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Mueller NG, Willman JC. Domestication as the evolution of interspecies cooperative breeding. Evol Anthropol 2024:e22042. [PMID: 38987976 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22042] [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: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 06/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
We propose that domestication is the result of interspecies cooperative breeding. Considering domestication as an outcome of cooperative breeding can explain how domestication occurs in both plants and animals, encompass cases of domestication that do not involve humans, and shed light on why humans are involved in so many domesticatory relationships. We review the cooperative breeding model of human evolution, which posits that care of human infants by alloparents enabled the evolution of costly human brains and long juvenile development, while selecting for tolerance of strangers. We then explore how human cooperation in the protection and provisioning of young plants and animals can explain the evolution of domestication traits such as changes in development; loss of aggressive, defensive, and bet-hedging aspects of the phenotype; and increased fertility. We argue that the importance of cooperative breeding to human societies has made humans especially likely to enter into interspecies cooperative breeding relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie G Mueller
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - John C Willman
- CIAS-Research Centre for Anthropology and Health, Department of Life Sciences, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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2
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Hong I, Wolfe JM. Research on re-searching: interrupted foraging is not disrupted foraging. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2024; 9:30. [PMID: 38748189 PMCID: PMC11096138 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00556-8] [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: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
In classic visual search, observers typically search for the presence of a target in a scene or display. In foraging tasks, there may be multiple targets in the same display (or "patch"). Observers typically search for and collect these target items in one patch until they decide to leave that patch and move to the next one. This is a highly rule-governed behavior. The current study investigated whether these rules are disrupted when the foraging is interrupted in various manners. In Experiment 1, the foraging was briefly interrupted and then resumed in the same patch. In Experiments 2 and 3, the foraging in each patch either ended voluntarily or compulsorily after a fixed amount of time. In these cases, foraging resumed in a patch only after all patches were visited. Overall, the rules of foraging remained largely intact, though Experiment 2 shows that foraging rules can be overridden by the demand characteristics of the task. The results show that participants tended to perform approximately consistently despite interruptions. The results suggest that foraging behavior in a relatively simple foraging environment is resilient and not easily disrupted by interruption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Injae Hong
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02135, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
- Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jeremy M Wolfe
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02135, USA.
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
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3
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Alejandro RJ, Holroyd CB. Hierarchical control over foraging behavior by anterior cingulate cortex. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 160:105623. [PMID: 38490499 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
Foraging is a natural behavior that involves making sequential decisions to maximize rewards while minimizing the costs incurred when doing so. The prevalence of foraging across species suggests that a common brain computation underlies its implementation. Although anterior cingulate cortex is believed to contribute to foraging behavior, its specific role has been contentious, with predominant theories arguing either that it encodes environmental value or choice difficulty. Additionally, recent attempts to characterize foraging have taken place within the reinforcement learning framework, with increasingly complex models scaling with task complexity. Here we review reinforcement learning foraging models, highlighting the hierarchical structure of many foraging problems. We extend this literature by proposing that ACC guides foraging according to principles of model-based hierarchical reinforcement learning. This idea holds that ACC function is organized hierarchically along a rostral-caudal gradient, with rostral structures monitoring the status and completion of high-level task goals (like finding food), and midcingulate structures overseeing the execution of task options (subgoals, like harvesting fruit) and lower-level actions (such as grabbing an apple).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Clay B Holroyd
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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4
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Pretelli I, Crittenden AN, Dounias E, Friant S, Koster J, Kramer KL, Mangola SM, Saez AM, Lew-Levy S. Child and adolescent foraging: New directions in evolutionary research. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22020. [PMID: 38214699 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22020] [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: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Young children and adolescents in subsistence societies forage for a wide range of resources. They often target child-specific foods, they can be very successful foragers, and they share their produce widely within and outside of their nuclear family. At the same time, while foraging, they face risky situations and are exposed to diseases that can influence their immune development. However, children's foraging has largely been explained in light of their future (adult) behavior. Here, we reinterpret findings from human behavioral ecology, evolutionary medicine and cultural evolution to center foraging children's contributions to life history evolution, community resilience and immune development. We highlight the need to foreground immediate alongside delayed benefits and costs of foraging, including inclusive fitness benefits, when discussing children's food production from an evolutionary perspective. We conclude by recommending that researchers carefully consider children's social and ecological context, develop cross-cultural perspectives, and incorporate children's foraging into Indigenous sovereignty discourse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Pretelli
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, and University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Edmond Dounias
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Sagan Friant
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jeremy Koster
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karen L Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Shani M Mangola
- The Law School of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Olanakwe Community Fund, Mang'ola, Tanzania
| | - Almudena Mari Saez
- TransVHIMI Unit, French National Institute for Sustainable Development, IRD, Montpellier, France
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5
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Pretelli I, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Makame Khamis B, McElreath R. Foraging and the importance of knowledge in Pemba, Tanzania: implications for childhood evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231505. [PMID: 37964531 PMCID: PMC10646471 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Childhood is a period of life unique to humans. Childhood may have evolved through the need to acquire knowledge and subsistence skills. In an effort to understand the functional significance of childhood, previous research examined increases with age in returns to foraging across food resources. Such increases could be due to changes in knowledge, or other factors such as body size or strength. Here, we attempt to unpack these age-related changes. First, we estimate age-specific foraging returns for two resources. We then develop nonlinear structural equation models to evaluate the relative importance of ecological knowledge, grip strength and height in a population of part-time children foragers on Pemba island, Tanzania. We use anthropometric measures (height, strength, n = 250), estimates of ecological knowledge (n = 93) and behavioural observations for 63 individuals across 370 foraging trips. We find slower increases in foraging returns with age for trap hunting than for shellfish collection. We do not detect any effect of individual knowledge on foraging returns, potentially linked to information sharing within foraging parties. Producing accurate estimates of the distinct contribution of specific traits to an individual's foraging performance constitutes a key step in evaluating different hypotheses for the emergence of childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Pretelli
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Richard McElreath
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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6
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Hillemann F, Beheim BA, Ready E. Socio-economic predictors of Inuit hunting choices and their implications for climate change adaptation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220395. [PMID: 37718596 PMCID: PMC10505855 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In the Arctic, seasonal variation in the accessibility of the land, sea ice and open waters influences which resources can be harvested safely and efficiently. Climate stressors are also increasingly affecting access to subsistence resources. Within Inuit communities, people differ in their involvement with subsistence activities, but little is known about how engagement in the cash economy (time and money available) and other socio-economic factors shape the food production choices of Inuit harvesters, and their ability to adapt to rapid ecological change. We analyse 281 foraging trips involving 23 Inuit harvesters from Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, Canada using a Bayesian approach modelling both patch choice and within-patch success. Gender and income predict Inuit harvest strategies: while men, especially men from low-income households, often visit patches with a relatively low success probability, women and high-income hunters generally have a higher propensity to choose low-risk patches. Inland hunting, marine hunting and fishing differ in the required equipment and effort, and hunters may have to shift their subsistence activities if certain patches become less profitable or less safe owing to high costs of transportation or climate change (e.g. navigate larger areas inland instead of targeting seals on the sea ice). Our finding that household income predicts patch choice suggests that the capacity to maintain access to country foods depends on engagement with the cash economy. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Friederike Hillemann
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Bret A. Beheim
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elspeth Ready
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Lloyd A, Viding E, McKay R, Furl N. Understanding patch foraging strategies across development. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:1085-1098. [PMID: 37500422 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Patch foraging is a near-ubiquitous behaviour across the animal kingdom and characterises many decision-making domains encountered by humans. We review how a disposition to explore in adolescence may reflect the evolutionary conditions under which hunter-gatherers foraged for resources. We propose that neurocomputational mechanisms responsible for reward processing, learning, and cognitive control facilitate the transition from exploratory strategies in adolescence to exploitative strategies in adulthood - where individuals capitalise on known resources. This developmental transition may be disrupted by psychopathology, as there is emerging evidence of biases in explore/exploit choices in mental health problems. Explore/exploit choices may be an informative marker for mental health across development and future research should consider this feature of decision-making as a target for clinical intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Lloyd
- Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK.
| | - Essi Viding
- Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
| | - Ryan McKay
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Nicholas Furl
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
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8
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Anderson A, Chilczuk S, Nelson K, Ruther R, Wall-Scheffler C. The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women's contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287101. [PMID: 37379261 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The sexual division of labor among human foraging populations has typically been recognized as involving males as hunters and females as gatherers. Recent archeological research has questioned this paradigm with evidence that females hunted (and went to war) throughout the Homo sapiens lineage, though many of these authors assert the pattern of women hunting may only have occurred in the past. The current project gleans data from across the ethnographic literature to investigate the prevalence of women hunting in foraging societies in more recent times. Evidence from the past one hundred years supports archaeological finds from the Holocene that women from a broad range of cultures intentionally hunt for subsistence. These results aim to shift the male-hunter female-gatherer paradigm to account for the significant role females have in hunting, thus dramatically shifting stereotypes of labor, as well as mobility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail Anderson
- Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Sophia Chilczuk
- Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Kaylie Nelson
- Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Roxanne Ruther
- Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Cara Wall-Scheffler
- Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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9
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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: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [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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Jang H, Janmaat KRL, Kandza V, Boyette AH. Girls in early childhood increase food returns of nursing women during subsistence activities of the BaYaka in the Republic of Congo. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221407. [PMID: 36382518 PMCID: PMC9667358 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Nursing mothers face an energetic trade-off between infant care and work. Under pooled energy budgets, this trade-off can be reduced by assistance in food acquisition and infant care tasks from non-maternal carers. Across cultures, children also often provide infant care. Yet the question of who helps nursing mothers during foraging has been understudied, especially the role of children. Using focal follow data from 140 subsistence expeditions by BaYaka women in the Republic of Congo, we investigated how potential support from carers increased mothers' foraging productivity. We found that the number of girls in early childhood (ages 4–7 years) in subsistence groups increased food returns of nursing women with infants (kcal collected per minute). This effect was stronger than that of other adult women, and older girls in middle childhood (ages 8–13 years) and adolescence (ages 14–19 years). Child helpers were not necessarily genetically related to nursing women. Our results suggest that it is young girls who provide infant care while nursing mothers are acquiring food—by holding, monitoring and playing with infants—and, thus, that they also contribute to the energy pool of the community during women's subsistence activities. Our study highlights the critical role of children as carers from early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, 94248 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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