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Wilbrecht L, Davidow JY. Goal-directed learning in adolescence: neurocognitive development and contextual influences. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:176-194. [PMID: 38263216 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00783-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
Adolescence is a time during which we transition to independence, explore new activities and begin pursuit of major life goals. Goal-directed learning, in which we learn to perform actions that enable us to obtain desired outcomes, is central to many of these processes. Currently, our understanding of goal-directed learning in adolescence is itself in a state of transition, with the scientific community grappling with inconsistent results. When we examine metrics of goal-directed learning through the second decade of life, we find that many studies agree there are steady gains in performance in the teenage years, but others report that adolescent goal-directed learning is already adult-like, and some find adolescents can outperform adults. To explain the current variability in results, sophisticated experimental designs are being applied to test learning in different contexts. There is also increasing recognition that individuals of different ages and in different states will draw on different neurocognitive systems to support goal-directed learning. Through adoption of more nuanced approaches, we can be better prepared to recognize and harness adolescent strengths and to decipher the purpose (or goals) of adolescence itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Wilbrecht
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Juliet Y Davidow
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
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2
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Jang H, Ross CT, Boyette AH, Janmaat KR, Kandza V, Redhead D. Women's subsistence networks scaffold cultural transmission among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadj2543. [PMID: 38198536 PMCID: PMC10780863 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj2543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
In hunter-gatherer societies, women's subsistence activities are crucial for food provisioning and children's social learning but are understudied relative to men's activities. To understand the structure of women's foraging networks, we present 230 days of focal-follow data in a BaYaka community. To analyze these data, we develop a stochastic blockmodel for repeat observations with uneven sampling. We find that women's subsistence networks are characterized by cooperation between kin, gender homophily, and mixed age-group composition. During early childhood, individuals preferentially coforage with adult kin, but those in middle childhood and adolescence are likely to coforage with nonkin peers, providing opportunities for horizontal learning. By quantifying the probability of coforaging ties across age classes and relatedness levels, our findings provide insights into the scope for social learning during women's subsistence activities in a real-world foraging population and provide ground-truth values for key parameters used in formal models of cumulative culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, 1 Esplanade de l'Université, 31080 Toulouse cedex 06, France
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karline R.L. Janmaat
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel Redhead
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Grote Rozenstraat 31, 9712 TG Groningen, Netherlands
- Inter-University Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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3
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Phelps JR, Pitogo KME, Emit AT, Hill K. Inter-household transfers of material goods among Sama "sea nomads" of the Philippines: Reciprocity, helping, signaling, or something else? PLoS One 2023; 18:e0290270. [PMID: 37616297 PMCID: PMC10449209 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The extent to which humans share with both kin and non-kin is a defining characteristic of our species. Evolutionary research suggests that pervasive reliance on inter-individual transfers of goods and services may have evolved to support a cooperative breeding adaptation in humans. However, while intensive food sharing between individuals and families has frequently been investigated in small-scale human societies, a comprehensive analysis of the daily transfers of all material goods has not been attempted. Likewise, while much previous research on cooperative transfers focused on terrestrial foraging populations, less attention is paid to other small-scale economic modalities traditionally inhabited by humans. Drawing on over three years' worth of interviews and observational data from a community of primarily ethnic Sama people residing along the coast of Southern Mindanao Island in the Philippines, this paper examines the overall transfer patterns of material goods in a marine foraging economy. A quantitative description of resource acquisition is followed by an in-depth exploration of the characteristics of individual households and household dyads who gave and/or received more during the study period. Results indicate that a household's age and income are consistently correlated with increased inflow and outflow of material goods. Results also suggest differential motivations underlie inter-household sharing of food, money, and other goods in the study community. Most importantly, we find that both daily and long-term reciprocity overwhelmingly drive sharing within household dyads in the study community, despite secondary effects of kinship, relative need, and relative household age between household dyads.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia R. Phelps
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Kier Mitchel E. Pitogo
- Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
| | - Angelica T. Emit
- Department of Marine Biology, Mindanao State University, General Santos, South Cotabato, Philippines
| | - Kim Hill
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
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4
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Brandl E, Mace R, Heyes C. The cultural evolution of teaching. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e14. [PMID: 37587942 PMCID: PMC10426124 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Teaching is an important process of cultural transmission. Some have argued that human teaching is a cognitive instinct - a form of 'natural cognition' centred on mindreading, shaped by genetic evolution for the education of juveniles, and with a normative developmental trajectory driven by the unfolding of a genetically inherited predisposition to teach. Here, we argue instead that human teaching is a culturally evolved trait that exhibits characteristics of a cognitive gadget. Children learn to teach by participating in teaching interactions with socialising agents, which shape their own teaching practices. This process hijacks psychological mechanisms involved in prosociality and a range of domain-general cognitive abilities, such as reinforcement learning and executive function, but not a suite of cognitive adaptations specifically for teaching. Four lines of evidence converge on this hypothesis. The first, based on psychological experiments in industrialised societies, indicates that domain-general cognitive processes are important for teaching. The second and third lines, based on naturalistic and experimental research in small-scale societies, indicate marked cross-cultural variation in mature teaching practice and in the ontogeny of teaching among children. The fourth line indicates that teaching has been subject to cumulative cultural evolution, i.e. the gradual accumulation of functional changes across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Brandl
- Lise Meitner Research Group BirthRites, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Cecilia Heyes
- All Souls College and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4AL, UK
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5
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Frankenhuis WE, Gopnik A. Early adversity and the development of explore-exploit tradeoffs. Trends Cogn Sci 2023:S1364-6613(23)00091-8. [PMID: 37142526 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.04.001] [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: 01/07/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Childhood adversity can have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects on later life. But what are the mechanisms that are responsible for these effects? This article brings together the cognitive science literature on explore-exploit tradeoffs, the empirical literature on early adversity, and the literature in evolutionary biology on 'life history' to explain how early experience influences later life. We propose one potential mechanism: early experiences influence 'hyperparameters' that determine the balance between exploration and exploitation. Adversity might accelerate a shift from exploration to exploitation, with broad and enduring effects on the adult brain and mind. These effects may be produced by life-history adaptations that use early experience to tailor development and learning to the likely future states of an organism and its environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Willem E Frankenhuis
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA
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6
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Kanaev IA. Entropy and Cross-Level Orderliness in Light of the Interconnection between the Neural System and Consciousness. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 25:418. [PMID: 36981307 PMCID: PMC10047885 DOI: 10.3390/e25030418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Despite recent advances, the origin and utility of consciousness remains under debate. Using an evolutionary perspective on the origin of consciousness, this review elaborates on the promising theoretical background suggested in the temporospatial theory of consciousness, which outlines world-brain alignment as a critical predisposition for controlling behavior and adaptation. Such a system can be evolutionarily effective only if it can provide instant cohesion between the subsystems, which is possible only if it performs an intrinsic activity modified in light of the incoming stimulation. One can assume that the world-brain interaction results in a particular interference pattern predetermined by connectome complexity. This is what organisms experience as their exclusive subjective state, allowing the anticipation of regularities in the environment. Thus, an anticipative system can emerge only in a regular environment, which guides natural selection by reinforcing corresponding reactions and decreasing the system entropy. Subsequent evolution requires complicated, layered structures and can be traced from simple organisms to human consciousness and society. This allows us to consider the mode of entropy as a subject of natural evolution rather than an individual entity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya A Kanaev
- Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingang Xi Rd, Guangzhou 510275, China
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7
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Simpson CR, Power EA. Dynamics of cooperative networks associated with gender among South Indian Tamils. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210437. [PMID: 36440558 PMCID: PMC9703249 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Helping behaviour is thought to play a major role in the evolution of group-living animals. Yet, it is unclear to what extent human males and human females use the same strategies to secure support. Accordingly, we investigate help-seeking over a 5-year period in relation to gender using data from virtually all adults in two Tamil villages (N = 782). Simulations of network dynamics (i.e. stochastic actor-oriented models) calibrated to these data broadly indicate that women are more inclined than men to create and maintain supportive bonds via multiple mechanisms of cooperation (e.g. reciprocity, kin bias, friend bias, generalized exchange). However, gender-related differences in the simulated dynamics of help-seeking are modest, vary based on structural position (e.g. out-degree), and do not appear to translate to divergence in the observed structure of respondents' egocentric networks. Findings ultimately suggest that men and women in the two villages are similarly social but channel their sociality differently. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cohen R. Simpson
- Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1NF, UK
- Department of Methodology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Eleanor A. Power
- Department of Methodology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
- The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
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8
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Cultural transmission vectors of essential knowledge and skills among Tsimane forager-farmers. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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9
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Boni I, Jara-Ettinger J, Sackstein S, Piantadosi ST. Verbal counting and the timing of number acquisition in an indigenous Amazonian group. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270739. [PMID: 35913931 PMCID: PMC9342773 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Children in industrialized cultures typically succeed on Give-N, a test of counting ability, by age 4. On the other hand, counting appears to be learned much later in the Tsimane’, an indigenous group in the Bolivian Amazon. This study tests three hypotheses for what may cause this difference in timing: (a) Tsimane’ children may be shy in providing behavioral responses to number tasks, (b) Tsimane’ children may not memorize the verbal list of number words early in acquisition, and/or (c) home environments may not support mathematical learning in the same way as in US samples, leading Tsimane’ children to primarily acquire mathematics through formalized schooling. Our results suggest that most of our subjects are not inhibited by shyness in responding to experimental tasks. We also find that Tsimane’ children (N = 100, ages 4-11) learn the verbal list later than US children, but even upon acquiring this list, still take time to pass Give-N tasks. We find that performance in counting varies across tasks and is related to formal schooling. These results highlight the importance of formal education, including instruction in the count list, in learning the meanings of the number words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle Boni
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Julian Jara-Ettinger
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Sophie Sackstein
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States of America
| | - Steven T. Piantadosi
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
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10
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The importance of elders: Extending Hamilton's force of selection to include intergenerational transfers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2200073119. [PMID: 35867741 PMCID: PMC9282300 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200073119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Prominent explanations for postreproductive longevity emphasize the myriad ways in which older adults help descendants in social species. However, standard metrics expressing how natural selection acts with age show declines in tandem with reproduction, rendering postreproductive life vulnerable to harmful mutations. Here, we develop a framework for estimating three fitness metrics to characterize the “force of selection” in social species with pooled energy budgets. We show that intergenerational transfers of food and information in the complex, high-skill foraging niche typical of hunter-gatherers can select for longer lifespan via inclusive fitness benefits. Our findings support the theory that postreproductive life in some mammals coevolved with multigenerational cooperation in a complex foraging niche and help explain selection against late-acting deleterious alleles. In classical evolutionary models, the force of natural selection diminishes with age toward zero by last reproduction. However, intergenerational resource transfers and other late-life contributions in social species may select for postreproductive longevity. We present a formal framework for estimating indirect fitness contributions via production transfers in a skills-intensive foraging niche, reflecting kinship and cooperation among group members. Among contemporary human hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists, indirect fitness contributions from transfers exceed direct reproductive contributions from before menopause until ages when surpluses end, around the modal age of adult death (∼70 y). Under reasonable assumptions, these benefits are the equivalent to having up to several more offspring after age 50. Despite early independence, minimal production surplus, and a shorter lifespan, chimpanzees could theoretically make indirect contributions if they adopted reliable food-sharing practices. Our results for chimpanzees hypothetically adopting hunter-gatherer subsistence suggest that a skills-intensive foraging ecology with late independence and late peak production could select for human-like life histories via positive feedback between longevity and late-life transfers. In contrast, life history changes preceding subsistence shifts would not favor further life extension or subsistence shifts. Our results formalize the theory that longevity can be favored under socioecological conditions characterized by parental and alloparental care funded through transfers of mid- to late-life production surpluses. We also extend our analysis beyond food transfers to illustrate the potential for indirect fitness contributions from pedagogy, or information transfers. While we focus mostly on humans, our approach is adaptable to any context or species where transfers can affect fitness.
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11
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Lew-Levy S, Bombjaková D, Milks A, Kiabiya Ntamboudila F, Kline MA, Broesch T. Costly teaching contributes to the acquisition of spear hunting skill among BaYaka forager adolescents. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220164. [PMID: 35538787 PMCID: PMC9091853 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Teaching likely evolved in humans to facilitate the faithful transmission of complex tasks. As the oldest evidenced hunting technology, spear hunting requires acquiring several complex physical and cognitive competencies. In this study, we used observational and interview data collected among BaYaka foragers (Republic of the Congo) to test the predictions that costlier teaching types would be observed at a greater frequency than less costly teaching in the domain of spear hunting and that teachers would calibrate their teaching to pupil skill level. To observe naturalistic teaching during spear hunting, we invited teacher-pupil groupings to spear hunt while wearing GoPro cameras. We analysed 68 h of footage totalling 519 teaching episodes. Most observed teaching events were costly. Direct instruction was the most frequently observed teaching type. Older pupils received less teaching and more opportunities to lead the spear hunt than their younger counterparts. Teachers did not appear to adjust their teaching to pupil experience, potentially because age was a more easily accessible heuristic for pupil skill than experience. Our study shows that costly teaching is frequently used to transmit complex tasks and that instruction may play a privileged role in the transmission of spear hunting knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheina Lew-Levy
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daša Bombjaková
- Institute of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Annemieke Milks
- Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Francy Kiabiya Ntamboudila
- Faculté des Lettres, Arts, et Sciences Humaines, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
| | - Michelle Anne Kline
- Division of Psychology and Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
| | - Tanya Broesch
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
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12
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Brown RM, Gruijters SLK, Kotz SA. Prediction in the aging brain: Merging cognitive, neurological, and evolutionary perspectives. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2022; 77:1580-1591. [PMID: 35429160 PMCID: PMC9434449 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac062] [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: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the aging brain is typically characterized by declines in a variety of cognitive functions, there has been growing attention to cognitive functions that may stabilize or improve with age. We integrate evidence from behavioral, computational, and neurological domains under the hypothesis that over the life span the brain becomes more effective at predicting (i.e., utilizing knowledge) compared to learning. Moving beyond mere description of the empirical literature—with the aim of arriving at a deeper understanding of cognitive aging—we provide potential explanations for a learning-to-prediction shift based on evolutionary models and principles of senescence and plasticity. The proposed explanations explore whether the occurrence of a learning-to-prediction shift can be explained by (changes in) the fitness effects of learning and prediction over the life span. Prediction may optimize (a) the allocation of limited resources across the life span, and/or (b) late-life knowledge transfer (social learning). Alternatively, late-life prediction may reflect a slower decline in prediction compared to learning. By discussing these hypotheses, we aim to provide a foundation for an integrative neurocognitive–evolutionary perspective on aging and to stimulate further theoretical and empirical work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel M Brown
- Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Stefan L K Gruijters
- Faculty of Psychology, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, the Netherlands
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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13
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How Reliance on Allomaternal Care Shapes Primate Development with Special Reference to the Genus Homo. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-76000-7_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
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14
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Kanaev IA. Evolutionary origin and the development of consciousness. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 133:104511. [PMID: 34942266 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.034] [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: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 12/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/19/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
This review seeks to combine advances in anthropology and neuroscience to investigate the adaptive value of human consciousness. It uses an interdisciplinary perspective on the origin of consciousness to refute the most common fallacies in considering consciousness, particularly, disregarding the evolutionary origin of the subjective reality in looking for the neural correlates of consciousness and divorcing studies in neuroscience and behavioural sciences. Various explanations linked to consciousness in the field of neuroscience, supplemented with the theoretical explanation of an experience as an ongoing process of overlap between intrinsic neural dynamics and stimulation can be summarised as the stochastic dynamics of one's control system experienced by the individual in the form of subjective reality. This framework elaborates on the world-brain research program and lays foundation for the quantitative description of one's qualitative feelings and naturalistic science of consciousness. Furthermore, this study highlights the philosophical perspective of the inseparability between the physical correlates and the subjective reality contributing to the realistic ontology of conscious processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya A Kanaev
- School of Philosophy, Zhengzhou University, 100, Science Avenue, High Tech Zone, Zhengzhou, 450001, People's Republic of China.
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15
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Middle Pleistocene fire use: The first signal of widespread cultural diffusion in human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2101108118. [PMID: 34301807 PMCID: PMC8346817 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101108118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Control of fire is one of the most important technological innovations within the evolution of humankind. The archaeological signal of fire use becomes very visible from around 400,000 y ago onward. Interestingly, this occurs at a geologically similar time over major parts of the Old World, in Africa, as well as in western Eurasia, and in different subpopulations of the wider hominin metapopulation. We interpret this spatiotemporal pattern as the result of cultural diffusion, and as representing the earliest clear-cut case of widespread cultural change resulting from diffusion in human evolution. This fire-use pattern is followed slightly later by a similar spatiotemporal distribution of Levallois technology, at the beginning of the African Middle Stone Age and the western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic. These archaeological data, as well as studies of ancient genomes, lead us to hypothesize that at the latest by 400,000 y ago, hominin subpopulations encountered one another often enough and were sufficiently tolerant toward one another to transmit ideas and techniques over large regions within relatively short time periods. Furthermore, it is likely that the large-scale social networks necessary to transmit complicated skills were also in place. Most importantly, this suggests a form of cultural behavior significantly more similar to that of extant Homo sapiens than to our great ape relatives.
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16
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Abstract
Culture can be defined as all that is learned from others and is repeatedly transmitted in this way, forming traditions that may be inherited by successive generations. This cultural form of inheritance was once thought specific to humans, but research over the past 70 years has instead revealed it to be widespread in nature, permeating the lives of a diversity of animals, including all major classes of vertebrates. Recent studies suggest that culture's reach may extend also to invertebrates-notably, insects. In the present century, the reach of animal culture has been found to extend across many different behavioral domains and to rest on a suite of social learning processes facilitated by a variety of selective biases that enhance the efficiency and adaptiveness of learning. Far-reaching implications, for disciplines from evolutionary biology to anthropology and conservation policies, are increasingly being explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK.
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17
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Stieglitz J, Hooper PL, Trumble BC, Kaplan H, Gurven MD. Productivity loss associated with functional disability in a contemporary small-scale subsistence population. eLife 2020; 9:e62883. [PMID: 33259289 PMCID: PMC7744098 DOI: 10.7554/elife.62883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In comparative cross-species perspective, humans experience unique physical impairments with potentially large consequences. Quantifying the burden of impairment in subsistence populations is critical for understanding selection pressures underlying strategies that minimize risk of production deficits. We examine among forager-horticulturalists whether compromised bone strength (indicated by fracture and lower bone mineral density, BMD) is associated with subsistence task cessation. We also estimate the magnitude of productivity losses associated with compromised bone strength. Fracture is associated with cessation of hunting, tree chopping, and walking long distances, but not tool manufacture. Age-specific productivity losses from hunting cessation associated with fracture and lower BMD are substantial: ~397 lost kcals/day, with expected future losses of up to 1.9 million kcals (22% of expected production). Productivity loss is thus substantial for high strength and endurance tasks. Determining the extent to which impairment obstructs productivity in contemporary subsistence populations improves our ability to infer past consequences of impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Stieglitz
- Université Toulouse 1 CapitoleToulouseFrance
- Institute for Advanced Study in ToulouseToulouseFrance
| | - Paul L Hooper
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, 1 University DriveOrangeUnited States
| | - Benjamin C Trumble
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Life Sciences C, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
| | - Hillard Kaplan
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, 1 University DriveOrangeUnited States
| | - Michael D Gurven
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraUnited States
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18
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Liu Z. Development and Validation of 2 Composite Aging Measures Using Routine Clinical Biomarkers in the Chinese Population: Analyses From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2020; 76:1627-1632. [PMID: 32946548 PMCID: PMC8521780 DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glaa238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study aimed to: (i) develop 2 composite aging measures in the Chinese population using 2 recent advanced algorithms (the Klemera and Doubal method and Mahalanobis distance); and (ii) validate the 2 measures by examining their associations with mortality and disease counts. METHODS Based on data from the China Nutrition and Health Survey (CHNS) 2009 wave (N = 8119, aged 20-79 years, 53.5% women), a nationwide prospective cohort study of the Chinese population, we developed Klemera and Doubal method-biological age (KDM-BA) and physiological dysregulation (PD, derived from Mahalanobis distance) using 12 biomarkers. For the validation analysis, we used Cox proportional hazard regression models (for mortality) and linear, Poisson, and logistic regression models (for disease counts) to examine the associations. We replicated the validation analysis in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, N = 9304, aged 45-99 years, 53.4% women). RESULTS Both aging measures were predictive of mortality after accounting for age and gender (KDM-BA, per 1-year, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08, 1.19; PD, per 1-SD, HR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.33, 1.69). With few exceptions, these mortality predictions were robust across stratifications by age, gender, education, and health behaviors. The 2 aging measures were associated with disease counts both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. These results were generally replicable in CHARLS although 4 biomarkers were not available. CONCLUSIONS We successfully developed and validated 2 composite aging measures-KDM-BA and PD, which have great potentials for applications in early identifications and preventions of aging and aging-related diseases in China.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuyun Liu
- Center for Clinical Big Data and Analytics, Second Affiliated Hospital and Department of Big Data in Health Science, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China,Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut,Address correspondence to: Zuyun Liu, PhD, Department of Big Data in Health Science, School of Public Health and the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, China. E-mail:
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19
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Gopnik A, Frankenhuis WE, Tomasello M. Introduction to special issue: 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190489. [PMID: 32475324 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
This special issue focuses on the relationship between life history and learning, especially during human evolution. 'Life history' refers to the developmental programme of an organism, including its period of immaturity, reproductive rate and timing, caregiving investment and longevity. Across many species an extended childhood and high caregiving investment appear to be correlated with particular kinds of plasticity and learning. Human life history is particularly distinctive; humans evolved an exceptionally long childhood and old age, and an unusually high level of caregiving investment, at the same time that they evolved distinctive capacities for cognition and culture. The contributors explore the relations between life history, plasticity and learning across a wide range of methods and populations, including theoretical and empirical work in biology, anthropology and developmental psychology. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Room 3302, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
| | - Willem E Frankenhuis
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, PO Box 9104, Nijmegen 6500 HE, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0187, USA.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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20
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Uomini N, Fairlie J, Gray RD, Griesser M. Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190495. [PMID: 32475334 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent-offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles' cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Uomini
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, Germany
| | | | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Michael Griesser
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
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21
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Hrdy SB, Burkart JM. The emergence of emotionally modern humans: implications for language and learning. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190499. [PMID: 32475330 PMCID: PMC7293152 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the Cooperative Breeding Hypothesis, apes with the life-history attributes of those in the line leading to the genus Homo could not have evolved unless male and female allomothers had begun to help mothers care for and provision offspring. As proposed elsewhere, the unusual way hominins reared their young generated novel phenotypes subsequently subjected to Darwinian social selection favouring those young apes best at monitoring the intentions, mental states and preferences of others and most motivated to attract and appeal to caretakers. Not only were youngsters acquiring information in social contexts different from those of other apes, but they would also have been emotionally and neurophysiologically different from them in ways that are relevant to how humans learn. Contingently delivered rewards to dependents who attracted and ingratiated themselves with allomothers shaped their behaviours and vocalizations and transformed the way developing youngsters learned from others and internalized their preferences. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Judith M Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8051 Zurich, Switzerland
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22
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Morgan TJH, Suchow JW, Griffiths TL. Experimental evolutionary simulations of learning, memory and life history. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190504. [PMID: 32475322 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans possess an unusual combination of traits, including our cognition, life history, demographics and geographical distribution. Many theories propose that these traits have coevolved. Such hypotheses have been explored both theoretically and empirically, with experiments examining whether human behaviour meets theoretical expectations. However, theory must make assumptions about the human mind, creating a potentially problematic gap between models and reality. Here, we employ a series of 'experimental evolutionary simulations' to reduce this gap and to explore the coevolution of learning, memory and childhood. The approach combines aspects of theory and experiment by inserting human participants as agents within an evolutionary simulation. Across experiments, we find that human behaviour supports the coevolution of learning, memory and childhood, but that this is dampened by rapid environmental change. We conclude by discussing both the implications of these findings for theories of human evolution and the utility of experimental evolutionary simulations more generally. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J H Morgan
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.,Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, 951 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Jordan W Suchow
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Thomas L Griffiths
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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