to maintain a healthy professional situation, avoiding an excess of speculation and overstatement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emiliano Bruner
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain.
| | - Amélie Beaudet
- University of Cambridge, Henry Wellcome Building, Fitzwilliam St, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK; School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Carrer de l'Escola Industrial, 23, 08201 Sabadell, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
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5
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Abstract
Alterations in brain size and organization represent some of the most distinctive changes in the emergence of our species. Yet, there is limited understanding of how genetic factors contributed to altered neuroanatomy during human evolution. Here, we analyze neuroimaging and genetic data from up to 30,000 people in the UK Biobank and integrate with genomic annotations for different aspects of human evolution, including those based on ancient DNA and comparative genomics. We show that previously reported signals of recent polygenic selection for cortical anatomy are not replicable in a more ancestrally homogeneous sample. We then investigate relationships between evolutionary annotations and common genetic variants shaping cortical surface area and white-matter connectivity for each hemisphere. Our analyses identify single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability enrichment in human-gained regulatory elements that are active in early brain development, affecting surface areas of several parts of the cortex, including left-hemispheric speech-associated regions. We also detect heritability depletion in genomic regions with Neanderthal ancestry for connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus; this is a white-matter tract involved in memory, language, and socioemotional processing with relevance to neuropsychiatric disorders. Finally, we show that common genetic loci associated with left-hemispheric pars triangularis surface area overlap with a human-gained enhancer and affect regulation of ZIC4, a gene implicated in neurogenesis. This work demonstrates how genomic investigations of present-day neuroanatomical variation can help shed light on the complexities of our evolutionary past.
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Kaczanowska J, Ganglberger F, Chernomor O, Kargl D, Galik B, Hess A, Moodley Y, von Haeseler A, Bühler K, Haubensak W. Molecular archaeology of human cognitive traits. Cell Rep 2022; 40:111287. [PMID: 36044840 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The brains and minds of our human ancestors remain inaccessible for experimental exploration. Therefore, we reconstructed human cognitive evolution by projecting nonsynonymous/synonymous rate ratios (ω values) in mammalian phylogeny onto the anatomically modern human (AMH) brain. This atlas retraces human neurogenetic selection and allows imputation of ancestral evolution in task-related functional networks (FNs). Adaptive evolution (high ω values) is associated with excitatory neurons and synaptic function. It shifted from FNs for motor control in anthropoid ancestry (60-41 mya) to attention in ancient hominoids (26-19 mya) and hominids (19-7.4 mya). Selection in FNs for language emerged with an early hominin ancestor (7.4-1.7 mya) and was later accompanied by adaptive evolution in FNs for strategic thinking during recent (0.8 mya-present) speciation of AMHs. This pattern mirrors increasingly complex cognitive demands and suggests that co-selection for language alongside strategic thinking may have separated AMHs from their archaic Denisovan and Neanderthal relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Kaczanowska
- Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Olga Chernomor
- Center for Integrative Bioinformatics Vienna (CIBIV), Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, Dr. Bohr Gasse 9, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Dominic Kargl
- Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Bence Galik
- Bioinformatics and Scientific Computing, Vienna Biocenter Core Facilities (VBCF), Dr. Bohr Gasse 3, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreas Hess
- Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Fahrstrasse 17, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Yoshan Moodley
- Department of Zoology, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, Republic of South Africa
| | - Arndt von Haeseler
- Center for Integrative Bioinformatics Vienna (CIBIV), Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, Dr. Bohr Gasse 9, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Faculty of Computer Science, University of Vienna, Währinger Str. 29, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Katja Bühler
- VRVis Research Center, Donau-City Strasse 11, 1220 Vienna, Austria
| | - Wulf Haubensak
- Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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7
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Villmoare B, Grabowski M. Did the transition to complex societies in the Holocene drive a reduction in brain size? A reassessment of the DeSilva et al. (2021) hypothesis. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.963568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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8
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Gingerich PD. Pattern and rate in the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of modern human brain size. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11216. [PMID: 35780143 PMCID: PMC9250492 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15481-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Fourteen studies of brain size evolution in Plio-Pleistocene hominins published over the past fifty years show substantial long-term increase in endocranial volume (ECV) for the broad lineage leading to modern humans. The median generation-to-generation step rate for a consensus time series of ECV values, h0 = 0.15 standard deviations per generation, is almost identical to the median step rate observed in modern biological field studies. When specimens are aggregated in a series of 100 k.y. time bins to reflect the precision of their geological ages, temporal scaling identifies four successive phases of stasis and change that are significantly different from random. Phase I from about 3.2 to 2.0 million years before present is an initial phase of relative stasis. Phase II from 2.0 to 1.5 m.y. is a phase of directional brain size increase. Phase III from 1.5 to 0.7 m.y. is a second phase of stasis. Finally, Phase IV from about 0.7 m.y. to 10 k.y. is a second phase of directional increase. The tempo (rate) and the mode (stasis, random, or directional change) of an evolutionary time series are related to each other, and both are related to the time scale appropriate for analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip D Gingerich
- Museum of Paleontology, Research Museum Center, University of Michigan, 3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108-2228, USA.
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9
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de Winter JCF, Hancock PA. Why human factors science is demonstrably necessary: historical and evolutionary foundations. ERGONOMICS 2021; 64:1115-1131. [PMID: 33779512 DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2021.1905882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We review the theoretical foundation for the need for human factors science. Over the past 2.8 million years, humans and tools have co-evolved. However, in the last century, technology is introduced at a rate that exceeds human evolution. The proliferation of computers and, more recently, robots, introduces new cognitive demands, as the human is required to be a monitor rather than a direct controller. The usage of robots and artificial intelligence is only expected to increase, and the present COVID-19 pandemic may prove to be catalytic in this regard. One way to improve overall system performance is to 'adapt the human to the machine' via task procedures, operator training, operator selection, a Procrustean mandate. Using classic research examples, we demonstrate that Procrustean methods can improve performance only to a limited extent. For a viable future, therefore, technology must adapt to the human, which underwrites the necessity of human factors science. Practitioner Summary: Various research articles have reported that the science of Human Factors is of vital importance in improving human-machine systems. However, what is lacking is a fundamental historical outline of why Human Factors is important. This article provides such a foundation, using arguments ranging from pre-history to post-COVID.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C F de Winter
- Department of Cognitive Robotics, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - P A Hancock
- Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
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Will M, Krapp M, Stock JT, Manica A. Different environmental variables predict body and brain size evolution in Homo. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4116. [PMID: 34238930 PMCID: PMC8266824 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24290-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing body and brain size constitutes a key macro-evolutionary pattern in the hominin lineage, yet the mechanisms behind these changes remain debated. Hypothesized drivers include environmental, demographic, social, dietary, and technological factors. Here we test the influence of environmental factors on the evolution of body and brain size in the genus Homo over the last one million years using a large fossil dataset combined with global paleoclimatic reconstructions and formalized hypotheses tested in a quantitative statistical framework. We identify temperature as a major predictor of body size variation within Homo, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. In contrast, net primary productivity of environments and long-term variability in precipitation correlate with brain size but explain low amounts of the observed variation. These associations are likely due to an indirect environmental influence on cognitive abilities and extinction probabilities. Most environmental factors that we test do not correspond with body and brain size evolution, pointing towards complex scenarios which underlie the evolution of key biological characteristics in later Homo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Mario Krapp
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
| | - Jay T Stock
- Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Andrea Manica
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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11
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Irish JD, Grabowski M. Relative tooth size, Bayesian inference, and Homo naledi. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 176:262-282. [PMID: 34190335 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Size-corrected tooth crown measurements were used to estimate phenetic affinities among Homo naledi (~335-236 ka) and 11 other Plio-Pleistocene and recent species. To assess further their efficacy, and identify dental evolutionary trends, the data were then quantitatively coded for phylogenetic analyses. Results from both methods contribute additional characterization of H. naledi relative to other hominins. MATERIALS AND METHODS After division by their geometric mean, scaled mesiodistal and buccolingual dimensions were used in tooth size apportionment analysis to compare H. naledi with Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Paranthropus robustus, P. boisei, H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens, and Pan troglodytes. These data produce equivalently scaled samples unaffected by interspecific size differences. The data were then gap-weighted for Bayesian inference. RESULTS Congruence in interspecific relationships is evident between methods, and with many inferred from earlier systematic studies. However, the present results place H. naledi as a sister taxon to H. habilis, based on a symplesiomorphic pattern of relative tooth size. In the preferred Bayesian phylogram, H. naledi is nested within a clade comprising all Homo species, but it shares some characteristics with australopiths and, particularly, early Homo. DISCUSSION Phylogenetic analyses of relative tooth size yield information about evolutionary dental trends not previously reported in H. naledi and the other hominins. Moreover, with an appropriate model these data recovered plausible evolutionary relationships. Together, the findings support recent study suggesting H. naledi originated long before the geological date of the Dinaledi Chamber, from which the specimens under study were recovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel D Irish
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.,The Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Mark Grabowski
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.,Centre for Ecology and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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12
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Faith JT, Du A, Behrensmeyer AK, Davies B, Patterson DB, Rowan J, Wood B. Rethinking the ecological drivers of hominin evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:797-807. [PMID: 34059368 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
A central goal of paleoanthropology is understanding the role of ecological change in hominin evolution. Over the past several decades researchers have expanded the hominin fossil record and assembled detailed late Cenozoic paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoecological archives. However, effective use of these data is precluded by the limitations of pattern-matching strategies for inferring causal relationships between ecological and evolutionary change. We examine several obstacles that have hindered progress, and highlight recent research that is addressing them by (i) confronting an incomplete fossil record, (ii) contending with datasets spanning varied spatiotemporal scales, and (iii) using theoretical frameworks to build stronger inferences. Expanding on this work promises to transform challenges into opportunities and set the stage for a new phase of paleoanthropological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA; Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
| | - Andrew Du
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Benjamin Davies
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - David B Patterson
- Department of Biology, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, GA 30597, USA
| | - John Rowan
- Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222, USA
| | - Bernard Wood
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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13
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Tilot AK, Khramtsova EA, Liang D, Grasby KL, Jahanshad N, Painter J, Colodro-Conde L, Bralten J, Hibar DP, Lind PA, Liu S, Brotman SM, Thompson PM, Medland SE, Macciardi F, Stranger BE, Davis LK, Fisher SE, Stein JL. The Evolutionary History of Common Genetic Variants Influencing Human Cortical Surface Area. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:1873-1887. [PMID: 33290510 PMCID: PMC7945014 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2020] [Revised: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Structural brain changes along the lineage leading to modern Homo sapiens contributed to our distinctive cognitive and social abilities. However, the evolutionarily relevant molecular variants impacting key aspects of neuroanatomy are largely unknown. Here, we integrate evolutionary annotations of the genome at diverse timescales with common variant associations from large-scale neuroimaging genetic screens. We find that alleles with evidence of recent positive polygenic selection over the past 2000-3000 years are associated with increased surface area (SA) of the entire cortex, as well as specific regions, including those involved in spoken language and visual processing. Therefore, polygenic selective pressures impact the structure of specific cortical areas even over relatively recent timescales. Moreover, common sequence variation within human gained enhancers active in the prenatal cortex is associated with postnatal global SA. We show that such variation modulates the function of a regulatory element of the developmentally relevant transcription factor HEY2 in human neural progenitor cells and is associated with structural changes in the inferior frontal cortex. These results indicate that non-coding genomic regions active during prenatal cortical development are involved in the evolution of human brain structure and identify novel regulatory elements and genes impacting modern human brain structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda K Tilot
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, 6500 AH, Netherlands
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USA
| | - Ekaterina A Khramtsova
- Department of Medicine, Section of Genetic Medicine & Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Computational Sciences, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Spring House, PA 19477, USA
| | - Dan Liang
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Katrina L Grasby
- Psychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Neda Jahanshad
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USA
| | - Jodie Painter
- Psychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Lucía Colodro-Conde
- Psychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Janita Bralten
- Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | | | - Penelope A Lind
- Psychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Siyao Liu
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Sarah M Brotman
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Paul M Thompson
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USA
| | - Sarah E Medland
- Psychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Fabio Macciardi
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Barbara E Stranger
- Department of Medicine, Section of Genetic Medicine & Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Center for Genetic Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Lea K Davis
- Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Simon E Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, 6500 AH, Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, Netherlands
| | - Jason L Stein
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
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14
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Chevalier RL. Bioenergetic Evolution Explains Prevalence of Low Nephron Number at Birth: Risk Factor for CKD. KIDNEY360 2020; 1:863-879. [PMID: 35372951 PMCID: PMC8815749 DOI: 10.34067/kid.0002012020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
There is greater than tenfold variation in nephron number of the human kidney at birth. Although low nephron number is a recognized risk factor for CKD, its determinants are poorly understood. Evolutionary medicine represents a new discipline that seeks evolutionary explanations for disease, broadening perspectives on research and public health initiatives. Evolution of the kidney, an organ rich in mitochondria, has been driven by natural selection for reproductive fitness constrained by energy availability. Over the past 2 million years, rapid growth of an energy-demanding brain in Homo sapiens enabled hominid adaptation to environmental extremes through selection for mutations in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA epigenetically regulated by allocation of energy to developing organs. Maternal undernutrition or hypoxia results in intrauterine growth restriction or preterm birth, resulting in low birth weight and low nephron number. Regulated through placental transfer, environmental oxygen and nutrients signal nephron progenitor cells to reprogram metabolism from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation. These processes are modulated by counterbalancing anabolic and catabolic metabolic pathways that evolved from prokaryote homologs and by hypoxia-driven and autophagy pathways that evolved in eukaryotes. Regulation of nephron differentiation by histone modifications and DNA methyltransferases provide epigenetic control of nephron number in response to energy available to the fetus. Developmental plasticity of nephrogenesis represents an evolved life history strategy that prioritizes energy to early brain growth with adequate kidney function through reproductive years, the trade-off being increasing prevalence of CKD delayed until later adulthood. The research implications of this evolutionary analysis are to identify regulatory pathways of energy allocation directing nephrogenesis while accounting for the different life history strategies of animal models such as the mouse. The clinical implications are to optimize nutrition and minimize hypoxic/toxic stressors in childbearing women and children in early postnatal development.
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15
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Pargeter J, Khreisheh N, Shea JJ, Stout D. Knowledge vs. know-how? Dissecting the foundations of stone knapping skill. J Hum Evol 2020; 145:102807. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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16
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Bennett M. An Attempt at a Unified Theory of the Neocortical Microcircuit in Sensory Cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2020; 14:40. [PMID: 32848632 PMCID: PMC7416357 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2020.00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The neocortex performs a wide range of functions, including working memory, sensory perception, and motor planning. Despite this diversity in function, evidence suggests that the neocortex is made up of repeating subunits ("macrocolumns"), each of which is largely identical in circuitry. As such, the specific computations performed by these macrocolumns are of great interest to neuroscientists and AI researchers. Leading theories of this microcircuit include models of predictive coding, hierarchical temporal memory (HTM), and Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART). However, these models have not yet explained: (1) how microcircuits learn sequences input with delay (i.e., working memory); (2) how networks of columns coordinate processing on precise timescales; or (3) how top-down attention modulates sensory processing. I provide a theory of the neocortical microcircuit that extends prior models in all three ways. Additionally, this theory provides a novel working memory circuit that extends prior models to support simultaneous multi-item storage without disrupting ongoing sensory processing. I then use this theory to explain the functional origin of a diverse set of experimental findings, such as cortical oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Bennett
- Independent Researcher, New York, NY, United States
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17
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Yang SX, Wang FG, Xie F, Yue JP, Deng CL, Zhu RX, Petraglia MD. Technological innovations at the onset of the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition in high-latitude East Asia. Natl Sci Rev 2020; 8:nwaa053. [PMID: 34691547 PMCID: PMC8288396 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwaa053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Revised: 03/08/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The interplay between Pleistocene climatic variability and hominin adaptations to diverse terrestrial ecosystems is a key topic in human evolutionary studies. Early and Middle Pleistocene environmental change and its relation to hominin behavioural responses has been a subject of great interest in Africa and Europe, though little information is available for other key regions of the Old World, particularly from Eastern Asia. Here we examine key Early Pleistocene sites of the Nihewan Basin, in high-latitude northern China, dating between ∼1.4 and 1.0 million years ago (Ma). We compare stone-tool assemblages from three Early Pleistocene sites in the Nihewan Basin, including detailed assessment of stone-tool refitting sequences at the ∼1.1-Ma-old site of Cenjiawan. Increased toolmaking skills and technological innovations are evident in the Nihewan Basin at the onset of the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition (MPT). Examination of the lithic technology of the Nihewan sites, together with an assessment of other key Palaeolithic sites of China, indicates that toolkits show increasing diversity at the outset of the MPT and in its aftermath. The overall evidence indicates the adaptive flexibility of early hominins to ecosystem changes since the MPT, though regional abandonments are also apparent in high latitudes, likely owing to cold and oscillating environmental conditions. The view presented here sharply contrasts with traditional arguments that stone-tool technologies of China are homogeneous and continuous over the course of the Early Pleistocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shi-Xia Yang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Fa-Gang Wang
- Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, Shijiazhuang 050031, China
| | - Fei Xie
- Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, Shijiazhuang 050031, China
| | - Jian-Ping Yue
- Department of History, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China
| | - Cheng-Long Deng
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Ri-Xiang Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
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18
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Du A, Rowan J, Wang SC, Wood BA, Alemseged Z. Statistical estimates of hominin origination and extinction dates: A case study examining the Australopithecus anamensis–afarensis lineage. J Hum Evol 2020; 138:102688. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2018] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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19
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Heft IE, Mostovoy Y, Levy-Sakin M, Ma W, Stevens AJ, Pastor S, McCaffrey J, Boffelli D, Martin DI, Xiao M, Kennedy MA, Kwok PY, Sikela JM. The Driver of Extreme Human-Specific Olduvai Repeat Expansion Remains Highly Active in the Human Genome. Genetics 2020; 214:179-191. [PMID: 31754017 PMCID: PMC6944415 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.119.302782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 11/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sequences encoding Olduvai protein domains (formerly DUF1220) show the greatest human lineage-specific increase in copy number of any coding region in the genome and have been associated, in a dosage-dependent manner, with brain size, cognitive aptitude, autism, and schizophrenia. Tandem intragenic duplications of a three-domain block, termed the Olduvai triplet, in four NBPF genes in the chromosomal 1q21.1-0.2 region, are primarily responsible for the striking human-specific copy number increase. Interestingly, most of the Olduvai triplets are adjacent to, and transcriptionally coregulated with, three human-specific NOTCH2NL genes that have been shown to promote cortical neurogenesis. Until now, the underlying genomic events that drove the Olduvai hyperamplification in humans have remained unexplained. Here, we show that the presence or absence of an alternative first exon of the Olduvai triplet perfectly discriminates between amplified (58/58) and unamplified (0/12) triplets. We provide sequence and breakpoint analyses that suggest the alternative exon was produced by an nonallelic homologous recombination-based mechanism involving the duplicative transposition of an existing Olduvai exon found in the CON3 domain, which typically occurs at the C-terminal end of NBPF genes. We also provide suggestive in vitro evidence that the alternative exon may promote instability through a putative G-quadraplex (pG4)-based mechanism. Lastly, we use single-molecule optical mapping to characterize the intragenic structural variation observed in NBPF genes in 154 unrelated individuals and 52 related individuals from 16 families and show that the presence of pG4-containing Olduvai triplets is strongly correlated with high levels of Olduvai copy number variation. These results suggest that the same driver of genomic instability that allowed the evolutionarily recent, rapid, and extreme human-specific Olduvai expansion remains highly active in the human genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilea E Heft
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045
- Human Medical Genetics and Genomics Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045
| | - Yulia Mostovoy
- Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Michal Levy-Sakin
- Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Walfred Ma
- Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Aaron J Stevens
- Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand 8140
| | - Steven Pastor
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Jennifer McCaffrey
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Dario Boffelli
- Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California 94609
| | - David I Martin
- Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California 94609
| | - Ming Xiao
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Martin A Kennedy
- Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand 8140
| | - Pui-Yan Kwok
- Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California
- Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, California
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - James M Sikela
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045
- Human Medical Genetics and Genomics Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045
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20
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Royer-Carenzi M, Didier G. Testing for correlation between traits under directional evolution. J Theor Biol 2019; 482:109982. [PMID: 31446022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Being confounding factors, directional trends are likely to make two quantitative traits appear as spuriously correlated. By determining the probability distributions of independent contrasts when traits evolve following Brownian motions with linear trends, we show that the standard independent contrasts can not be used to test for correlation in this situation. We propose a multiple regression approach which corrects the bias caused by directional evolution. We show that our approach is equivalent to performing a Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares (PGLS) analysis with tip times as covariables by providing a new and more general proof of the equivalence between PGLS and independent contrasts methods. Our approach is assessed and compared with three previous correlation tests on data simulated in various situations and overall outperforms all the other methods. The approach is next illustrated on a real dataset to test for correlation between hominin cranial capacity and body mass.
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21
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Melchionna M, Mondanaro A, Serio C, Castiglione S, Di Febbraro M, Rook L, Diniz-Filho JAF, Manzi G, Profico A, Sansalone G, Raia P. Macroevolutionary trends of brain mass in Primates. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
A distinctive trait in primate evolution is the expansion in brain mass. The potential drivers of this trend and how and whether encephalization influenced diversification dynamics in this group are hotly debated. We assembled a phylogeny accounting for 317 primate species, including both extant and extinct taxa, to identify macroevolutionary trends in brain mass evolution. Our findings show that Primates as a whole follow a macroevolutionary trend for an increase in body mass, relative brain mass and speciation rate over time. Although the trend for increased encephalization (brain mass) applies to all Primates, hominins stand out for their distinctly higher rates. Within hominins, this unique trend applies linearly over time and starts with Australopithecus africanus. The increases in both speciation rate and encephalization begin in the Oligocene, suggesting the two variables are causally associated. The substitution of early, stem Primates belonging to plesiadapiforms with crown Primates seems to be responsible for these macroevolutionary trends. However, our findings also suggest that cognitive capacities favoured speciation in hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Melchionna
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
| | - A Mondanaro
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Italy
| | - C Serio
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
| | - S Castiglione
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
| | - M Di Febbraro
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, University of Molise, C. da Fonte Lappone, 15, 86090 Pesche, IS, Italy
| | - L Rook
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Italy
| | - J A F Diniz-Filho
- Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil
| | - G Manzi
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - A Profico
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - G Sansalone
- Department of Environmental and Rural Sciences, FEARlab, University of New England, Armidale, 2351, NSW, Australia
| | - P Raia
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
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22
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The Evolutionary Radiation of Hominids: a Phylogenetic Comparative Study. Sci Rep 2019; 9:15267. [PMID: 31649259 PMCID: PMC6813319 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51685-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the last 150 years the diversity and phylogenetic relationships of the hominoids have been one of the main focuses in biological and anthropological research. Despite this, the study of factors involved in their evolutionary radiation and the origin of the hominin clade, a key subject for the further understanding of human evolution, remained mostly unexplored. Here we quantitatively approach these events using phylogenetic comparative methods and craniofacial morphometric data from extant and fossil hominoid species. Specifically, we explore alternative evolutionary models that allow us to gain new insights into this clade diversification process. Our results show a complex and variable scenario involving different evolutionary regimes through the hominid evolutionary radiation –modeled by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck multi-selective regime and Brownian motion multi-rate scenarios–. These different evolutionary regimes might relate to distinct ecological and cultural factors previously suggested to explain hominid evolution at different evolutionary scales along the last 10 million years.
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23
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Blagrove M, Hale S, Lockheart J, Carr M, Jones A, Valli K. Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1351. [PMID: 31281278 PMCID: PMC6596280 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In general, dreams are a novel but realistic simulation of waking social life, with a mixture of characters, motivations, scenarios, and positive and negative emotions. We propose that the sharing of dreams has an empathic effect on the dreamer and on significant others who hear and engage with the telling of the dream. Study 1 tests three correlations that are predicted by the theory of dream sharing and empathy: that trait empathy will be correlated with frequency of telling dreams to others, with frequency of listening to others' dreams, and with trait attitude toward dreams (ATD) (for which higher scores indicate positive attitude). 160 participants completed online the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. Pearson partial correlations were conducted, with age and sex partialled out. Trait empathy was found to be significantly associated with the frequency of listening to the dreams of others, frequency of telling one's own dreams to others, and attitude toward dreams. Study 2 tests the effects of discussing dreams on state empathy, using an adapted version of the Shen (2010) state empathy scale, for 27 pairs of dream sharers and discussers. Dream discussion followed the stages of the Ullman (1996) dream appreciation technique. State empathy of the dream discusser toward the dream sharer was found to increase significantly as a result of the dream discussion, with a medium effect size, whereas the dream sharer had a small decrease in empathy toward the discusser. A proposed mechanism for these associations and effects is taken from the robust findings in the literature that engagement with literary fiction can induce empathy toward others. We suggest that the dream acts as a piece of fiction that can be explored by the dreamer together with other people, and can thus induce empathy about the life circumstances of the dreamer. We discuss the speculation that the story-like characteristics of adult human dreams may have been selected for in human evolution, including in sexual selection, as part of the selection for emotional intelligence, empathy, and social bonding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Blagrove
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Sioned Hale
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Julia Lockheart
- Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea, United Kingdom.,Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Michelle Carr
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Alex Jones
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Katja Valli
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, The University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden
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24
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Suzuki IK. Molecular drivers of human cerebral cortical evolution. Neurosci Res 2019; 151:1-14. [PMID: 31175883 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2019.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
One of the most important questions in human evolutionary biology is how our ancestor has acquired an expanded volume of the cerebral cortex, which may have significantly impacted on improving our cognitive abilities. Recent comparative approaches have identified developmental features unique to the human or hominid cerebral cortex, not shared with other animals including conventional experimental models. In addition, genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic signatures associated with human- or hominid-specific processes of the cortical development are becoming identified by virtue of technical progress in the deep nucleotide sequencing. This review discusses ontogenic and phylogenetic processes of the human cerebral cortex, followed by the introduction of recent comprehensive approaches identifying molecular mechanisms potentially driving the evolutionary changes in the cortical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ikuo K Suzuki
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 Japan; VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KULeuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
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25
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Martin MA. Biological Anthropology in 2018: Grounded in Theory, Questioning Contexts, Embracing Innovation. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aman.13233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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26
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Miller IF, Barton RA, Nunn CL. Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis. eLife 2019; 8:e41250. [PMID: 30702428 PMCID: PMC6379089 DOI: 10.7554/elife.41250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
While the human brain is clearly large relative to body size, less is known about the timing of brain and brain component expansion within primates and the relative magnitude of volumetric increases. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods and data for both extant and fossil species, we identified that a distinct shift in brain-body scaling occurred as hominins diverged from other primates, and again as humans and Neanderthals diverged from other hominins. Within hominins, we detected a pattern of directional and accelerating evolution towards larger brains, consistent with a positive feedback process in the evolution of the human brain. Contrary to widespread assumptions, we found that the human neocortex is not exceptionally large relative to other brain structures. Instead, our analyses revealed a single increase in relative neocortex volume at the origin of haplorrhines, and an increase in relative cerebellar volume in apes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian F Miller
- Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyPrinceton UniversityPrincetonUnited States
- Department of Evolutionary AnthropologyDuke UniversityDurhamUnited States
| | - Robert A Barton
- Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Department of AnthropologyUniversity of DurhamDurhamUnited Kingdom
| | - Charles L Nunn
- Department of Evolutionary AnthropologyDuke UniversityDurhamUnited States
- Duke Global Health InstituteDuke UniversityDurhamUnited States
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27
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Multiple Components of Phylogenetic Non-stationarity in the Evolution of Brain Size in Fossil Hominins. Evol Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-019-09471-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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28
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Du A, Zipkin AM, Hatala KG, Renner E, Baker JL, Bianchi S, Bernal KH, Wood BA. Pattern and process in hominin brain size evolution are scale-dependent. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2017.2738. [PMID: 29467267 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 01/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A large brain is a defining feature of modern humans, yet there is no consensus regarding the patterns, rates and processes involved in hominin brain size evolution. We use a reliable proxy for brain size in fossils, endocranial volume (ECV), to better understand how brain size evolved at both clade- and lineage-level scales. For the hominin clade overall, the dominant signal is consistent with a gradual increase in brain size. This gradual trend appears to have been generated primarily by processes operating within hypothesized lineages-64% or 88% depending on whether one uses a more or less speciose taxonomy, respectively. These processes were supplemented by the appearance in the fossil record of larger-brained Homo species and the subsequent disappearance of smaller-brained Australopithecus and Paranthropus taxa. When the estimated rate of within-lineage ECV increase is compared to an exponential model that operationalizes generation-scale evolutionary processes, it suggests that the observed data were the result of episodes of directional selection interspersed with periods of stasis and/or drift; all of this occurs on too fine a timescale to be resolved by the current human fossil record, thus producing apparent gradual trends within lineages. Our findings provide a quantitative basis for developing and testing scale-explicit hypotheses about the factors that led brain size to increase during hominin evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Du
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Andrew M Zipkin
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 109 Davenport Hall, 607 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Kevin G Hatala
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Department of Biology, Chatham University, Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA
| | - Elizabeth Renner
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Jennifer L Baker
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of Health, 12 South Drive, MSC 5635, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Serena Bianchi
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Kallista H Bernal
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Bernard A Wood
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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29
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The endocast of StW 573 (“Little Foot”) and hominin brain evolution. J Hum Evol 2019; 126:112-123. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Revised: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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30
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Beaudet A, Du A, Wood B. Evolution of the modern human brain. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 250:219-250. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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31
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