1
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Petersen BC. An economic model and evidence of the evolution of human intelligence in the Middle Pleistocene: Climate change and assortative mating. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287964. [PMID: 37531351 PMCID: PMC10395973 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A main objective of this paper is to provide the first model of how climate change, working through sexual selection, could have led to dramatic increases in hominin brain size, and presumably intelligence, in the Middle Pleistocene. The model is built using core elements from the field of family economics, including assortative mating and specialization and complementarities between mates. The main assumptions are that family public goods (e.g., conversation, shelter, fire) were particularly cognitively intensive to produce and became increasingly important for child survival during glacial phases. Intermediate climates (e.g., not the depths of severe glacial phases) create the largest gains from specialization, encouraging negative assortative mating. In contrast, severe glacial phases encourage positive assortative mating because of the rising importance of family public goods. One testable hypothesis is that absence of severe glacial phases should have led to stasis in brain size. Two other testable hypotheses are that severe glacial phases should have led to speciation events, as well as increases in brain size. The evidence shows that there was a million-year stasis in cranial size prior to the start of the severe glacial phases. This stasis is broken by a speciation event (Homo heidelbergensis), with the oldest fossil evidence dated near the close of the first severe glacial phase. In the next 300 kyr, there are two additional severe glacial phases, accompanied by considerable increases in cranial capacity. The last speciation event is Homo sapiens, with the earliest fossils dated near the end of the last of these two glacial phases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruce C Petersen
- Department of Economics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
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2
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Mondal P. A Critical Perspective on the (Neuro)biological Foundations of Language and Linguistic Cognition. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2022:10.1007/s12124-022-09741-0. [PMID: 36562960 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-022-09741-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The biological foundations of language reflect assumptions about the way language and biology relate to one another, and with the rise of biological studies of language, we appear to have come closer to a deep understanding of linguistic cognition-the part of cognition constituted by language. This article argues that relations of neurobiological and genetic instantiation between linguistic cognition and the underlying biological substrate are ultimately irrelevant to understanding the higher-level structure and form of language. Linguistic patterns and those that make up the character of cognition constituted by language do not simply arise from the biological substrate because higher-level structures typically assume forms based on constraints that only emerge once these new levels are constructed. The goal is not to show how the mapping problem between linguistic cognition and neurobiology can be solved. Rather, the goal is to show the mapping problem ceases to exist once a different understanding of language-(neuro)biology relations is embraced. With this goal, this article first uncovers a number of logical and conceptual fallacies in strategies deployed in understanding language-(neuro)biology relations. After having shown these flaws, the article offers an alternative view of language-biology relations that shows how biological constraints shape language (nature and form), making it what it is.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prakash Mondal
- Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana, 502284, India.
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3
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Beyond "consistent with" adaptation: Is there a robust test for music adaptation? Behav Brain Sci 2021; 44:e115. [PMID: 34588041 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x20001132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
In their article, Mehr et al. conclude that the design features of music are consistent with adaptations for credible signaling. Although appealing to design may seem like a plausible basis for identifying adaptations, probing adaptive theories of music must be done at the genomic level and will require a functional understanding of the genomic, phenotypic, and fitness properties of music.
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4
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Abstract
Evolutionary theory should be a fundamental guide for neuroscientists. This would seem a trivial statement, but I believe that taking it seriously is more complicated than it appears to be, as I argue in this article. Elsewhere, I proposed the notion of “bounded functionality” As a way to describe the constraints that should be considered when trying to understand the evolution of the brain. There are two bounded-functionality constraints that are essential to any evolution-minded approach to cognitive neuroscience. The first constraint, the bricoleur constraint, describes the evolutionary pressure for any adaptive solution to re-use any relevant resources available to the system before the selection situation appeared. The second constraint, the satisficing constraint, describes the fact that a trait only needs to behave more advantageously than its competitors in order to be selected. In this paper I describe how bounded-functionality can inform an evolutionary-minded approach to cognitive neuroscience. In order to do so, I resort to Nikolaas Tinbergen’s four questions about how to understand behavior, namely: function, causation, development and evolution. The bottom line of assuming Tinbergen’s questions is that any approach to cognitive neuroscience is intrinsically tentative, slow, and messy.
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5
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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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6
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Di Plinio S, Ebisch SJH. Combining local and global evolutionary trajectories of brain-behaviour relationships through game theory. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 52:4198-4213. [PMID: 32594640 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14883] [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] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The study of the evolution of brain-behaviour relationships concerns understanding the causes and repercussions of cross- and within-species variability. Understanding such variability is a main objective of evolutionary and cognitive neuroscience, and it may help explaining the appearance of psychopathological phenotypes. Although brain evolution is related to the progressive action of selection and adaptation through multiple paths (e.g. mosaic vs. concerted evolution, metabolic vs. structural and functional constraints), a coherent, integrative framework is needed to combine evolutionary paths and neuroscientific evidence. Here, we review the literature on evolutionary pressures focusing on structural-functional changes and developmental constraints. Taking advantage of recent progress in neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience, we propose a twofold hypothetical model of brain evolution. Within this model, global and local trajectories imply rearrangements of neural subunits and subsystems and of behavioural repertoires of a species, respectively. We incorporate these two processes in a game in which the global trajectory shapes the structural-functional neural substrates (i.e. players), while the local trajectory shapes the behavioural repertoires (i.e. stochastic payoffs).
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Di Plinio
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging, and Clinical Sciences, G D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Sjoerd J H Ebisch
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging, and Clinical Sciences, G D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.,Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), G D'Annunzio University of Chieti Pescara, Chieti, Italy
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7
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Hitchcock TJ, Paracchini S, Gardner A. Genomic Imprinting As a Window into Human Language Evolution. Bioessays 2020; 41:e1800212. [PMID: 31132171 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201800212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Revised: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Humans spend large portions of their time and energy talking to one another, yet it remains unclear whether this activity is primarily selfish or altruistic. Here, it is shown how parent-of-origin specific gene expression-or "genomic imprinting"-may provide an answer to this question. First, it is shown why, regarding language, only altruistic or selfish scenarios are expected. Second, it is pointed out that an individual's maternal-origin and paternal-origin genes may have different evolutionary interests regarding investment into language, and that this intragenomic conflict may drive genomic imprinting which-as the direction of imprint depends upon whether investment into language is relatively selfish or altruistic-may be used to discriminate between these two possibilities. Third, predictions concerning the impact of various mutations and epimutations at imprinted loci on language pathologies are derived. In doing so, a framework is developed that highlights avenues for using intragenomic conflicts to investigate the evolutionary drivers of language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J Hitchcock
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews, KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Silvia Paracchini
- School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9TF, UK
| | - Andy Gardner
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews, KY16 9TH, UK
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8
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Pleyer M, Hartmann S. Constructing a Consensus on Language Evolution? Convergences and Differences Between Biolinguistic and Usage-Based Approaches. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2537. [PMID: 31803099 PMCID: PMC6868443 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Two of the main theoretical approaches to the evolution of language are biolinguistics and usage-based approaches. Both are often conceptualized as belonging to seemingly irreconcilable "camps." Biolinguistic approaches assume that the ability to acquire language is based on a language-specific genetic foundation. Usage-based approaches, on the other hand, stress the importance of domain-general cognitive capacities, social cognition, and interaction. However, there have been a number of recent developments in both paradigms which suggest that biolinguistic and usage-based approaches are actually moving closer together. For example, theoretical advancements such as evo-devo and complex adaptive system theory have gained traction in the language sciences, leading to changed conceptions of issues like the relative influence of "nature" and "nurture." In this paper, we outline points of convergence between current minimalist biolinguistic and usage-based approaches regarding four contentious issues: (1) modularity and domain specificity; (2) innateness and development; (3) cultural and biological evolution; and (4) knowledge of language and its description. We show that across both paradigms, researchers have come to increasingly embrace more complex views of these issues. They also have come to appreciate the view that biological and cultural evolution are closely intertwined, which lead to an increased amount of common ground between minimalist biolinguistics and usage-based approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pleyer
- English Department, University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz, Germany
| | - Stefan Hartmann
- German Department, Chair of German Linguistics, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
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9
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Abstract
Recently, prominent theoretical linguists have argued for an explicit scenario for the evolution of the human language capacity on the basis of its computational properties. Concretely, the simplicity of a minimalist formulation of the operation Merge, which allows humans to recursively compute hierarchical relations in language, has been used to promote a sudden-emergence, single-mutation scenario. In support of this view, Merge is said to be either fully present or fully absent: one cannot have half-Merge. On this basis, it is inferred that the emergence of our fully fledged language capacity had to be sudden. Thus, proponents of this view draw a parallelism between the formal complexity of the operation at the computational level and the number of evolutionary steps it must imply. Here, we examine this argument in detail and show that the jump from the atomicity of Merge to a single-mutation scenario is not valid and therefore cannot be used as justification for a theory of language evolution along those lines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Tiago Martins
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
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10
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Benítez-Burraco A, Kimura R. Robust Candidates for Language Development and Evolution Are Significantly Dysregulated in the Blood of People With Williams Syndrome. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:258. [PMID: 30971880 PMCID: PMC6444191 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Williams syndrome (WS) is a clinical condition, involving cognitive deficits and an uneven language profile, which has been the object of intense inquiry over the last decades. Although WS results from the hemideletion of around two dozen genes in chromosome 7, no gene has yet been probed to account for, or contribute significantly to, the language problems exhibited by the affected people. In this paper we have relied on gene expression profiles in the peripheral blood of WS patients obtained by microarray analysis and show that several robust candidates for language disorders and/or for language evolution in the species, all of them located outside the hemideleted region, are up- or downregulated in the blood of subjects with WS. Most of these genes play a role in the development and function of brain areas involved in language processing, which exhibit structural and functional anomalies in people with this condition. Overall, these genes emerge as robust candidates for language dysfunction in WS.
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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
| | - Ryo Kimura
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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11
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Gunz P, Tilot AK, Wittfeld K, Teumer A, Shapland CY, van Erp TGM, Dannemann M, Vernot B, Neubauer S, Guadalupe T, Fernández G, Brunner HG, Enard W, Fallon J, Hosten N, Völker U, Profico A, Di Vincenzo F, Manzi G, Kelso J, St Pourcain B, Hublin JJ, Franke B, Pääbo S, Macciardi F, Grabe HJ, Fisher SE. Neandertal Introgression Sheds Light on Modern Human Endocranial Globularity. Curr Biol 2018; 29:120-127.e5. [PMID: 30554901 PMCID: PMC6380688 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Revised: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
One of the features that distinguishes modern humans from our extinct relatives and ancestors is a globular shape of the braincase [1-4]. As the endocranium closely mirrors the outer shape of the brain, these differences might reflect altered neural architecture [4, 5]. However, in the absence of fossil brain tissue, the underlying neuroanatomical changes as well as their genetic bases remain elusive. To better understand the biological foundations of modern human endocranial shape, we turn to our closest extinct relatives: the Neandertals. Interbreeding between modern humans and Neandertals has resulted in introgressed fragments of Neandertal DNA in the genomes of present-day non-Africans [6, 7]. Based on shape analyses of fossil skull endocasts, we derive a measure of endocranial globularity from structural MRI scans of thousands of modern humans and study the effects of introgressed fragments of Neandertal DNA on this phenotype. We find that Neandertal alleles on chromosomes 1 and 18 are associated with reduced endocranial globularity. These alleles influence expression of two nearby genes, UBR4 and PHLPP1, which are involved in neurogenesis and myelination, respectively. Our findings show how integration of fossil skull data with archaic genomics and neuroimaging can suggest developmental mechanisms that may contribute to the unique modern human endocranial shape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Amanda K Tilot
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Katharina Wittfeld
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Ellernholzstr. 1-2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Partner Site Rostock/Greifswald, Ellernholzstr. 1-2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Alexander Teumer
- Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Walter-Rathenau Str. 48, 17475 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Chin Yang Shapland
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Theo G M van Erp
- Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, 5251 California Ave, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
| | - Michael Dannemann
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Benjamin Vernot
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simon Neubauer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tulio Guadalupe
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Guillén Fernández
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, 6500 GA, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Han G Brunner
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, 6500 GA, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Clinical Genetics and School for Oncology & Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht University Medical Center, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Wolfgang Enard
- Anthropology and Human Genomics, Department Biology II, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Grosshaderner Str. 2, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany
| | - James Fallon
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Norbert Hosten
- Institute of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medicine, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Str. 1, 17475 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Uwe Völker
- Interfaculty Institute of Genetics and Functional Genomics, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 8, 17475 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Antonio Profico
- Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Department of Environmental Biology, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Roma, Italy
| | - Fabio Di Vincenzo
- Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Department of Environmental Biology, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Roma, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Via Ulisse Aldrovandi, 18, 00197, Roma, Italy
| | - Giorgio Manzi
- Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Department of Environmental Biology, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Roma, Italy
| | - Janet Kelso
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Beate St Pourcain
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Barbara Franke
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Departments of Human Genetics and Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Svante Pääbo
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Fabio Macciardi
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Sprague Hall - Room 312, Gillespie Neuroscience - Laboratory, Mail Code: 3960, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Hans J Grabe
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Ellernholzstr. 1-2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Simon E Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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12
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Colagè I, d'Errico F. Culture: The Driving Force of Human Cognition. Top Cogn Sci 2018; 12:654-672. [DOI: 10.1111/tops.12372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2018] [Revised: 06/20/2018] [Accepted: 06/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Colagè
- Faculty of Philosophy Pontifical Antonianum University
- DISF Centre Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
| | - Francesco d'Errico
- UMR‐CNRS 5199 de la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA) Université de Bordeaux
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) University of Bergen
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13
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Schatton A, Scharff C. FoxP expression identifies a Kenyon cell subtype in the honeybee mushroom bodies linking them to fruit fly αβ c neurons. Eur J Neurosci 2018; 46:2534-2541. [PMID: 28921711 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2017] [Revised: 08/31/2017] [Accepted: 08/31/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The arthropod mushroom bodies (MB) are a higher order sensory integration centre. In insects, they play a central role in associative olfactory learning and memory. In Drosophila melanogaster (Dm), the highly ordered connectivity of heterogeneous MB neuron populations has been mapped using sophisticated molecular genetic and anatomical techniques. The MB-core subpopulation was recently shown to express the transcription factor FoxP with relevance for decision-making. Here, we report the development and adult distribution of a FoxP-expressing neuron population in the MB of honeybees (Apis mellifera, Am) using in situ hybridisation and a custom-made antiserum. We found the same expression pattern in adult bumblebees (Bombus terrestris, Bt). We also designed a new Dm transgenic line that reports FoxP transcriptional activity in the MB-core region, clarifying previously conflicting data of two other reporter lines. Considering developmental, anatomical and molecular similarities, our data are consistent with the concept of deep homology of FoxP expression in neuron populations coding reinforcement-based learning and habit formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adriana Schatton
- Department of Animal Behavior, Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustraße 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Constance Scharff
- Department of Animal Behavior, Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustraße 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
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14
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Is the Capacity for Vocal Learning in Vertebrates Rooted in Fish Schooling Behavior? Evol Biol 2018; 45:359-373. [PMID: 30459479 PMCID: PMC6223759 DOI: 10.1007/s11692-018-9457-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2017] [Accepted: 06/07/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The capacity to learn and reproduce vocal sounds has evolved in phylogenetically distant tetrapod lineages. Vocal learners in all these lineages express similar neural circuitry and genetic factors when perceiving, processing, and reproducing vocalization, suggesting that brain pathways for vocal learning evolved within strong constraints from a common ancestor, potentially fish. We hypothesize that the auditory-motor circuits and genes involved in entrainment have their origins in fish schooling behavior and respiratory-motor coupling. In this acoustic advantages hypothesis, aural costs and benefits played a key role in shaping a wide variety of traits, which could readily be exapted for entrainment and vocal learning, including social grouping, group movement, and respiratory-motor coupling. Specifically, incidental sounds of locomotion and respiration (ISLR) may have reinforced synchronization by communicating important spatial and temporal information between school-members and extending windows of silence to improve situational awareness. This process would be mutually reinforcing. Neurons in the telencephalon, which were initially involved in linking ISLR with forelimbs, could have switched functions to serve vocal machinery (e.g. mouth, beak, tongue, larynx, syrinx). While previous vocal learning hypotheses invoke transmission of neurons from visual tasks (gestures) to the auditory channel, this hypothesis involves the auditory channel from the onset. Acoustic benefits of locomotor-respiratory coordination in fish may have selected for genetic factors and brain circuitry capable of synchronizing respiratory and limb movements, predisposing tetrapod lines to synchronized movement, vocalization, and vocal learning. We discuss how the capacity to entrain is manifest in fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals, and propose predictions to test our acoustic advantages hypothesis.
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15
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Staes N, Bradley BJ, Hopkins WD, Sherwood CC. Genetic signatures of socio-communicative abilities in primates. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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16
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Barrett HC. Selected emergence in the evolution of behavior and cognition. Behav Processes 2018; 161:87-93. [PMID: 29733862 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2017] [Revised: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 04/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In the evolution of cognition and behavior, a recurrent question concerns the degree to which any given aspect of the phenotype has been "selected for" or "specified," as opposed to arising as a byproduct of some other process. In some sense this is the key question for evolutionary theories of development that seek to connect ultimate evolutionary accounts to proximate developmental accounts of ontogeny. A popular solution to the specification problem is to invoke "emergence," in which phenotypes are co-constructed by many causes and cannot be reduced to any one of them. However, the concept of emergence, while appealing, can obscure sources of ultimate causation by leaving them unspecified. Here I explore the idea of selected emergence, in which phenotypic outcomes do emerge from a confluence of factors, some haphazard, but which include in part a history of selection, genetic and / or cultural, to produce phenotypic outcomes of that type. I discuss potential case studies of selected emergence, explore its empirical implications and provide suggestions for future research on the evolution of emergent outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Clark Barrett
- Department of Anthropology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1553, United States.
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Schatton A, Mendoza E, Grube K, Scharff C. FoxP in bees: A comparative study on the developmental and adult expression pattern in three bee species considering isoforms and circuitry. J Comp Neurol 2018. [PMID: 29536541 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Mutations in the transcription factors FOXP1, FOXP2, and FOXP4 affect human cognition, including language. The FoxP gene locus is evolutionarily ancient and highly conserved in its DNA-binding domain. In Drosophila melanogaster FoxP has been implicated in courtship behavior, decision making, and specific types of motor-learning. Because honeybees (Apis mellifera, Am) excel at navigation and symbolic dance communication, they are a particularly suitable insect species to investigate a potential link between neural FoxP expression and cognition. We characterized two AmFoxP isoforms and mapped their expression in the brain during development and in adult foragers. Using a custom-made antiserum and in situ hybridization, we describe 11 AmFoxP expressing neuron populations. FoxP was expressed in equivalent patterns in two other representatives of Apidae; a closely related dwarf bee and a bumblebee species. Neural tracing revealed that the largest FoxP expressing neuron cluster in honeybees projects into a posterior tract that connects the optic lobe to the posterior lateral protocerebrum, predicting a function in visual processing. Our data provide an entry point for future experiments assessing the function of FoxP in eusocial Hymenoptera.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adriana Schatton
- Institute for Animal Behavior, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 14195, Germany
| | - Ezequiel Mendoza
- Institute for Animal Behavior, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 14195, Germany
| | - Kathrin Grube
- Institute for Animal Behavior, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 14195, Germany
| | - Constance Scharff
- Institute for Animal Behavior, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 14195, Germany
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Progovac L, Rakhlin N, Angell W, Liddane R, Tang L, Ofen N. Diversity of Grammars and Their Diverging Evolutionary and Processing Paths: Evidence From Functional MRI Study of Serbian. Front Psychol 2018; 9:278. [PMID: 29559943 PMCID: PMC5845673 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We address the puzzle of "unity in diversity" in human languages by advocating the (minimal) common denominator for the diverse expressions of transitivity across human languages, consistent with the view that early in language evolution there was a modest beginning for syntax and that this beginning provided the foundation for the further elaboration of syntactic complexity. This study reports the results of a functional MRI experiment investigating differential patterns of brain activation during processing of sentences with minimal versus fuller syntactic structures. These structural layers have been postulated to represent different stages in the evolution of syntax, potentially engaging different brain networks. We focused on the Serbian "middles," analyzed as lacking the transitivity (vP) layer, contrasted with matched transitives, containing the transitivity layer. Our main hypothesis was that transitives will produce more activation in the syntactic (Broca's-Basal Ganglia) brain network, in comparison to more rudimentary middles. The participants (n = 14) were healthy adults (Mean age = 33.36; SD = 12.23), native speakers of Serbo-Croatian. The task consisted of reading a series of sentences (middles and transitives; n = 64) presented in blocks of 8, while being engaged in a detection of repetition task. We found that the processing of transitives, compared to middles, was associated with an increase in activation in the basal ganglia bilaterally. Although we did not find an effect in Broca's area, transitives, compared to middles, evoked greater activation in the precentral gyrus (BA 6), proposed to be part of the "Broca's complex." Our results add to the previous findings that Broca's area is not the sole center for syntactic processing, but rather is part of a larger circuit that involves subcortical structures. We discuss our results in the context of the recent findings concerning the gene-brain-language pathway involving mutations in FOXP2 that likely contributed to the enhancement of the frontal-striatal brain network, facilitating human capacity for complex syntax.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljiljana Progovac
- Linguistics Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
- Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Natalia Rakhlin
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - William Angell
- Linguistics Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
- Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Ryan Liddane
- Linguistics Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
- Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Lingfei Tang
- Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Noa Ofen
- Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
- Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
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Deriziotis P, Fisher SE. Speech and Language: Translating the Genome. Trends Genet 2017; 33:642-656. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2017.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2017] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
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Abstract
Theories of language evolution that separate biological and cultural contributions perpetuate a false dichotomy between nature and nurture. The explanatory power of future theories will depend on acknowledging the reality of gene-culture interaction and how it makes language possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel L Bowling
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
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