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Benítez-Burraco A, Hoshi K, Progovac L. The gradual coevolution of syntactic combinatorics and categorization under the effects of human self-domestication: a proposal. Cogn Process 2023; 24:425-439. [PMID: 37306792 PMCID: PMC10359229 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01140-6] [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: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The gradual emergence of syntax has been claimed to be engaged in a feedback loop with Human Self-Domestication (HSD), both processes resulting from, and contributing to, enhanced connectivity in selected cortico-striatal networks, which is the mechanism for attenuating reactive aggression, the hallmark of HSD, but also the mechanism of cross-modality, relevant for syntax. Here, we aim to bridge the gap between these brain changes and further changes facilitated by the gradual complexification of grammars. We propose that increased cross-modality would have enabled and supported, more specifically, a feedback loop between categorization abilities relevant for vocabulary building and the gradual emergence of syntactic structure, including Merge. In brief, an enhanced categorization ability not only brings about more distinct categories, but also a critical number of tokens in each category necessary for Merge to take off in a systematic and productive fashion; in turn, the benefits of expressive capabilities brought about by productive Merge encourage more items to be categorized, and more categories to be formed, thus further potentiating categorization abilities, and with it, syntax again. We support our hypothesis with evidence from the domains of language development and animal communication, but also from biology, neuroscience, paleoanthropology, and clinical linguistics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
| | - Koji Hoshi
- Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
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2
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Koller D, Benítez-Burraco A, Polimanti R. Enrichment of self-domestication and neural crest function loci in the heritability of neurodevelopmental disorders. Hum Genet 2023; 142:1271-1279. [PMID: 36930228 PMCID: PMC10472204 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-023-02541-5] [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: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
Self-domestication could contribute to shaping the biology of human brain and consequently the predisposition to neurodevelopmental disorders. Leveraging genome-wide data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, we tested the enrichment of self-domestication and neural crest function loci with respect to the heritability of autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia (SCZ in East Asian and European ancestries, EAS and EUR, respectively), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette's syndrome (TS). Considering only self-domestication and neural-crest-function annotations in the linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) model, our partitioned heritability analysis revealed statistically significant enrichments across all disorders investigated. The estimates of the heritability enrichments for self-domestication loci were similar across neurodevelopmental disorders, ranging from 0.902 (EAS SCZ, p = 4.55 × 10-20) to 1.577 (TS, p = 5.85 × 10-5). Conversely, a wider spectrum of heritability enrichment estimates was present for neural crest function with the highest enrichment observed for TS (enrichment = 3.453, p = 2.88 × 10-3) and the lowest for EAS SCZ (enrichment = 1.971, p = 3.81 × 10-3). Although these estimates appear to be strong, the enrichments for self-domestication and neural crest function were null once we included additional annotations related to different genomic features. This indicates that the effect of self-domestication on the polygenic architecture of neurodevelopmental disorders is not independent of other functions of human genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dora Koller
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, VA CT 116A2, 950 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA
- VA CT Healthcare Center, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, 41004, Seville, Spain
| | - Renato Polimanti
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, VA CT 116A2, 950 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA.
- VA CT Healthcare Center, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA.
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Benítez-Burraco A, Nikolsky A. The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2023; 34:229-275. [PMID: 37097428 PMCID: PMC10354115 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09447-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to domestication in other mammals, triggered by the reduction in reactive aggression responses to environmental changes. We specifically argue that self-domestication can account for some of the cognitive changes, and particularly for the behaviors conducive to the complexification of music through a cultural mechanism. We hypothesize four stages in the evolution of music under self-domestication forces: (1) collective protomusic; (2) private, timbre-oriented music; (3) small-group, pitch-oriented music; and (4) collective, tonally organized music. This line of development encompasses the worldwide diversity of music types and genres and parallels what has been hypothesized for languages. Overall, music diversity might have emerged in a gradual fashion under the effects of the enhanced cultural niche construction as shaped by the progressive decrease in reactive (i.e., impulsive, triggered by fear or anger) aggression and the increase in proactive (i.e., premeditated, goal-directed) aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish Language, Linguistics and Literary Theory (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
- Departamento de Lengua Española, Facultad de Filología, Área de Lingüística General, Lingüística y Teoría de la Literatura, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Palos de la Frontera s/n, Sevilla, 41007, España.
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Benítez-Burraco A, Progovac L. The human fear paradox turns out to be less paradoxical when global changes in human aggression and language evolution are considered. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e55. [PMID: 37154377 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22001947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Our commentary focuses on the interaction between Grossmann's fearful ape hypothesis (FAH) and the human self-domestication hypothesis (HSDH), also taking into account language acquisition and evolution. Although there is considerable overlap between the two hypotheses, there are also some discrepancies, and our goal is to consider the extent to which HSDH can explain the phenomena identified by FAH without invoking fearfulness as directly adaptive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville 41004, http://antoniobenitez.wix.com/benitez-burraco
| | - Ljiljana Progovac
- Department of English (Linguistics), College of Liberal Arts & Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI48202, USA
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Gleeson BT, Wilson LAB. Shared reproductive disruption, not neural crest or tameness, explains the domestication syndrome. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222464. [PMID: 36946116 PMCID: PMC10031412 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Altered neural crest cell (NCC) behaviour is an increasingly cited explanation for the domestication syndrome in animals. However, recent authors have questioned this explanation, while others cast doubt on whether domestication syndrome even exists. Here, we review published literature concerning this syndrome and the NCC hypothesis, together with recent critiques of both. We synthesize these contributions and propose a novel interpretation, arguing shared trait changes under ancient domestication resulted primarily from shared disruption of wild reproductive regimes. We detail four primary selective pathways for 'reproductive disruption' under domestication and contrast these succinct and demonstrable mechanisms with cryptic genetic associations posited by the NCC hypothesis. In support of our perspective, we illustrate numerous important ways in which NCCs contribute to vertebrate reproductive phenotypes, and argue it is not surprising that features derived from these cells would be coincidentally altered under major selective regime changes, as occur in domestication. We then illustrate several pertinent examples of Darwin's 'unconscious selection' in action, and compare applied selection and phenotypic responses in each case. Lastly, we explore the ramifications of reproductive disruption for wider evolutionary discourse, including links to wild 'self-domestication' and 'island effect', and discuss outstanding questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Thomas Gleeson
- Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Laura A B Wilson
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
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6
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Boeckx C. What made us "hunter-gatherers of words". Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1080861. [PMID: 36845441 PMCID: PMC9947416 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1080861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper makes three interconnected claims: (i) the "human condition" cannot be captured by evolutionary narratives that reduce it to a recent 'cognitive modernity', nor by narratives that eliminates all cognitive differences between us and out closest extinct relatives, (ii) signals from paleogenomics, especially coming from deserts of introgression but also from signatures of positive selection, point to the importance of mutations that impact neurodevelopment, plausibly leading to temperamental differences, which may impact cultural evolutionary trajectories in specific ways, and (iii) these trajectories are expected to affect the language phenotypes, modifying what is being learned and how it is put to use. In particular, I hypothesize that these different trajectories influence the development of symbolic systems, the flexible ways in which symbols combine, and the size and configurations of the communities in which these systems are put to use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Complex Systems, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
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Torres-Pérez JV, Anagianni S, Mech AM, Havelange W, García-González J, Fraser SE, Vallortigara G, Brennan CH. baz1b loss-of-function in zebrafish produces phenotypic alterations consistent with the domestication syndrome. iScience 2022; 26:105704. [PMID: 36582821 PMCID: PMC9793288 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BAZ1B is a ubiquitously expressed nuclear protein with roles in chromatin remodeling, DNA replication and repair, and transcription. Reduced BAZ1B expression disrupts neuronal and neural crest development. Variation in the activity of BAZ1B has been proposed to underly morphological and behavioral aspects of domestication through disruption of neural crest development. Knockdown of baz1b in Xenopus embryos and Baz1b loss-of-function (LoF) in mice leads to craniofacial defects consistent with this hypothesis. We generated baz1b LoF zebrafish using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to test the hypothesis that baz1b regulates behavioral phenotypes associated with domestication in addition to craniofacial features. Zebrafish with baz1b LoF show mild underdevelopment at larval stages and distinctive craniofacial features later in life. Mutant zebrafish show reduced anxiety-associated phenotypes and an altered ontogeny of social behaviors. Thus, in zebrafish, developmental deficits in baz1b recapitulate both morphological and behavioral phenotypes associated with the domestication syndrome in other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose V. Torres-Pérez
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
- Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, Biologia Funcional i Antropologia física, Fac. de CC. Biològiques, Universitat de València, C/ Dr. Moliner 50, Burjassot, València 46100, Spain
- Corresponding author
| | - Sofia Anagianni
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Aleksandra M. Mech
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - William Havelange
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Judit García-González
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Scott E. Fraser
- Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Caroline H. Brennan
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
- Corresponding author
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Zug R, Uller T. Evolution and dysfunction of human cognitive and social traits: A transcriptional regulation perspective. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e43. [PMID: 37588924 PMCID: PMC10426018 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.42] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary changes in brain and craniofacial development have endowed humans with unique cognitive and social skills, but also predisposed us to debilitating disorders in which these traits are disrupted. What are the developmental genetic underpinnings that connect the adaptive evolution of our cognition and sociality with the persistence of mental disorders with severe negative fitness effects? We argue that loss of function of genes involved in transcriptional regulation represents a crucial link between the evolution and dysfunction of human cognitive and social traits. The argument is based on the haploinsufficiency of many transcriptional regulator genes, which makes them particularly sensitive to loss-of-function mutations. We discuss how human brain and craniofacial traits evolved through partial loss of function (i.e. reduced expression) of these genes, a perspective compatible with the idea of human self-domestication. Moreover, we explain why selection against loss-of-function variants supports the view that mutation-selection-drift, rather than balancing selection, underlies the persistence of psychiatric disorders. Finally, we discuss testable predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Zug
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Tobias Uller
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Takagi S, Saito A, Arahori M, Chijiiwa H, Koyasu H, Nagasawa M, Kikusui T, Fujita K, Kuroshima H. Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6155. [PMID: 35418204 PMCID: PMC9007945 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10261-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans communicate with each other through language, which enables us talk about things beyond time and space. Do non-human animals learn to associate human speech with specific objects in everyday life? We examined whether cats matched familiar cats' names and faces (Exp.1) and human family members' names and faces (Exp.2). Cats were presented with a photo of the familiar cat's face on a laptop monitor after hearing the same cat's name or another cat's name called by the subject cat's owner (Exp.1) or an experimenter (Exp.2). Half of the trials were in a congruent condition where the name and face matched, and half were in an incongruent (mismatch) condition. Results of Exp.1 showed that household cats paid attention to the monitor for longer in the incongruent condition, suggesting an expectancy violation effect; however, café cats did not. In Exp.2, cats living in larger human families were found to look at the monitor for increasingly longer durations in the incongruent condition. Furthermore, this tendency was stronger among cats that had lived with their human family for a longer time, although we could not rule out an effect of age. This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saho Takagi
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
- Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan.
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
| | - Atsuko Saito
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Sophia University, 7-1, Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8554, Japan
| | - Minori Arahori
- Research and Development Section, Anicom Speciality Medical Institute Inc., 2-6-3 Chojamachi 5F, Yokohamashi-Nakaku, Kanagawaken, 231-0033, Japan
- Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, 2-24 Tanaka-Sekiden-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8203, Japan
| | - Hitomi Chijiiwa
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | - Hikari Koyasu
- Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan
| | - Miho Nagasawa
- Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan
| | - Takefumi Kikusui
- Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan
| | - Kazuo Fujita
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | - Hika Kuroshima
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
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Kishimoto R, Seki Y. Response timing of budgerigars in a turn-taking task under operant conditioning. Behav Processes 2022; 198:104638. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Revised: 03/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Rubio AO, Summers K. Neural crest cell genes and the domestication syndrome: A comparative analysis of selection. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0263830. [PMID: 35148331 PMCID: PMC8836321 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural crest cell genes control the migration of neural crest cells to multiple parts of developing vertebrate embryos. A recent hypothesis posits that the "domestication syndrome" characteristic of domesticated animals is driven by selection for tameness acting on neural crest cell genes, particularly those affecting cell migration. This is posited to explain why this syndrome involves many disparate phenotypic effects. These effects can be connected to deficits in neural crest cell migration. This hypothesis predicts that patterns of selection on these neural crest cell genes will differ between domesticated species and related wild species. Specifically, it predicts higher levels of positive selection on these genes in domesticated species, relative to closely related wild species. Here we test this prediction in a comparative framework. We obtained DNA sequences from a public database (NCBI) for eleven key neural crest cell genes from a set of thirty domesticated vertebrates and matched close relatives that remain wild. We used the program Contrast-FEL in the software suite HyPhy to compare the number of sites under positive selection (as measured by non-synonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitution rates across codons) between these two types of taxa in a phylogenetic framework. We found that domesticated lineages showed a consistently higher level of positive selection on these key genes, relative to their closely related wild counterparts. In addition, we found support for relaxation of selection and purifying selection. We argue that this result is consistent with an important role for these genes in the domestication syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew O. Rubio
- Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States of America
| | - Kyle Summers
- Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States of America
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Turning Traditional Wisdom of Culture around: Making a Possible Transition to a Wiser World Driven by Culture of Wisdom Inquiry Real. PHILOSOPHIES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/philosophies6040090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In this article I discuss the problem of how we can change our world into a wiser world that is driven by a culture of wisdom inquiry (CWI), i.e., a world that frees humanity from a looming totalitarian catastrophe. How best can we interrogate the traditional wisdom of culture (TWC) that is responsible for the academic institutions of learning, among other kinds of institutions, dogmatically and solely aiming at the acquisition of knowledge and technological prowess (technologisches koennen), instead of the promotion of wisdom and human well-being? What kind of strategic transformations of institutional design, policy and goals within diverse institutions, particularly academic institutions of learning, regionally and globally, are imperative? This article argues from the principle of universal interconnectedness across nature/universe and the fundamental asymmetry of human well-being interests and nature’s well-being interests. From this, the development of a culture of wisdom inquiry as an overarching (allumfassend) methodology of institutional change from within at two levels of analysis is proposed, viz., (1) at the level of the ecological–economic analysis of safeguarding nature’s abundant ecosystems from human greed; and (2) at the level of the transformation of the educational, academic and political–economic institutions, as well as international institutions, that must be dedicated to human well-being.
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Benítez-Burraco A, Pörtl D, Jung C. Did Dog Domestication Contribute to Language Evolution? Front Psychol 2021; 12:695116. [PMID: 34589022 PMCID: PMC8473740 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Different factors seemingly account for the emergence of present-day languages in our species. Human self-domestication has been recently invoked as one important force favoring language complexity mostly via a cultural mechanism. Because our self-domestication ultimately resulted from selection for less aggressive behavior and increased prosocial behavior, any evolutionary or cultural change impacting on aggression levels is expected to have fostered this process. Here, we hypothesize about a parallel domestication of humans and dogs, and more specifically, about a positive effect of our interaction with dogs on human self-domestication, and ultimately, on aspects of language evolution, through the mechanisms involved in the control of aggression. We review evidence of diverse sort (ethological mostly, but also archeological, genetic, and physiological) supporting such an effect and propose some ways of testing our hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Daniela Pörtl
- Psychiatric Department, Saale-Unstrut Klinikum, Teaching Hospital Leipzig and Jena Universities, Naumburg, Germany
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Johnsson M, Henriksen R, Wright D. The neural crest cell hypothesis: no unified explanation for domestication. Genetics 2021; 219:iyab097. [PMID: 34849908 PMCID: PMC8633120 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Johnsson
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala 750 07, Sweden
| | - Rie Henriksen
- IFM Biology, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden
| | - Dominic Wright
- IFM Biology, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden
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15
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Benítez-Burraco A, Chekalin E, Bruskin S, Tatarinova T, Morozova I. Recent selection of candidate genes for mammal domestication in Europeans and language change in Europe: a hypothesis. Ann Hum Biol 2021; 48:313-320. [PMID: 34241552 DOI: 10.1080/03014460.2021.1936634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM Human evolution resulted from changes in our biology, behaviour, and culture. One source of these changes has been hypothesised to be our self-domestication (that is, the development in humans of features commonly found in domesticated strains of mammals, seemingly as a result of selection for reduced aggression). Signals of domestication, notably brain size reduction, have increased in recent times. METHODS In this paper, we compare whole-genome data between the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age individuals and modern Europeans. RESULTS We show that genes associated with mammal domestication and with neural crest development and function are significantly differently enriched in nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms between these two groups. CONCLUSION We hypothesise that these changes might account for the increased features of self-domestication in modern humans and, ultimately, for subtle recent changes in human cognition and behaviour, including language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature, Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Evgeny Chekalin
- Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Sergey Bruskin
- Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Tatiana Tatarinova
- Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.,Department of Biology, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, USA.,A. A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Moscow, Russia.,Department of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
| | - Irina Morozova
- Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Benítez-Burraco A, Ferretti F, Progovac L. Human Self-Domestication and the Evolution of Pragmatics. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e12987. [PMID: 34170029 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 04/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
As proposed for the emergence of modern languages, we argue that modern uses of languages (pragmatics) also evolved gradually in our species under the effects of human self-domestication, with three key aspects involved in a complex feedback loop: (a) a reduction in reactive aggression, (b) the sophistication of language structure (with emerging grammars initially facilitating the transition from physical aggression to verbal aggression); and (c) the potentiation of pragmatic principles governing conversation, including, but not limited to, turn-taking and inferential abilities. Our core hypothesis is that the reduction in reactive aggression, one of the key factors in self-domestication processes, enabled us to fully exploit our cognitive and interactional potential as applied to linguistic exchanges, and ultimately to evolve a specific form of communication governed by persuasive reciprocity-a trait of human conversation characterized by both competition and cooperation. In turn, both early crude forms of language, well suited for verbal aggression/insult, and later more sophisticated forms of language, well suited for persuasive reciprocity, significantly contributed to the resolution and reduction of (physical) aggression, thus having a return effect on the self-domestication processes. Supporting evidence for our proposal, as well as grounds for further testing, comes mainly from the consideration of cognitive disorders, which typically simultaneously present abnormal features of self-domestication (including aggressive behavior) and problems with pragmatics and social functioning. While various approaches to language evolution typically reduce it to a single factor, our approach considers language evolution as a multifactorial process, with each player acting upon the other, engaging in an intense mutually reinforcing feedback loop. Moreover, we see language evolution as a gradual process, continuous with the pre-linguistic cognitive abilities, which were engaged in a positive feedback loop with linguistic innovations, and where gene-culture co-evolution and cultural niche construction were the main driving forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville
| | - Francesco Ferretti
- Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts. Roma Tre University
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Benítez-Burraco A, Progovac L. Language evolution: examining the link between cross-modality and aggression through the lens of disorders. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200188. [PMID: 33745319 PMCID: PMC8059641 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We demonstrate how two linguistic phenomena, figurative language (implicating cross-modality) and derogatory language (implicating aggression), both demand a precise degree of (dis)inhibition in the same cortico-subcortical brain circuits, in particular cortico-striatal networks, whose connectivity has been significantly enhanced in recent evolution. We examine four cognitive disorders/conditions that exhibit abnormal patterns of (dis)inhibition in these networks: schizophrenia (SZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), synaesthesia and Tourette's syndrome (TS), with the goal of understanding why the two phenomena altered reactive aggression and altered cross-modality cluster together in these disorders. Our proposal is that enhanced cross-modality (necessary to support language, in particular metaphoricity) was a result, partly a side-effect, of self-domestication (SD). SD targeted the taming of reactive aggression, but reactive impulses are controlled by the same cortico-subcortical networks that are implicated in cross-modality. We further add that this biological process of SD did not act alone, but was engaged in an intense feedback loop with the cultural emergence of early forms of language/grammar, whose high degree of raw metaphoricity and verbal aggression also contributed to increased brain connectivity and cortical control. Consequently, in conjunction with linguistic expressions serving as approximations/'fossils' of the earliest stages of language, these cognitive disorders/conditions serve as confident proxies of brain changes in language evolution, helping us reconstruct certain crucial aspects of early prehistoric languages and cognition, as well as shed new light on the nature of the disorders. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Ljiljana Progovac
- Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
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Wrangham RW. Targeted conspiratorial killing, human self-domestication and the evolution of groupishness. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2021; 3:e26. [PMID: 37588548 PMCID: PMC10427284 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Groupishness is a set of tendencies to respond to group members with prosociality and cooperation in ways that transcend apparent self-interest. Its evolution is puzzling because it gives the impression of breaking the ordinary rules of natural selection. Boehm's solution is that moral elements of groupishness originated and evolved as a result of group members becoming efficient executioners of antisocial individuals, and he noted that self-domestication would have proceeded from the same dynamic. Self-domestication is indicated first at ~300,000 years ago and has probably gathered pace ever since, suggesting selection for self-domestication and groupishness for at least 12,000 generations. Here I propose that a specifically human style of violence, targeted conspiratorial killing, contributed importantly to both self-domestication and to promoting groupishness. Targeted conspiratorial killing is unknown in chimpanzees or any other vertebrate, and is significant because it permits coalitions to kill antisocial individuals cheaply. The hypothesis that major elements of groupishness are due to targeted conspiratorial killing helps explain why they are much more elaborated in humans than in other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard W. Wrangham
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Human language evolution: a view from theoretical linguistics on how syntax and the lexicon first came into being. Primates 2021; 63:403-415. [PMID: 33821365 PMCID: PMC9463227 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-021-00891-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Human language is a multi-componential function comprising several sub-functions each of which may have evolved in other species independently of language. Among them, two sub-functions, or modules, have been claimed to be truly unique to the humans, namely hierarchical syntax (known as “Merge” in linguistics) and the “lexicon.” This kind of species-specificity stands as a hindrance to our natural understanding of human language evolution. Here we challenge this issue and advance our hypotheses on how human syntax and lexicon may have evolved from pre-existing cognitive capacities in our ancestors and other species including but not limited to nonhuman primates. Specifically, we argue that Merge evolved from motor action planning, and that the human lexicon with the distinction between lexical and functional categories evolved from its predecessors found in animal cognition through a process we call “disintegration.” We build our arguments on recent developments in generative grammar but crucially depart from some of its core ideas by borrowing insights from other relevant disciplines. Most importantly, we maintain that every sub-function of human language keeps evolutionary continuity with other species’ cognitive capacities and reject a saltational emergence of language in favor of its gradual evolution. By doing so, we aim to offer a firm theoretical background on which a promising scenario of language evolution can be constructed.
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O'Rourke T, Martins PT, Asano R, Tachibana RO, Okanoya K, Boeckx C. Capturing the Effects of Domestication on Vocal Learning Complexity. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:462-474. [PMID: 33810982 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2020] [Revised: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Domesticated and vocal learning species can serve as informative model organisms for the reduction of reactive aggression and emergence of speech in our lineage. Amidst mounting evidence that domestication modifies vocal repertoires across different species, we focus on the domesticated Bengalese finch, which has a more complex song than the wild-type white-rumped munia. Our explanation for this effect revolves around the glutamate neurotransmitter system. Glutamate signaling (i) is implicated in birdsong learning, (ii) controls dopamine activity in neural circuits crucial for vocal learning, (iii) is disproportionately targeted in the evolution of domesticates, and (iv) regulates stress responses and aggressive behaviors attenuated under domestication. We propose that attenuated excitation of stress-related neural circuits potentiates vocal learning via altered dopaminergic signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas O'Rourke
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pedro Tiago Martins
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rie Asano
- Department of Systematic Musicology, University of Cologne, 50923 Cologne, Germany
| | - Ryosuke O Tachibana
- Center for Evolutionary Cognitive Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 153-8902 Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazuo Okanoya
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 153-8902 Tokyo, Japan
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
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21
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Macaque species with varying social tolerance show no differences in understanding what other agents perceive. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:877-888. [PMID: 33590410 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01485-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Revised: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of work demonstrates that a species' socioecology can impact its cognitive abilities. Indeed, even closely related species with different socioecological pressures often show different patterns of cognitive performance on the same task. Here, we explore whether major differences in social tolerance in two closely related macaque species can impact a core sociocognitive ability, the capacity to recognize what others see. Specifically, we compared the performance of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus, n = 80) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta, n = 62) on a standard test of visual perspective understanding. In contrast to the difference in performance, one might expect from these species' divergent socioecologies that our results show similar performance across Barbary and rhesus macaques, with both species forming expectations about how another agent will act based on that agent's visual perspective. These results suggest that differences in socioecology may not play as big of a role in the evolution of some theory of mind capacities as they do in other decision-making or foraging contexts.
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22
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Cooke EK, White SA. Learning in the time of COVID: insights from the zebra finch - a social vocal-learner. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2021; 68:84-90. [PMID: 33571938 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2021.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2020] [Revised: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth K Cooke
- Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA
| | - Stephanie A White
- Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA; Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA.
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23
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Benítez-Burraco A. Mental time travel, language evolution, and human self-domestication. Cogn Process 2021; 22:363-367. [DOI: 10.1007/s10339-020-01005-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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Spikins P, French JC, John-Wood S, Dytham C. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Ecological Changes, Social Behaviour and Human Intergroup Tolerance 300,000 to 30,000 BP. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY 2021; 28:53-75. [PMID: 33679119 PMCID: PMC7891228 DOI: 10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Archaeological evidence suggests that important shifts were taking place in the character of human social behaviours 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. New artefact types appear and are disseminated with greater frequency. Transfers of both raw materials and finished artefacts take place over increasing distances, implying larger scales of regional mobility and more frequent and friendlier interactions between different communities. Whilst these changes occur during a period of increasing environmental variability, the relationship between ecological changes and transformations in social behaviours is elusive. Here, we explore a possible theoretical approach and methodology for understanding how ecological contexts can influence selection pressures acting on intergroup social behaviours. We focus on the relative advantages and disadvantages of intergroup tolerance in different ecological contexts using agent-based modelling (ABM). We assess the relative costs and benefits of different 'tolerance' levels in between-group interactions on survival and resource exploitation in different environments. The results enable us to infer a potential relationship between ecological changes and proposed changes in between-group behavioural dynamics. We conclude that increasingly harsh environments may have driven changes in hormonal and emotional responses in humans leading to increasing intergroup tolerance, i.e. transformations in social behaviour associated with 'self-domestication'. We argue that changes in intergroup tolerance is a more parsimonious explanation for the emergence of what has been seen as 'modern human behaviour' than changes in hard aspects of cognition or other factors such as cognitive adaptability or population size. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Penny Spikins
- Department of Archaeology, Archaeology PalaeoHub, University of York, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Jennifer C. French
- Department of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7WZ UK
| | - Seren John-Wood
- York Cross-disciplinary Centre for Systems Analysis (YCCSA) Internship Programme, University of York, York, UK
- University College London, London, UK
| | - Calvin Dytham
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD UK
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25
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Bachrach Y, Everett R, Hughes E, Lazaridou A, Leibo JZ, Lanctot M, Johanson M, Czarnecki WM, Graepel T. Negotiating team formation using deep reinforcement learning. ARTIF INTELL 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.artint.2020.103356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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26
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Domestication Phenotype Linked to Vocal Behavior in Marmoset Monkeys. Curr Biol 2020; 30:5026-5032.e3. [PMID: 33065007 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 08/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The domestication syndrome refers to a set of traits that are the by-products of artificial selection for increased tolerance toward humans [1-3]. One hypothesis is that some species, like humans and bonobos, "self-domesticated" and have been under selection for that same suite of domesticated phenotypes [4-8]. However, the evidence for this has been largely circumstantial. Here, we provide evidence that, in marmoset monkeys, the size of a domestication phenotype-a white facial fur patch-is linked to their degree of affiliative vocal responding. During development, the amount of parental vocal feedback experienced influences the rate of growth of this facial white patch, and this suggests a mechanistic link between the two phenotypes, possibly via neural crest cells. Our study provides evidence for links between vocal behavior and the development of morphological phenotypes associated with domestication in a nonhuman primate.
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Benítez-Burraco A, Clay Z, Kempe V. Editorial: Self-Domestication and Human Evolution. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2007. [PMID: 32982840 PMCID: PMC7477284 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Zanna Clay
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Vera Kempe
- Division of Psychology, School of Health and Social Sciences, University of Abertay, Dundee, United Kingdom
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Del Savio L, Mameli M. Human domestication and the roles of human agency in human evolution. HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES 2020; 42:21. [PMID: 32458082 PMCID: PMC7250791 DOI: 10.1007/s40656-020-00315-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2020] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Are humans a domesticated species? How is this issue related to debates on the roles of human agency in human evolution? This article discusses four views on human domestication: (1) Darwin's view; (2) the view of those who link human domestication to anthropogenic niche construction and, more specifically, to sedentism; (3) the view of those who link human domestication to selection against aggression and the domestication syndrome; and (4) a novel view according to which human domestication can be conceived of in terms of a process of political selection. The article examines and compares these views to illustrate how discussions of human domestication can contribute to debates about how, and to what extent, human agency has affected human evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Matteo Mameli
- Department of Philosophy, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
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30
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Smith K. How Culture and Biology Interact to Shape Language and the Language Faculty. Top Cogn Sci 2020; 12:690-712. [PMID: 30182526 PMCID: PMC7379493 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2018] [Revised: 08/08/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Recent work suggests that linguistic structure develops through cultural evolution, as a consequence of the repeated cycle of learning and use by which languages persist. This work has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of the cognitive basis for language; in particular, human language and the cognitive capacities underpinning it are likely to have been shaped by co-evolutionary processes, where the cultural evolution of linguistic systems is shaped by and in turn shapes the biological evolution of the capacities underpinning language learning. I review several models of this co-evolutionary process, which suggest that the precise relationship between evolved biases in individuals and the structure of linguistic systems depends on the extent to which cultural evolution masks or unmasks individual-level cognitive biases from selection. I finish by discussing how these co-evolutionary models might be extended to cases where the biases involved in learning are themselves shaped by experience, as is the case for language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenny Smith
- Centre for Language EvolutionUniversity of Edinburgh
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31
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Abstract
Vocal learning is the ability to modify vocal output on the basis of experience. Traditionally, species have been classified as either displaying or lacking this ability. A recent proposal, the vocal learning continuum, recognizes the need to have a more nuanced view of this phenotype and abandon the yes–no dichotomy. However, it also limits vocal learning to production of novel calls through imitation, moreover subserved by a forebrain-to-phonatory-muscles circuit. We discuss its limitations regarding the characterization of vocal learning across species and argue for a more permissive view. Vocal learning is the capacity to modify vocal output on the basis of experience, crucial for human speech and several animal communication systems. This Essay maintains that the existing evidence supports a more nuanced view of this phenotype, broadening the set of species, behaviors, and factors that can help us understand it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Tiago Martins
- Section of General Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- University of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), Barcelona, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- University of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
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32
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Gleeson BT. Masculinity and the Mechanisms of Human Self-Domestication. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00126-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Shilton D, Breski M, Dor D, Jablonka E. Human Social Evolution: Self-Domestication or Self-Control? Front Psychol 2020; 11:134. [PMID: 32116937 PMCID: PMC7033472 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The self-domestication hypothesis suggests that, like mammalian domesticates, humans have gone through a process of selection against aggression - a process that in the case of humans was self-induced. Here, we extend previous proposals and suggest that what underlies human social evolution is selection for socially mediated emotional control and plasticity. In the first part of the paper we highlight general features of human social evolution, which, we argue, is more similar to that of other social mammals than to that of mammalian domesticates and is therefore incompatible with the notion of human self-domestication. In the second part, we discuss the unique aspects of human evolution and propose that emotional control and social motivation in humans evolved during two major, partially overlapping stages. The first stage, which followed the emergence of mimetic communication, the beginnings of musical engagement, and mimesis-related cognition, required socially mediated emotional plasticity and was accompanied by new social emotions. The second stage followed the emergence of language, when individuals began to instruct the imagination of their interlocutors, and to rely even more extensively on emotional plasticity and culturally learned emotional control. This account further illustrates the significant differences between humans and domesticates, thus challenging the notion of human self-domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dor Shilton
- The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Mati Breski
- The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Daniel Dor
- The Department of Communication, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Eva Jablonka
- The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS), London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
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Benítez-Burraco A. Genes Positively Selected in Domesticated Mammals Are Significantly Dysregulated in the Blood of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Mol Syndromol 2020; 10:306-312. [PMID: 32021604 PMCID: PMC6995977 DOI: 10.1159/000505116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Human self-domestication (i.e., the presence of traits in our species that are commonly found in domesticated animals) has been hypothesized to have contributed to the emergence of many human-specific features, including aspects of our cognition and behavior. Signs of self-domestication have been claimed to be attenuated in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this conceivably accounting for facets of their distinctive cognitive and behavioral profile, although this possibility needs to be properly tested. In this study, we have found that candidate genes for mammal domestication, but not for neural crest development and function, are significantly dysregulated in the blood of subjects with ASD. The set of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) is enriched in biological and molecular processes, as well as in pathological phenotypes, of relevance for the etiology of ASD, like lipid metabolism, cell apoptosis, the activity of the insulin-like growth factor, gene expression regulation, skin/hair anomalies, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and hearing impairment. Moreover, among the DEGs, there are known candidates for ASD and/or genes involved in biological processes known to be affected in ASD. Our findings give support to the view that one important aspect of the etiopathogenesis of ASD is the abnormal manifestation of features of human self-domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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35
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Progovac L, Benítez-Burraco A. From Physical Aggression to Verbal Behavior: Language Evolution and Self-Domestication Feedback Loop. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2807. [PMID: 31920850 PMCID: PMC6930236 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We propose that human self-domestication favored the emergence of a less aggressive phenotype in our species, more precisely phenotype prone to replace (reactive) physical aggression with verbal aggression. In turn, the (gradual) transition to verbal aggression and to more sophisticated forms of verbal behavior favored self-domestication, with the two processes engaged in a mutually reinforcing feedback loop, considering that verbal behavior entails not only less violence and better survival but also more opportunities to interact longer and socialize with more conspecifics, ultimately enabling the emergence of more complex forms of language. Whereas in the case of self-domestication, sexual selection has been proposed to work against physical aggression traits, in the case of verbal insult, the selection has been proposed to work in favor of verbal aggression. The tension between these two seemingly opposing forces gets resolved/alleviated by a tendency to replace physical aggression with verbal aggression and with verbal behavior more generally. This also helps solve the paradox of the Self-Domestication Hypothesis regarding aggression, more precisely why aggression in humans has been reduced only when it comes to reactive aggression, but not when it comes to proactive aggression, the latter exhibiting an increase in the advent of modern language. We postulate that this feedback loop was particularly important during the time period arguably between 200 and 50 kya, when humans were not fully modern, neither in terms of their skull/brain morphology and their behavior/culture nor in terms of their self-domestication. The novelty of our approach lies in (1) giving an active role to early forms of language in interacting with self-domestication processes; (2) providing specific linguistic details and functions of this early stage of grammar (including insult and humor); (3) supplying neurobiological, ontogenetic, and clinical evidence of a link between (reactive) aggression and (reactive) verbal behavior; (4) identifying proxies of the earlier stages in evolution among cognitive disorders; and (5) identifying specific points of contact and mutual reinforcement between these two processes (self-domestication and early language evolution), including reduction in physical aggression and stress/tension, as well as sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljiljana Progovac
- Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish Language, Linguistics and Literary Theory (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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Langley MC, Benítez‐Burraco A, Kempe V. Playing with language, creating complexity: Has play contributed to the evolution of complex language? Evol Anthropol 2019; 29:29-40. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2018] [Revised: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michelle C. Langley
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research InstituteGriffith University Brisbane Queensland Australia
| | - Antonio Benítez‐Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of PhilologyUniversity of Seville Seville Spain
| | - Vera Kempe
- Division of Psychology, School of Applied SciencesAbertay University Dundee UK
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McHugo GP, Dover MJ, MacHugh DE. Unlocking the origins and biology of domestic animals using ancient DNA and paleogenomics. BMC Biol 2019; 17:98. [PMID: 31791340 PMCID: PMC6889691 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-019-0724-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal domestication has fascinated biologists since Charles Darwin first drew the parallel between evolution via natural selection and human-mediated breeding of livestock and companion animals. In this review we show how studies of ancient DNA from domestic animals and their wild progenitors and congeners have shed new light on the genetic origins of domesticates, and on the process of domestication itself. High-resolution paleogenomic data sets now provide unprecedented opportunities to explore the development of animal agriculture across the world. In addition, functional population genomics studies of domestic and wild animals can deliver comparative information useful for understanding recent human evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian P McHugo
- Animal Genomics Laboratory, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland
| | - Michael J Dover
- Animal Genomics Laboratory, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland
| | - David E MacHugh
- Animal Genomics Laboratory, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland.
- UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland.
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Aamodt CM, Farias-Virgens M, White SA. Birdsong as a window into language origins and evolutionary neuroscience. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 375:20190060. [PMID: 31735151 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0060] [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] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans and songbirds share the key trait of vocal learning, manifested in speech and song, respectively. Striking analogies between these behaviours include that both are acquired during developmental critical periods when the brain's ability for vocal learning peaks. Both behaviours show similarities in the overall architecture of their underlying brain areas, characterized by cortico-striato-thalamic loops and direct projections from cortical neurons onto brainstem motor neurons that control the vocal organs. These neural analogies extend to the molecular level, with certain song control regions sharing convergent transcriptional profiles with speech-related regions in the human brain. This evolutionary convergence offers an unprecedented opportunity to decipher the shared neurogenetic underpinnings of vocal learning. A key strength of the songbird model is that it allows for the delineation of activity-dependent transcriptional changes in the brain that are driven by learned vocal behaviour. To capitalize on this advantage, we used previously published datasets from our laboratory that correlate gene co-expression networks to features of learned vocalization within and after critical period closure to probe the functional relevance of genes implicated in language. We interrogate specific genes and cellular processes through converging lines of evidence: human-specific evolutionary changes, intelligence-related phenotypes and relevance to vocal learning gene co-expression in songbirds. This article is part of the theme issue 'What can animal communication teach us about human language?'
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin M Aamodt
- Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA
| | - Madza Farias-Virgens
- Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA
| | - Stephanie A White
- Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA.,Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA.,Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA
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Bruner E, Gleeson BT. Body Cognition and Self-Domestication in Human Evolution. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1111. [PMID: 31164852 PMCID: PMC6536601 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Emiliano Bruner
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
| | - Ben T. Gleeson
- Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Niego A, Benítez-Burraco A. Williams Syndrome, Human Self-Domestication, and Language Evolution. Front Psychol 2019; 10:521. [PMID: 30936846 PMCID: PMC6431629 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 02/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Language evolution resulted from changes in our biology, behavior, and culture. One source of these changes might be human self-domestication. Williams syndrome (WS) is a clinical condition with a clearly defined genetic basis which results in a distinctive behavioral and cognitive profile, including enhanced sociability. In this paper we show evidence that the WS phenotype can be satisfactorily construed as a hyper-domesticated human phenotype, plausibly resulting from the effect of the WS hemideletion on selected candidates for domestication and neural crest (NC) function. Specifically, we show that genes involved in animal domestication and NC development and function are significantly dysregulated in the blood of subjects with WS. We also discuss the consequences of this link between domestication and WS for our current understanding of language evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Niego
- Ph.D. Program, Faculty of Humanities, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature, Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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