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Dunn RR, Kirby KR, Bowern C, Ember CR, Gray RD, McCarter J, Kavanagh PH, Trautwein M, Nichols LM, Gavin MC, Botero C. Climate, climate change and the global diversity of human houses. Evol Hum Sci 2024; 6:e24. [PMID: 38689895 PMCID: PMC11058517 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2024.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Globally, human house types are diverse, varying in shape, size, roof type, building materials, arrangement, decoration and many other features. Here we offer the first rigorous, global evaluation of the factors that influence the construction of traditional (vernacular) houses. We apply macroecological approaches to analyse data describing house features from 1900 to 1950 across 1000 societies. Geographic, social and linguistic descriptors for each society were used to test the extent to which key architectural features may be explained by the biophysical environment, social traits, house features of neighbouring societies or cultural history. We find strong evidence that some aspects of the climate shape house architecture, including floor height, wall material and roof shape. Other features, particularly ground plan, appear to also be influenced by social attributes of societies, such as whether a society is nomadic, polygynous or politically complex. Additional variation in all house features was predicted both by the practices of neighouring societies and by a society's language family. Collectively, the findings from our analyses suggest those conditions under which traditional houses offer solutions to architects seeking to reimagine houses in light of warmer, wetter or more variable climates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert R. Dunn
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8366, USA
| | - Carol R. Ember
- Human Relations Area Files at Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Joe McCarter
- Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1480, USA
| | - Michelle Trautwein
- California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
| | - Lauren M. Nichols
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1480, USA
| | - Carlos Botero
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712USA
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2
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Chira AM, Gray RD, Botero CA. Geography is not destiny: A quantitative test of Diamond's axis of orientation hypothesis. Evol Hum Sci 2024; 6:e5. [PMID: 38274321 PMCID: PMC10808877 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.34] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Jared Diamond suggested that the unique East-West orientation of Eurasia facilitated the spread of cultural innovations and gave it substantial political, technological and military advantages over other continental regions. This controversial hypothesis assumes that innovations can spread more easily across similar habitats, and that environments tend to be more homogeneous at similar latitudes. The resulting prediction is that Eurasia is home to environmentally homogenous corridors that enable fast cultural transmission. Despite indirect evidence supporting Diamond's influential hypothesis, quantitative tests of its underlying assumptions are currently lacking. Here we address this critical gap by leveraging ecological, cultural and linguistic datasets at a global scale. Our analyses show that although societies that share similar ecologies are more likely to share cultural traits, the Eurasian continent is not significantly more ecologically homogeneous than other continental regions. Our findings highlight the perils of single factor explanations and remind us that even the most compelling ideas must be thoroughly tested to gain a solid understanding of the complex history of our species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela M. Chira
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
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3
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Miller R, Davies JR, Schiestl M, Garcia-Pelegrin E, Gray RD, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. Social influences on delayed gratification in New Caledonian crows and Eurasian jays. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0289197. [PMID: 38055711 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-control underlies goal-directed behaviour in humans and other animals. Delayed gratification - a measure of self-control - requires the ability to tolerate delays and/or invest more effort to obtain a reward of higher value over one of lower value, such as food or mates. Social context, in particular, the presence of competitors, may influence delayed gratification. We adapted the 'rotating-tray' paradigm, where subjects need to forgo an immediate, lower-quality (i.e. less preferred) reward for a delayed, higher-quality (i.e. more preferred) one, to test social influences on delayed gratification in two corvid species: New Caledonian crows and Eurasian jays. We compared choices for immediate vs. delayed rewards while alone, in the presence of a competitive conspecific and in the presence of a non-competitive conspecific. We predicted that, given the increased risk of losing a reward with a competitor present, both species would similarly, flexibly alter their choices in the presence of a conspecific compared to when alone. We found that species differed: jays were more likely to select the immediate, less preferred reward than the crows. We also found that jays were more likely to select the immediate, less preferred reward when a competitor or non-competitor was present than when alone, or when a competitor was present compared to a non-competitor, while the crows selected the delayed, highly preferred reward irrespective of social presence. We discuss our findings in relation to species differences in socio-ecological factors related to adult sociality and food-caching (storing). New Caledonian crows are more socially tolerant and moderate cachers, while Eurasian jays are highly territorial and intense cachers that may have evolved under the social context of cache pilfering and cache protection strategies. Therefore, flexibility (or inflexibility) in delay of gratification under different social contexts may relate to the species' social tolerance and related risk of competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Miller
- School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - James R Davies
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Martina Schiestl
- Faculty for Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Science, Brno, South Moravia, Czech Republic
| | | | - Russell D Gray
- ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Alex H Taylor
- ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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4
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Shcherbakova O, Michaelis SM, Haynie HJ, Passmore S, Gast V, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Blasi DE, Skirgård H. Societies of strangers do not speak less complex languages. Sci Adv 2023; 9:eadf7704. [PMID: 37585533 PMCID: PMC10431698 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf7704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Many recent proposals claim that languages adapt to their environments. The linguistic niche hypothesis claims that languages with numerous native speakers and substantial proportions of nonnative speakers (societies of strangers) tend to lose grammatical distinctions. In contrast, languages in small, isolated communities should maintain or expand their grammatical markers. Here, we test these claims using a global dataset of grammatical structures, Grambank. We model the impact of the number of native speakers, the proportion of nonnative speakers, the number of linguistic neighbors, and the status of a language on grammatical complexity while controlling for spatial and phylogenetic autocorrelation. We deconstruct "grammatical complexity" into two separate dimensions: how much morphology a language has ("fusion") and the amount of information obligatorily encoded in the grammar ("informativity"). We find several instances of weak positive associations but no inverse correlations between grammatical complexity and sociodemographic factors. Our findings cast doubt on the widespread claim that grammatical complexity is shaped by the sociolinguistic environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olena Shcherbakova
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Susanne Maria Michaelis
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Volker Gast
- Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Hedvig Skirgård
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
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5
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Heggarty P, Anderson C, Scarborough M, King B, Bouckaert R, Jocz L, Kümmel MJ, Jügel T, Irslinger B, Pooth R, Liljegren H, Strand RF, Haig G, Macák M, Kim RI, Anonby E, Pronk T, Belyaev O, Dewey-Findell TK, Boutilier M, Freiberg C, Tegethoff R, Serangeli M, Liosis N, Stroński K, Schulte K, Gupta GK, Haak W, Krause J, Atkinson QD, Greenhill SJ, Kühnert D, Gray RD. Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages. Science 2023; 381:eabg0818. [PMID: 37499002 DOI: 10.1126/science.abg0818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The origins of the Indo-European language family are hotly disputed. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of core vocabulary have produced conflicting results, with some supporting a farming expansion out of Anatolia ~9000 years before present (yr B.P.), while others support a spread with horse-based pastoralism out of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe ~6000 yr B.P. Here we present an extensive database of Indo-European core vocabulary that eliminates past inconsistencies in cognate coding. Ancestry-enabled phylogenetic analysis of this dataset indicates that few ancient languages are direct ancestors of modern clades and produces a root age of ~8120 yr B.P. for the family. Although this date is not consistent with the Steppe hypothesis, it does not rule out an initial homeland south of the Caucasus, with a subsequent branch northward onto the steppe and then across Europe. We reconcile this hybrid hypothesis with recently published ancient DNA evidence from the steppe and the northern Fertile Crescent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Heggarty
- Departamento de Humanidades, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 15088 Lima, Peru
- Waves Group, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cormac Anderson
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matthew Scarborough
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, S 2300 København, Denmark
| | - Benedict King
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Remco Bouckaert
- Centre for Computational Evolution, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Lechosław Jocz
- Faculty of Humanities, Jacob of Paradies University, 66-400 Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland
| | - Martin Joachim Kümmel
- Seminar for Indo-European Studies, Institut für Orientalistik, Indogermanistik, Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas Jügel
- Center for Religious Studies (CERES), Ruhr University Bochum, 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Britta Irslinger
- Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roland Pooth
- Department of Linguistics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Henrik Liljegren
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Geoffrey Haig
- Department of General Linguistics, University of Bamberg, 96047 Bamberg, Germany
| | | | - Ronald I Kim
- Department of Older Germanic Languages, Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 60-780 Poznań, Poland
| | - Erik Anonby
- School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Tijmen Pronk
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Oleg Belyaev
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 GSP-1 Moscow, Russia
- Department of Iranian Languages, Institute of Linguistics RAS, Moscow 125009, Russia
| | - Tonya Kim Dewey-Findell
- Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, School of English, University of Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Matthew Boutilier
- Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Cassandra Freiberg
- Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik, Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Tegethoff
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Seminar for Indo-European Studies, Institut für Orientalistik, Indogermanistik, Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Matilde Serangeli
- Seminar for Indo-European Studies, Institut für Orientalistik, Indogermanistik, Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Nikos Liosis
- Institute of Modern Greek Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Krzysztof Stroński
- Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 61-874 Poznań, Poland
| | - Kim Schulte
- Department of Translation and Communication, Jaume I University, 12006 Castelló de la Plana, Spain
| | - Ganesh Kumar Gupta
- Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 61-874 Poznań, Poland
| | - Wolfgang Haak
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Quentin D Atkinson
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
- Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- ARC Center of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
| | - Denise Kühnert
- Transmission, Infection, Diversification and Evolution Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
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6
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Skirgård H, Haynie HJ, Blasi DE, Hammarström H, Collins J, Latarche JJ, Lesage J, Weber T, Witzlack-Makarevich A, Passmore S, Chira A, Maurits L, Dinnage R, Dunn M, Reesink G, Singer R, Bowern C, Epps P, Hill J, Vesakoski O, Robbeets M, Abbas NK, Auer D, Bakker NA, Barbos G, Borges RD, Danielsen S, Dorenbusch L, Dorn E, Elliott J, Falcone G, Fischer J, Ghanggo Ate Y, Gibson H, Göbel HP, Goodall JA, Gruner V, Harvey A, Hayes R, Heer L, Herrera Miranda RE, Hübler N, Huntington-Rainey B, Ivani JK, Johns M, Just E, Kashima E, Kipf C, Klingenberg JV, König N, Koti A, Kowalik RG, Krasnoukhova O, Lindvall NL, Lorenzen M, Lutzenberger H, Martins TR, Mata German C, van der Meer S, Montoya Samamé J, Müller M, Muradoglu S, Neely K, Nickel J, Norvik M, Oluoch CA, Peacock J, Pearey IO, Peck N, Petit S, Pieper S, Poblete M, Prestipino D, Raabe L, Raja A, Reimringer J, Rey SC, Rizaew J, Ruppert E, Salmon KK, Sammet J, Schembri R, Schlabbach L, Schmidt FW, Skilton A, Smith WD, de Sousa H, Sverredal K, Valle D, Vera J, Voß J, Witte T, Wu H, Yam S, Ye J, Yong M, Yuditha T, Zariquiey R, Forkel R, Evans N, Levinson SC, Haspelmath M, Greenhill SJ, Atkinson QD, Gray RD. Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss. Sci Adv 2023; 9:eadg6175. [PMID: 37075104 PMCID: PMC10115409 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg6175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages, evaluate constraints on linguistic diversity, and identify the world's most unusual languages. An analysis of the consequences of language loss reveals that the reduction in diversity will be strikingly uneven across the major linguistic regions of the world. Without sustained efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, our linguistic window into human history, cognition, and culture will be seriously fragmented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hedvig Skirgård
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Corresponding author. (H.S.); (R.D.G.)
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Human Relation Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Harald Hammarström
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jeremy Collins
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jay J. Latarche
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Jakob Lesage
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique (LLACAN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Villejuif, France
- Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France
- Department of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tobias Weber
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus), Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Angela Chira
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Luke Maurits
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Russell Dinnage
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Michael Dunn
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ger Reesink
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ruth Singer
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Research Unit for Indigenous Language, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Patience Epps
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Jane Hill
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Outi Vesakoski
- Department of Biology, Turku University, Turku, Finland
- Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric languages, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Martine Robbeets
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Noor Karolin Abbas
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Auer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nancy A. Bakker
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Giulia Barbos
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Robert D. Borges
- Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Swintha Danielsen
- Zentrum für Kleine und Regionale Sprachen, Friesisches Seminar, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Flensburg, Germany
- Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Antropológicas (CIHA), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
- Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
| | - Luise Dorenbusch
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Linguistics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ella Dorn
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - John Elliott
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Giada Falcone
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jana Fischer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Yustinus Ghanggo Ate
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Universitas Katolik Weetebula, Sumba Island, Indonesia
| | - Hannah Gibson
- Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Essex, Essex, UK
| | - Hans-Philipp Göbel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jemima A. Goodall
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Victoria Gruner
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Andrew Harvey
- Faculty of Languages and Literatures, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Rebekah Hayes
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Leonard Heer
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Roberto E. Herrera Miranda
- Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France
- Institute of Linguistics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Structure et Dynamique des Langues (SeDyl), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Villejuif, France
- Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nataliia Hübler
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Biu Huntington-Rainey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London (UCL), University of London, London, UK
- Institutt for Filosofi, ide- og Kunsthistorie og Klassiske Språk (IFIKK), Det Humanistisk Fakultet, Universitet i Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jessica K. Ivani
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Marilen Johns
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Erika Just
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Eri Kashima
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Carolina Kipf
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Janina V. Klingenberg
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Nikita König
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, European University Viadrina, Frankfur an der Oder, Germany
| | - Aikaterina Koti
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Olga Krasnoukhova
- Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, University of Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Nora L. M. Lindvall
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mandy Lorenzen
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Hannah Lutzenberger
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Tânia R. A. Martins
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Celia Mata German
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Suzanne van der Meer
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jaime Montoya Samamé
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Michael Müller
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Saliha Muradoglu
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Kelsey Neely
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Johanna Nickel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Miina Norvik
- Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Department of Modern Languages, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Cheryl Akinyi Oluoch
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Jesse Peacock
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - India O. C. Pearey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Naomi Peck
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Stephanie Petit
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Sören Pieper
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Mariana Poblete
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
- Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Daniel Prestipino
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Linda Raabe
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Amna Raja
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Janis Reimringer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sydney C. Rey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
- The Language Conservancy, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Julia Rizaew
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Eloisa Ruppert
- Department of Linguistics, Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Kim K. Salmon
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jill Sammet
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Rhiannon Schembri
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Lars Schlabbach
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Amalia Skilton
- Department of Linguistics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | | | - Hilário de Sousa
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale (CRLAO), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Aubervilliers, France
| | - Kristin Sverredal
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Daniel Valle
- Department of Modern Languages, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA
| | - Javier Vera
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Judith Voß
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Tim Witte
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Henry Wu
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Stephanie Yam
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Institute for General Linguistics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Jingting Ye
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Maisie Yong
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Tessa Yuditha
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Roberto Zariquiey
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nicholas Evans
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Stephen C. Levinson
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Martin Haspelmath
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | | | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Corresponding author. (H.S.); (R.D.G.)
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7
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Zariquiey R, Vera J, Greenhill SJ, Valenzuela P, Gray RD, List JM. Untangling the evolution of body-part terminology in Pano: conservative versus innovative traits in body-part lexicalization. Interface Focus 2023; 13:20220053. [PMID: 36659979 PMCID: PMC9732641 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2022.0053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although language-family specific traits which do not find direct counterparts outside a given language family are usually ignored in quantitative phylogenetic studies, scholars have made ample use of them in qualitative investigations, revealing their potential for identifying language relationships. An example of such a family specific trait are body-part expressions in Pano languages, which are often lexicalized forms, composed of bound roots (also called body-part prefixes in the literature) and non-productive derivative morphemes (called here body-part formatives). We use various statistical methods to demonstrate that whereas body-part roots are generally conservative, body-part formatives exhibit diverse chronologies and are often the result of recent and parallel innovations. In line with this, the phylogenetic structure of body-part roots projects the major branches of the family, while formatives are highly non-tree-like. Beyond its contribution to the phylogenetic analysis of Pano languages, this study provides significative insights into the role of grammatical innovations for language classification, the origin of morphological complexity in the Amazon and the phylogenetic signal of specific grammatical traits in language families.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Javier Vera
- Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- DLCE, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Pilar Valenzuela
- World Languages & Cultures, Chapman University, Anaheim, CA, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- DLCE, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- DLCE, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
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8
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Sheehan O, Watts J, Gray RD, Bulbulia J, Claessens S, Ringen EJ, Atkinson QD. Coevolution of religious and political authority in Austronesian societies. Nat Hum Behav 2023; 7:38-45. [PMID: 36357777 PMCID: PMC9883158 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01471-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Authority, an institutionalized form of social power, is one of the defining features of the large-scale societies that evolved during the Holocene. Religious and political authority have deep histories in human societies and are clearly interdependent, but the nature of their relationship and its evolution over time is contested. We purpose-built an ethnographic dataset of 97 Austronesian societies and used phylogenetic methods to address two long-standing questions about the evolution of religious and political authority: first, how these two institutions have coevolved, and second, whether religious and political authority have tended to become more or less differentiated. We found evidence for mutual interdependence between religious and political authority but no evidence for or against a long-term pattern of differentiation or unification in systems of religious and political authority. Our results provide insight into how political and religious authority have worked synergistically over millennia during the evolution of large-scale societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Sheehan
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Joseph Watts
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany ,grid.29980.3a0000 0004 1936 7830Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand ,grid.29980.3a0000 0004 1936 7830Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief, and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany ,grid.9654.e0000 0004 0372 3343School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Joseph Bulbulia
- grid.9654.e0000 0004 0372 3343School of Humanities, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand ,grid.267827.e0000 0001 2292 3111School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Scott Claessens
- grid.9654.e0000 0004 0372 3343School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Erik J. Ringen
- grid.189967.80000 0001 0941 6502Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA USA
| | - Quentin D. Atkinson
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany ,grid.9654.e0000 0004 0372 3343School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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9
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Barbieri C, Blasi DE, Arango-Isaza E, Sotiropoulos AG, Hammarström H, Wichmann S, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Forkel R, Bickel B, Shimizu KK. A global analysis of matches and mismatches between human genetic and linguistic histories. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2122084119. [PMID: 36399547 PMCID: PMC9704691 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2122084119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Human history is written in both our genes and our languages. The extent to which our biological and linguistic histories are congruent has been the subject of considerable debate, with clear examples of both matches and mismatches. To disentangle the patterns of demographic and cultural transmission, we need a global systematic assessment of matches and mismatches. Here, we assemble a genomic database (GeLaTo, or Genes and Languages Together) specifically curated to investigate genetic and linguistic diversity worldwide. We find that most populations in GeLaTo that speak languages of the same language family (i.e., that descend from the same ancestor language) are also genetically highly similar. However, we also identify nearly 20% mismatches in populations genetically close to linguistically unrelated groups. These mismatches, which occur within the time depth of known linguistic relatedness up to about 10,000 y, are scattered around the world, suggesting that they are a regular outcome in human history. Most mismatches result from populations shifting to the language of a neighboring population that is genetically different because of independent demographic histories. In line with the regularity of such shifts, we find that only half of the language families in GeLaTo are genetically more cohesive than expected under spatial autocorrelations. Moreover, the genetic and linguistic divergence times of population pairs match only rarely, with Indo-European standing out as the family with most matches in our sample. Together, our database and findings pave the way for systematically disentangling demographic and cultural history and for quantifying processes of shifts in language and social identities on a global scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Barbieri
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02134
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511-1225
| | - Epifanía Arango-Isaza
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | | | - Harald Hammarström
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala 75126, Sweden
| | - Søren Wichmann
- Cluster of Excellence ROOTS, Kiel University, Kiel 24118, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | - Kentaro K. Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 244-0813, Yokohama, Japan
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10
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Boeckle M, Schiestl M, Frohnwieser A, Gruber R, Miller R, Suddendorf T, Gray RD, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. New Caledonian crows' planning behaviour: a reply to de Mahy et al. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211271. [PMID: 34465241 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- M Boeckle
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Scientific Working Group, Die offene Tür (The open door), Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems, Austria.,Department of Psychiatry for Adults, University Hospital Tulln, Tulln, Austria
| | - M Schiestl
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - A Frohnwieser
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - R Gruber
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - R Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - T Suddendorf
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - R D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - A H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - N S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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11
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Haynie HJ, Kavanagh PH, Jordan FM, Ember CR, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Kirby KR, Kushnick G, Low BS, Tuff T, Vilela B, Botero CA, Gavin MC. Pathways to social inequality. Evol Hum Sci 2021; 3:e35. [PMID: 37588531 PMCID: PMC10427274 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.32] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Social inequality is ubiquitous in contemporary human societies, and has deleterious social and ecological impacts. However, the factors that shape the emergence and maintenance of inequality remain widely debated. Here we conduct a global analysis of pathways to inequality by comparing 408 non-industrial societies in the anthropological record (described largely between 1860 and 1960) that vary in degree of inequality. We apply structural equation modelling to open-access environmental and ethnographic data and explore two alternative models varying in the links among factors proposed by prior literature, including environmental conditions, resource intensification, wealth transmission, population size and a well-documented form of inequality: social class hierarchies. We found support for a model in which the probability of social class hierarchies is associated directly with increases in population size, the propensity to use intensive agriculture and domesticated large mammals, unigeniture inheritance of real property and hereditary political succession. We suggest that influence of environmental variables on inequality is mediated by measures of resource intensification, which, in turn, may influence inequality directly or indirectly via effects on wealth transmission variables. Overall, we conclude that in our analysis a complex network of effects are associated with social class hierarchies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Carol R Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Geoff Kushnick
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Bobbi S. Low
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ty Tuff
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Bruno Vilela
- Institute of Biology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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12
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Evans CL, Greenhill SJ, Watts J, List JM, Botero CA, Gray RD, Kirby KR. The uses and abuses of tree thinking in cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200056. [PMID: 33993767 PMCID: PMC8126464 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern phylogenetic methods are increasingly being used to address questions about macro-level patterns in cultural evolution. These methods can illuminate the unobservable histories of cultural traits and identify the evolutionary drivers of trait change over time, but their application is not without pitfalls. Here, we outline the current scope of research in cultural tree thinking, highlighting a toolkit of best practices to navigate and avoid the pitfalls and 'abuses' associated with their application. We emphasize two principles that support the appropriate application of phylogenetic methodologies in cross-cultural research: researchers should (1) draw on multiple lines of evidence when deciding if and which types of phylogenetic methods and models are suitable for their cross-cultural data, and (2) carefully consider how different cultural traits might have different evolutionary histories across space and time. When used appropriately phylogenetic methods can provide powerful insights into the processes of evolutionary change that have shaped the broad patterns of human history. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cara L. Evans
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra 2700, Australia
| | - Joseph Watts
- Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
- Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3B2
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13
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Dussex N, Kutschera VE, Wiberg RAW, Parker DJ, Hunt GR, Gray RD, Rutherford K, Abe H, Fleischer RC, Ritchie MG, Rutz C, Wolf JBW, Gemmell NJ. A genome-wide investigation of adaptive signatures in protein-coding genes related to tool behaviour in New Caledonian and Hawaiian crows. Mol Ecol 2020; 30:973-986. [PMID: 33305388 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2020] [Revised: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Very few animals habitually manufacture and use tools. It has been suggested that advanced tool behaviour co-evolves with a suite of behavioural, morphological and life history traits. In fact, there are indications for such an adaptive complex in tool-using crows (genus Corvus species). Here, we sequenced the genomes of two habitually tool-using and ten non-tool-using crow species to search for genomic signatures associated with a tool-using lifestyle. Using comparative genomic and population genetic approaches, we screened for signals of selection in protein-coding genes in the tool-using New Caledonian and Hawaiian crows. While we detected signals of recent selection in New Caledonian crows near genes associated with bill morphology, our data indicate that genetic changes in these two lineages are surprisingly subtle, with little evidence at present for convergence. We explore the biological explanations for these findings, such as the relative roles of gene regulation and protein-coding changes, as well as the possibility that statistical power to detect selection in recently diverged lineages may have been insufficient. Our study contributes to a growing body of literature aiming to decipher the genetic basis of recently evolved complex behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Dussex
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Centre for Palaeogenetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Verena E Kutschera
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.,Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Solna, Sweden
| | - R Axel W Wiberg
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.,Department of Environmental Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Darren J Parker
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gavin R Hunt
- University of Auckland, Science Centre 302, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D Gray
- University of Auckland, Science Centre 302, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Kim Rutherford
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Hideaki Abe
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.,Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Robert C Fleischer
- Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Michael G Ritchie
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Christian Rutz
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Jochen B W Wolf
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.,Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Neil J Gemmell
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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14
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Boeckle M, Schiestl M, Frohnwieser A, Gruber R, Miller R, Suddendorf T, Gray RD, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. New Caledonian crows plan for specific future tool use. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201490. [PMID: 33143583 PMCID: PMC7735258 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to plan for future events is one of the defining features of human intelligence. Whether non-human animals can plan for specific future situations remains contentious: despite a sustained research effort over the last two decades, there is still no consensus on this question. Here, we show that New Caledonian crows can use tools to plan for specific future events. Crows learned a temporal sequence where they were (a) shown a baited apparatus, (b) 5 min later given a choice of five objects and (c) 10 min later given access to the apparatus. At test, these crows were presented with one of two tool-apparatus combinations. For each combination, the crows chose the right tool for the right future task, while ignoring previously useful tools and a low-value food item. This study establishes that planning for specific future tool use can evolve via convergent evolution, given that corvids and humans shared a common ancestor over 300 million years ago, and offers a route to mapping the planning capacities of animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Boeckle
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tulln, Tulln, Austria
| | - M Schiestl
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - A Frohnwieser
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - R Gruber
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - R Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - T Suddendorf
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - R D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - A H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - N S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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15
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Vilela B, Fristoe T, Tuff T, Kavanagh PH, Haynie HJ, Gray RD, Gavin MC, Botero CA. Cultural transmission and ecological opportunity jointly shaped global patterns of reliance on agriculture. Evol Hum Sci 2020; 2:e53. [PMID: 37588375 PMCID: PMC10427461 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.55] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of agriculture improved food security and enabled significant increases in the size and complexity of human groups. Despite these positive effects, some societies never adopted these practices, became only partially reliant on them, or even reverted to foraging after temporarily adopting them. Given the critical importance of climate and biotic interactions for modern agriculture, it seems likely that ecological conditions could have played a major role in determining the degree to which different societies adopted farming. However, this seemingly simple proposition has been surprisingly difficult to prove and is currently controversial. Here, we investigate how recent agricultural practices relate both to contemporary ecological opportunities and the suitability of local environments for the first species domesticated by humans. Leveraging a globally distributed dataset on 1,291 traditional societies, we show that after accounting for the effects of cultural transmission and more current ecological opportunities, levels of reliance on farming continue to be predicted by the opportunities local ecologies provided to the first human domesticates even after centuries of cultural evolution. Based on the details of our models, we conclude that ecology probably helped shape the geography of agriculture by biasing both human movement and the human-assisted dispersal of domesticates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Vilela
- Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Trevor Fristoe
- Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
- Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Ty Tuff
- Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
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16
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Slingerland E, Atkinson QD, Ember CR, Sheehan O, Muthukrishna M, Bulbulia J, Gray RD. Coding culture: challenges and recommendations for comparative cultural databases. Evol Hum Sci 2020; 2:e29. [PMID: 37588354 PMCID: PMC10427479 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.30] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Considerable progress in explaining cultural evolutionary dynamics has been made by applying rigorous models from the natural sciences to historical and ethnographic information collected and accessed using novel digital platforms. Initial results have clarified several long-standing debates in cultural evolutionary studies, such as population origins, the role of religion in the evolution of complex societies and the factors that shape global patterns of language diversity. However, future progress requires recognition of the unique challenges posed by cultural data. To address these challenges, standards for data collection, organisation and analysis must be improved and widely adopted. Here, we describe some major challenges to progress in the construction of large comparative databases of cultural history, including recognising the critical role of theory, selecting appropriate units of analysis, data gathering and sampling strategies, winning expert buy-in, achieving reliability and reproducibility in coding, and ensuring interoperability and sustainability of the resulting databases. We conclude by proposing a set of practical guidelines to meet these challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Slingerland
- Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | | | - Carol R. Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, USA
| | - Oliver Sheehan
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Michael Muthukrishna
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics, London, UK
| | - Joseph Bulbulia
- School of Humanities, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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17
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Abstract
Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent-offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles' cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Uomini
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, Germany
| | | | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Michael Griesser
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
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18
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Miller R, Gruber R, Frohnwieser A, Schiestl M, Jelbert SA, Gray RD, Boeckle M, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. Decision-making flexibility in New Caledonian crows, young children and adult humans in a multi-dimensional tool-use task. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0219874. [PMID: 32160191 PMCID: PMC7065838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to make profitable decisions in natural foraging contexts may be influenced by an additional requirement of tool-use, due to increased levels of relational complexity and additional work-effort imposed by tool-use, compared with simply choosing between an immediate and delayed food item. We examined the flexibility for making the most profitable decisions in a multi-dimensional tool-use task, involving different apparatuses, tools and rewards of varying quality, in 3-5-year-old children, adult humans and tool-making New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides). We also compared our results to previous studies on habitually tool-making orangutans (Pongo abelii) and non-tool-making Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). Adult humans, cockatoos and crows, but not children and orangutans, did not select a tool when it was not necessary, which was the more profitable choice in this situation. Adult humans, orangutans and cockatoos, but not crows and children, were able to refrain from selecting non-functional tools. By contrast, the birds, but not the primates tested, struggled to attend to multiple variables-where two apparatuses, two tools and two reward qualities were presented simultaneously-without extended experience. These findings indicate: (1) in a similar manner to humans and orangutans, New Caledonian crows and Goffin's cockatoos can flexibly make profitable decisions in some decision-making tool-use tasks, though the birds may struggle when tasks become more complex; (2) children and orangutans may have a bias to use tools in situations where adults and other tool-making species do not.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (RM); (AF)
| | - Romana Gruber
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland Central, New Zealand
| | - Anna Frohnwieser
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (RM); (AF)
| | - Martina Schiestl
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland Central, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Sarah A. Jelbert
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, England, United Kingdom
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland Central, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Markus Boeckle
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland Central, New Zealand
| | - Nicola S. Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
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19
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Barbieri C, Barquera R, Arias L, Sandoval JR, Acosta O, Zurita C, Aguilar-Campos A, Tito-Álvarez AM, Serrano-Osuna R, Gray RD, Mafessoni F, Heggarty P, Shimizu KK, Fujita R, Stoneking M, Pugach I, Fehren-Schmitz L. The Current Genomic Landscape of Western South America: Andes, Amazonia, and Pacific Coast. Mol Biol Evol 2020; 36:2698-2713. [PMID: 31350885 PMCID: PMC6878948 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of Native South American genetic diversity have helped to shed light on the peopling and differentiation of the continent, but available data are sparse for the major ecogeographic domains. These include the Pacific Coast, a potential early migration route; the Andes, home to the most expansive complex societies and to one of the most widely spoken indigenous language families of the continent (Quechua); and Amazonia, with its understudied population structure and rich cultural diversity. Here, we explore the genetic structure of 176 individuals from these three domains, genotyped with the Affymetrix Human Origins array. We infer multiple sources of ancestry within the Native American ancestry component; one with clear predominance on the Coast and in the Andes, and at least two distinct substrates in neighboring Amazonia, including a previously undetected ancestry characteristic of northern Ecuador and Colombia. Amazonian populations are also involved in recent gene-flow with each other and across ecogeographic domains, which does not accord with the traditional view of small, isolated groups. Long-distance genetic connections between speakers of the same language family suggest that indigenous languages here were spread not by cultural contact alone. Finally, Native American populations admixed with post-Columbian European and African sources at different times, with few cases of prolonged isolation. With our results we emphasize the importance of including understudied regions of the continent in high-resolution genetic studies, and we illustrate the potential of SNP chip arrays for informative regional-scale analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Barbieri
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rodrigo Barquera
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Leonardo Arias
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - José R Sandoval
- Centro de Investigación de Genética y Biología Molecular (CIGBM), Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru
| | - Oscar Acosta
- Centro de Investigación de Genética y Biología Molecular (CIGBM), Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru
| | - Camilo Zurita
- Cátedra de Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.,Zurita & Zurita Laboratorios, Unidad de Investigaciones en Biomedicina, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Abraham Aguilar-Campos
- Clinical Laboratory, Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad (UMAE) # 2, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico
| | - Ana M Tito-Álvarez
- Carrera de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Ricardo Serrano-Osuna
- Clinical Laboratory, Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad (UMAE) # 2, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico
| | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Fabrizio Mafessoni
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Paul Heggarty
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ricardo Fujita
- Centro de Investigación de Genética y Biología Molecular (CIGBM), Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru
| | - Mark Stoneking
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Irina Pugach
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Lars Fehren-Schmitz
- UCSC Paleogenomics, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA.,Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
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20
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Jelbert SA, Miller R, Schiestl M, Boeckle M, Cheke LG, Gray RD, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. New Caledonian crows infer the weight of objects from observing their movements in a breeze. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20182332. [PMID: 30963864 PMCID: PMC6367178 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans use a variety of cues to infer an object's weight, including how easily objects can be moved. For example, if we observe an object being blown down the street by the wind, we can infer that it is light. Here, we tested whether New Caledonian crows make this type of inference. After training that only one type of object (either light or heavy) was rewarded when dropped into a food dispenser, birds observed pairs of novel objects (one light and one heavy) suspended from strings in front of an electric fan. The fan was either on—creating a breeze which buffeted the light, but not the heavy, object—or off, leaving both objects stationary. In subsequent test trials, birds could drop one, or both, of the novel objects into the food dispenser. Despite having no opportunity to handle these objects prior to testing, birds touched the correct object (light or heavy) first in 73% of experimental trials, and were at chance in control trials. Our results suggest that birds used pre-existing knowledge about the behaviour exhibited by differently weighted objects in the wind to infer their weight, using this information to guide their choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Jelbert
- 1 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK
| | - Rachael Miller
- 1 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK
| | - Martina Schiestl
- 2 School of Psychology, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.,3 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History , Max Planck Society, Jena , Germany
| | - Markus Boeckle
- 1 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.,4 Department of Psychotherapy, Bertha von Suttner University , St Pölten , Austria
| | - Lucy G Cheke
- 1 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK
| | - Russell D Gray
- 2 School of Psychology, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.,3 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History , Max Planck Society, Jena , Germany
| | - Alex H Taylor
- 2 School of Psychology, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- 1 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK
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21
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Rzymski C, Tresoldi T, Greenhill SJ, Wu MS, Schweikhard NE, Koptjevskaja-Tamm M, Gast V, Bodt TA, Hantgan A, Kaiping GA, Chang S, Lai Y, Morozova N, Arjava H, Hübler N, Koile E, Pepper S, Proos M, Van Epps B, Blanco I, Hundt C, Monakhov S, Pianykh K, Ramesh S, Gray RD, Forkel R, List JM. The Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications, reproducible analysis of cross-linguistic polysemies. Sci Data 2020; 7:13. [PMID: 31932593 PMCID: PMC6957499 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0341-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in computer-assisted linguistic research have been greatly influential in reshaping linguistic research. With the increasing availability of interconnected datasets created and curated by researchers, more and more interwoven questions can now be investigated. Such advances, however, are bringing high requirements in terms of rigorousness for preparing and curating datasets. Here we present CLICS, a Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications (CLICS). CLICS tackles interconnected interdisciplinary research questions about the colexification of words across semantic categories in the world's languages, and show-cases best practices for preparing data for cross-linguistic research. This is done by addressing shortcomings of an earlier version of the database, CLICS2, and by supplying an updated version with CLICS3, which massively increases the size and scope of the project. We provide tools and guidelines for this purpose and discuss insights resulting from organizing student tasks for database updates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Rzymski
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Tiago Tresoldi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Mei-Shin Wu
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nathanael E Schweikhard
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | - Volker Gast
- Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Sophie Chang
- Independent English-Chinese Translator and linguistic researcher, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yunfan Lai
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Natalia Morozova
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | - Nataliia Hübler
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ezequiel Koile
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
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22
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Jackson JC, Watts J, Henry TR, List JM, Forkel R, Mucha PJ, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Lindquist KA. Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure. Science 2019; 366:1517-1522. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw8160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2019] [Accepted: 11/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Many human languages have words for emotions such as “anger” and “fear,” yet it is not clear whether these emotions have similar meanings across languages, or why their meanings might vary. We estimate emotion semantics across a sample of 2474 spoken languages using “colexification”—a phenomenon in which languages name semantically related concepts with the same word. Analyses show significant variation in networks of emotion concept colexification, which is predicted by the geographic proximity of language families. We also find evidence of universal structure in emotion colexification networks, with all families differentiating emotions primarily on the basis of hedonic valence and physiological activation. Our findings contribute to debates about universality and diversity in how humans understand and experience emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Conrad Jackson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Joseph Watts
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Center for Research on Evolution, Belief, and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Teague R. Henry
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Peter J. Mucha
- Carolina Center for Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Kristen A. Lindquist
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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23
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Miller R, Frohnwieser A, Schiestl M, McCoy DE, Gray RD, Taylor AH, Clayton NS. Delayed gratification in New Caledonian crows and young children: influence of reward type and visibility. Anim Cogn 2019; 23:71-85. [PMID: 31630344 PMCID: PMC6981108 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01317-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 09/24/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Self-control underlies cognitive abilities such as decision making and future planning. Delay of gratification is a measure of self-control and involves obtaining a more valuable outcome in the future by tolerating a delay or investing a greater effort in the present. Contextual issues, such as reward visibility and type, may influence delayed gratification performance, although there has been limited comparative investigation between humans and other animals, particularly non-primate species. Here, we adapted an automated 'rotating tray' paradigm used previously with capuchin monkeys to test for delay of gratification ability that requires little pre-test training, where the subject must forgo an immediate, less preferred reward for a delayed, more preferred one. We tested New Caledonian crows and 3-5-year-old human children. We manipulated reward types to differ in quality or quantity (Experiments 1 and 2) as well as visibility (Experiment 2). In Experiments 1 and 2, both species performed better when the rewards varied in quality as opposed to quantity, though performed above chance in both conditions. In Experiment 1, both crows and children were able to delay gratification when both rewards were visible. In Experiment 2, 5-year-old children outperformed 3- and 4-year olds, though overall children still performed well, while the crows struggled when reward visibility was manipulated, a result which may relate to difficulties in tracking the experimenters' hands during baiting. We discuss these findings in relation to the role of contextual issues on self-control when making species comparisons and investigating the mechanisms of self-control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Anna Frohnwieser
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Martina Schiestl
- School of Psychology, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Dakota E McCoy
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
| | - Russell D Gray
- School of Psychology, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Alex H Taylor
- School of Psychology, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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24
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Heaney
- School of Psychology The University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand
| | | | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology The University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena Germany
- School of Philosophy Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology The University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand
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25
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McCoy DE, Schiestl M, Neilands P, Hassall R, Gray RD, Taylor AH. New Caledonian Crows Behave Optimistically after Using Tools. Curr Biol 2019; 29:2737-2742.e3. [PMID: 31378612 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2019] [Revised: 05/28/2019] [Accepted: 06/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Are complex, species-specific behaviors in animals reinforced by material reward alone or do they also induce positive emotions? Many adaptive human behaviors are intrinsically motivated: they not only improve our material outcomes, but improve our affect as well [1-8]. Work to date on animal optimism, as an indicator of positive affect, has generally focused on how animals react to change in their circumstances, such as when their environment is enriched [9-14] or they are manipulated by humans [15-23], rather than whether complex actions improve emotional state. Here, we show that wild New Caledonian crows are optimistic after tool use, a complex, species-specific behavior. We further demonstrate that this finding cannot be explained by the crows needing to put more effort into gaining food. Our findings therefore raise the possibility that intrinsic motivation (enjoyment) may be a fundamental proximate cause in the evolution of tool use and other complex behaviors. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dakota E McCoy
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| | - Martina Schiestl
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Patrick Neilands
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Rebecca Hassall
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Russell D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Alex H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
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26
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Pacheco Coelho MT, Pereira EB, Haynie HJ, Rangel TF, Kavanagh P, Kirby KR, Greenhill SJ, Bowern C, Gray RD, Colwell RK, Evans N, Gavin MC. Drivers of geographical patterns of North American language diversity. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20190242. [PMID: 30914010 PMCID: PMC6452074 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although many hypotheses have been proposed to explain why humans speak so many languages and why languages are unevenly distributed across the globe, the factors that shape geographical patterns of cultural and linguistic diversity remain poorly understood. Prior research has tended to focus on identifying universal predictors of language diversity, without accounting for how local factors and multiple predictors interact. Here, we use a unique combination of path analysis, mechanistic simulation modelling, and geographically weighted regression to investigate the broadly described, but poorly understood, spatial pattern of language diversity in North America. We show that the ecological drivers of language diversity are not universal or entirely direct. The strongest associations imply a role for previously developed hypothesized drivers such as population density, resource diversity, and carrying capacity with group size limits. The predictive power of this web of factors varies over space from regions where our model predicts approximately 86% of the variation in diversity, to areas where less than 40% is explained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Túlio Pacheco Coelho
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74.690-900 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
| | - Elisa Barreto Pereira
- Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74.690-900 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Thiago F. Rangel
- Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74.690-900 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
| | - Patrick Kavanagh
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- CoEDL (ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert K. Colwell
- Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74.690-900 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Nicholas Evans
- CoEDL (ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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27
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Gruber R, Schiestl M, Boeckle M, Frohnwieser A, Miller R, Gray RD, Clayton NS, Taylor AH. New Caledonian Crows Use Mental Representations to Solve Metatool Problems. Curr Biol 2019; 29:686-692.e3. [PMID: 30744978 PMCID: PMC6384166 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Revised: 11/22/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
One of the mysteries of animal problem-solving is the extent to which animals mentally represent problems in their minds. Humans can imagine both the solution to a problem and the stages along the way [1, 2, 3], such as when we plan one or two moves ahead in chess. The extent to which other animals can do the same is far less clear [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25]. Here, we presented New Caledonian crows with a series of metatool problems where each stage was out of sight of the others and the crows had to avoid either a distractor apparatus containing a non-functional tool or a non-functional apparatus containing a functional tool. Crows were able to mentally represent the sub-goals and goals of metatool problems: crows kept in mind the location and identities of out-of-sight tools and apparatuses while planning and performing a sequence of tool behaviors. This provides the first conclusive evidence that birds can plan several moves ahead while using tools. Crows solved metatool problems where each stage was out of sight of the others Crows avoided distractor apparatuses during problem-solving This shows crows mentally represent the goals and sub-goals of metatool problems Crows can preplan three behaviors into the future while using tools
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Affiliation(s)
- Romana Gruber
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
| | - Martina Schiestl
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Markus Boeckle
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK; Department of Psychotherapy, Bertha von Suttner University, Matthias-Corvinus-Straße 15, 3100 St. Pölten, Austria
| | - Anna Frohnwieser
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Rachael Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Russell D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Alex H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
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28
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Forkel R, List JM, Greenhill SJ, Rzymski C, Bank S, Cysouw M, Hammarström H, Haspelmath M, Kaiping GA, Gray RD. Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, advancing data sharing and re-use in comparative linguistics. Sci Data 2018; 5:180205. [PMID: 30325347 PMCID: PMC6190742 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2018] [Accepted: 08/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The amount of available digital data for the languages of the world is constantly increasing. Unfortunately, most of the digital data are provided in a large variety of formats and therefore not amenable for comparison and re-use. The Cross-Linguistic Data Formats initiative proposes new standards for two basic types of data in historical and typological language comparison (word lists, structural datasets) and a framework to incorporate more data types (e.g. parallel texts, and dictionaries). The new specification for cross-linguistic data formats comes along with a software package for validation and manipulation, a basic ontology which links to more general frameworks, and usage examples of best practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Christoph Rzymski
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Sebastian Bank
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Cysouw
- Research Center Deutscher Sprachatlas, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Harald Hammarström
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Martin Haspelmath
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of English Studies, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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29
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Gavin MC, Kavanagh PH, Haynie HJ, Bowern C, Ember CR, Gray RD, Jordan FM, Kirby KR, Kushnick G, Low BS, Vilela B, Botero CA. The global geography of human subsistence. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:171897. [PMID: 30839689 PMCID: PMC6170550 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
How humans obtain food has dramatically reshaped ecosystems and altered both the trajectory of human history and the characteristics of human societies. Our species' subsistence varies widely, from predominantly foraging strategies, to plant-based agriculture and animal husbandry. The extent to which environmental, social and historical factors have driven such variation is currently unclear. Prior attempts to resolve long-standing debates on this topic have been hampered by an over-reliance on narrative arguments, small and geographically narrow samples, and by contradictory findings. Here we overcome these methodological limitations by applying multi-model inference tools developed in biogeography to a global dataset (818 societies). Although some have argued that unique conditions and events determine each society's particular subsistence strategy, we find strong support for a general global pattern in which a limited set of environmental, social and historical factors predicts an essential characteristic of all human groups: how we obtain our food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C. Gavin
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Carol R. Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Geoff Kushnick
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Bobbi S. Low
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Bruno Vilela
- Department of Biology, Washington University, St Louis, MO, USA
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30
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Watts J, Sheehan O, Bulbulia J, Gray RD, Atkinson QD. Christianity spread faster in small, politically structured societies. Nat Hum Behav 2018; 2:559-564. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0379-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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31
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Jelbert SA, Hosking RJ, Taylor AH, Gray RD. Mental template matching is a potential cultural transmission mechanism for New Caledonian crow tool manufacturing traditions. Sci Rep 2018; 8:8956. [PMID: 29955154 PMCID: PMC6023922 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27405-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cumulative cultural evolution occurs when social traditions accumulate improvements over time. In humans cumulative cultural evolution is thought to depend on a unique suite of cognitive abilities, including teaching, language and imitation. Tool-making New Caledonian crows show some hallmarks of cumulative culture; but this claim is contentious, in part because these birds do not appear to imitate. One alternative hypothesis is that crows’ tool designs could be culturally transmitted through a process of mental template matching. That is, individuals could use or observe conspecifics’ tools, form a mental template of a particular tool design, and then reproduce this in their own manufacture – a process analogous to birdsong learning. Here, we provide the first evidence supporting this hypothesis, by demonstrating that New Caledonian crows have the cognitive capacity for mental template matching. Using a novel manufacture paradigm, crows were first trained to drop paper into a vending machine to retrieve rewards. They later learnt that only items of a particular size (large or small templates) were rewarded. At test, despite being rewarded at random, and with no physical templates present, crows manufactured items that were more similar in size to previously rewarded, than unrewarded, templates. Our results provide the first evidence that this cognitive ability may underpin the transmission of New Caledonian crows’ natural tool designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- S A Jelbert
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. .,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand.
| | - R J Hosking
- Center for e-Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
| | - A H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
| | - R D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, 07745, Germany.,Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
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32
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Kavanagh PH, Vilela B, Haynie HJ, Tuff T, Lima-Ribeiro M, Gray RD, Botero CA, Gavin MC. Hindcasting global population densities reveals forces enabling the origin of agriculture. Nat Hum Behav 2018; 2:478-484. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0358-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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33
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Posth C, Nägele K, Colleran H, Valentin F, Bedford S, Kami KW, Shing R, Buckley H, Kinaston R, Walworth M, Clark GR, Reepmeyer C, Flexner J, Maric T, Moser J, Gresky J, Kiko L, Robson KJ, Auckland K, Oppenheimer SJ, Hill AVS, Mentzer AJ, Zech J, Petchey F, Roberts P, Jeong C, Gray RD, Krause J, Powell A. Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:731-740. [PMID: 29487365 PMCID: PMC5868730 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0498-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2018] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Recent genomic analyses show that the earliest peoples reaching Remote Oceania-associated with Austronesian-speaking Lapita culture-were almost completely East Asian, without detectable Papuan ancestry. However, Papuan-related genetic ancestry is found across present-day Pacific populations, indicating that peoples from Near Oceania have played a significant, but largely unknown, ancestral role. Here, new genome-wide data from 19 ancient South Pacific individuals provide direct evidence of a so-far undescribed Papuan expansion into Remote Oceania starting ~2,500 yr BP, far earlier than previously estimated and supporting a model from historical linguistics. New genome-wide data from 27 contemporary ni-Vanuatu demonstrate a subsequent and almost complete replacement of Lapita-Austronesian by Near Oceanian ancestry. Despite this massive demographic change, incoming Papuan languages did not replace Austronesian languages. Population replacement with language continuity is extremely rare-if not unprecedented-in human history. Our analyses show that rather than one large-scale event, the process was incremental and complex, with repeated migrations and sex-biased admixture with peoples from the Bismarck Archipelago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosimo Posth
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Kathrin Nägele
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Heidi Colleran
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Frédérique Valentin
- Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, CNRS, UMR 7041, Nanterre, France
| | - Stuart Bedford
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Kaitip W Kami
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
| | | | - Hallie Buckley
- Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Rebecca Kinaston
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Mary Walworth
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Geoffrey R Clark
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Christian Reepmeyer
- College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - James Flexner
- Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Tamara Maric
- Service de la Culture et du Patrimoine, Punaauia, Tahiti, French Polynesia
| | - Johannes Moser
- Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures, German Archaeological Institute, Bonn, Germany
| | - Julia Gresky
- Department of Natural Sciences, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lawrence Kiko
- Solomon Islands National Museum, Honiara, Solomon Islands
| | - Kathryn J Robson
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Kathryn Auckland
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Adrian V S Hill
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Jana Zech
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Fiona Petchey
- Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, The University of Waikato , Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Choongwon Jeong
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Adam Powell
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
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34
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Kolipakam V, Jordan FM, Dunn M, Greenhill SJ, Bouckaert R, Gray RD, Verkerk A. A Bayesian phylogenetic study of the Dravidian language family. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:171504. [PMID: 29657761 PMCID: PMC5882685 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 02/21/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The Dravidian language family consists of about 80 varieties (Hammarström H. 2016 Glottolog 2.7) spoken by 220 million people across southern and central India and surrounding countries (Steever SB. 1998 In The Dravidian languages (ed. SB Steever), pp. 1-39: 1). Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language homeland nor its exact dispersal through time are known. The history of these languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, because despite their current restricted range, these languages played a significant role in influencing other language groups including Indo-Aryan (Indo-European) and Munda (Austroasiatic) speakers. Here, we report the results of a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of cognate-coded lexical data, elicited first hand from native speakers, to investigate the subgrouping of the Dravidian language family, and provide dates for the major points of diversification. Our results indicate that the Dravidian language family is approximately 4500 years old, a finding that corresponds well with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies. The main branches of the Dravidian language family (North, Central, South I, South II) are recovered, although the placement of languages within these main branches diverges from previous classifications. We find considerable uncertainty with regard to the relationships between the main branches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vishnupriya Kolipakam
- Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, India
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Dunn
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Engelska parken, Thunbergsv. 3 H, 75126 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Building 9, H.C. Coombs Bld, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Remco Bouckaert
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, 303/38 Princes Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Annemarie Verkerk
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Author for correspondence: Annemarie Verkerk e-mail:
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Paterson AM, Wallis GP, Gray RD. PENGUINS, PETRELS, AND PARSIMONY: DOES CLADISTIC ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR REFLECT SEABIRD PHYLOGENY? Evolution 2017; 49:974-989. [PMID: 28564868 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1995.tb02332.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/1993] [Accepted: 03/22/1994] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Whether or not behavior accurately reflects evolutionary relationships (phylogeny) has been hotly debated by ethologists and comparative psychologists. Previous studies attempting to resolve this question have generally lacked a quantitative, phylogenetic approach. In this study we used behavior and life-history (BLH) information (72 characters) to generate phylogenetic trees for 18 seabird species (albatrosses, petrels, and penguins). We compared these trees with trees obtained from isozyme electrophoretic analysis of blood proteins (15 loci and 98 electromorphs) and partial mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA sequences (381 base pairs). Cladistic analysis of the BLH data set generated three MP trees (tree length = 243, CI = 0.52, RI = 0.57) with significant cladistic structure. The BLH characters were classified into four types (foraging, agonistic, reproductive, and life history) and levels of homoplasy for each type were measured. No significant differences were found among these categories. The BLH trees were shown to be significantly more congruent with the electrophoretic and 12S sequence trees than expected by chance. This indicates that seabird BLH data contains phylogenetic signal. Areas of incongruence between BLH trees and a phylogeny generated by combining the data sets were predicted to result from ecological constraints that did not covary with phylogeny. These predictions were supported by the results of a concentrated changes test. This study found that this BLH data set was no more homoplasious than molecular data and that BLH trees were significantly congruent with molecular trees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian M Paterson
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Graham P Wallis
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.,Centre for Gene Research, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, New Zealand
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36
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Abstract
It has been suggested that inequity aversion is a mechanism that evolved in humans to maximize the pay-offs from engaging in cooperative tasks and to foster long-term cooperative relationships between unrelated individuals. In support of this, evidence of inequity aversion in nonhuman animals has typically been found in species that, like humans, live in complex social groups and demonstrate cooperative behaviours. We examined inequity aversion in the kea (Nestor notabilis), which lives in social groups but does not appear to demonstrate wild cooperative behaviours, using a classic token exchange paradigm. We compared the number of successful exchanges and the number of abandoned trials in each condition and found no evidence of an aversion to inequitable outcomes when there was a difference between reward quality or working effort required between actor and partner. We also found no evidence of inequity aversion when the subject received no reward while their partner received a low-value reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Heaney
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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37
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Abstract
Cooperation between individuals is one of the defining features of our species. While other animals, such as chimpanzees, elephants, coral trout and rooks also exhibit cooperative behaviours, it is not clear if they think about cooperation in the same way as humans do. In this study we presented the kea, a parrot endemic to New Zealand, with a series of tasks designed to assess cooperative cognition. We found that keas were capable of working together, even when they had to wait for their partner for up to 65 seconds. The keas also waited for a partner only when a partner was actually needed to gain food. This is the first demonstration that any non-human animal can wait for over a minute for a cooperative partner, and the first conclusive evidence that any bird species can successful track when a cooperative partner is required, and when not. The keas did not attend to whether their partner could actually access the apparatus themselves, which may have been due to issues with task demands, but one kea did show a clear preference for working together with other individuals, rather than alone. This preference has been shown to be present in humans but absent in chimpanzees. Together these results provide the first evidence that a bird species can perform at a similar level to chimpanzees and elephants across a range of collaborative tasks. This raises the possibility that aspects of the cooperative cognition seen in the primate lineage have evolved convergently in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Heaney
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
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Abstract
The amount of data from languages spoken all over the world is rapidly increasing. Traditional manual methods in historical linguistics need to face the challenges brought by this influx of data. Automatic approaches to word comparison could provide invaluable help to pre-analyze data which can be later enhanced by experts. In this way, computational approaches can take care of the repetitive and schematic tasks leaving experts to concentrate on answering interesting questions. Here we test the potential of automatic methods to detect etymologically related words (cognates) in cross-linguistic data. Using a newly compiled database of expert cognate judgments across five different language families, we compare how well different automatic approaches distinguish related from unrelated words. Our results show that automatic methods can identify cognates with a very high degree of accuracy, reaching 89% for the best-performing method Infomap. We identify the specific strengths and weaknesses of these different methods and point to major challenges for future approaches. Current automatic approaches for cognate detection-although not perfect-could become an important component of future research in historical linguistics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann-Mattis List
- Centre des Recherches Linguistiques sur l’Asie Orientale, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 2 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris, France
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department for Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07743, Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, 2600, Australia
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department for Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07743, Jena, Germany
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39
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Abstract
New Caledonian crows have demonstrated flexible behaviour when using tools and solving novel problems. However, we do not know whether this flexibility extends to tool manufacture. Here, we show that these crows respond to different tool-using problems by altering the length of the tools that they manufacture; on average, crows made shorter tools for tasks requiring short tools and longer tools for tasks requiring long tools. They continued to do so when they could not simultaneously see the tool-manufacturing material and the apparatus requiring the use of a tool. Despite altering the length of their tools, the crows frequently did not make tools short or long enough to reliably extract the bait, though this may have been due to shortcomings in the task presented to them. Our results demonstrate that these crows have a degree of behavioural flexibility when making tools, which may be used in the wild during foraging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenna Knaebe
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Douglas M. Elliffe
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
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40
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Miller R, Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Cheke LG, Gray RD, Loissel E, Clayton NS. Performance in Object-Choice Aesop's Fable Tasks Are Influenced by Object Biases in New Caledonian Crows but not in Human Children. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0168056. [PMID: 27936242 PMCID: PMC5148090 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 11/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to reason about causality underlies key aspects of human cognition, but the extent to which non-humans understand causality is still largely unknown. The Aesop's Fable paradigm, where objects are inserted into water-filled tubes to obtain out-of-reach rewards, has been used to test casual reasoning in birds and children. However, success on these tasks may be influenced by other factors, specifically, object preferences present prior to testing or arising during pre-test stone-dropping training. Here, we assessed this 'object-bias' hypothesis by giving New Caledonian crows and 5-10 year old children two object-choice Aesop's Fable experiments: sinking vs. floating objects, and solid vs. hollow objects. Before each test, we assessed subjects' object preferences and/or trained them to prefer the alternative object. Both crows and children showed pre-test object preferences, suggesting that birds in previous Aesop's Fable studies may also have had initial preferences for objects that proved to be functional on test. After training to prefer the non-functional object, crows, but not children, performed more poorly on these two object-choice Aesop's Fable tasks than subjects in previous studies. Crows dropped the non-functional objects into the tube on their first trials, indicating that, unlike many children, they do not appear to have an a priori understanding of water displacement. Alternatively, issues with inhibition could explain their performance. The crows did, however, learn to solve the tasks over time. We tested crows further to determine whether their eventual success was based on learning about the functional properties of the objects, or associating dropping the functional object with reward. Crows inserted significantly more rewarded, non-functional objects than non-rewarded, functional objects. These findings suggest that the ability of New Caledonian crows to produce performances rivaling those of young children on object-choice Aesop's Fable tasks is partly due to pre-existing object preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah A. Jelbert
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Lucy G. Cheke
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society, Jena, Germany
| | - Elsa Loissel
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Nicola S. Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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41
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Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Gray RD. Does absolute brain size really predict self-control? Hand-tracking training improves performance on the A-not-B task. Biol Lett 2016; 12:20150871. [PMID: 26843555 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Large-scale, comparative cognition studies are set to revolutionize the way we investigate and understand the evolution of intelligence. However, the conclusions reached by such work have a key limitation: the cognitive tests themselves. If factors other than cognition can systematically affect the performance of a subset of animals on these tests, we risk drawing the wrong conclusions about how intelligence evolves. Here, we examined whether this is the case for the A-not-B task, recently used by MacLean and co-workers to study self-control among 36 different species. Non-primates performed poorly on this task; possibly because they have difficulty tracking the movements of a human demonstrator, and not because they lack self-control. To test this, we assessed the performance of New Caledonian crows on the A-not-B task before and after two types of training. New Caledonian crows trained to track rewards moved by a human demonstrator were more likely to pass the A-not-B test than birds trained on an unrelated choice task involving inhibitory control. Our findings demonstrate that overlooked task demands can affect performance on a cognitive task, and so bring into question MacLean's conclusion that absolute brain size best predicts self-control.
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Affiliation(s)
- S A Jelbert
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - A H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - R D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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42
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Kirby KR, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Jordan FM, Gomes-Ng S, Bibiko HJ, Blasi DE, Botero CA, Bowern C, Ember CR, Leehr D, Low BS, McCarter J, Divale W, Gavin MC. D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158391. [PMID: 27391016 PMCID: PMC4938595 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
From the foods we eat and the houses we construct, to our religious practices and political organization, to who we can marry and the types of games we teach our children, the diversity of cultural practices in the world is astounding. Yet, our ability to visualize and understand this diversity is limited by the ways it has been documented and shared: on a culture-by-culture basis, in locally-told stories or difficult-to-access repositories. In this paper we introduce D-PLACE, the Database of Places, Language, Culture, and Environment. This expandable and open-access database (accessible at https://d-place.org) brings together a dispersed corpus of information on the geography, language, culture, and environment of over 1400 human societies. We aim to enable researchers to investigate the extent to which patterns in cultural diversity are shaped by different forces, including shared history, demographics, migration/diffusion, cultural innovations, and environmental and ecological conditions. We detail how D-PLACE helps to overcome four common barriers to understanding these forces: i) location of relevant cultural data, (ii) linking data from distinct sources using diverse ethnonyms, (iii) variable time and place foci for data, and (iv) spatial and historical dependencies among cultural groups that present challenges for analysis. D-PLACE facilitates the visualisation of relationships among cultural groups and between people and their environments, with results downloadable as tables, on a map, or on a linguistic tree. We also describe how D-PLACE can be used for exploratory, predictive, and evolutionary analyses of cultural diversity by a range of users, from members of the worldwide public interested in contrasting their own cultural practices with those of other societies, to researchers using large-scale computational phylogenetic analyses to study cultural evolution. In summary, we hope that D-PLACE will enable new lines of investigation into the major drivers of cultural change and global patterns of cultural diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R Kirby
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Russell D Gray
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Hans-Jörg Bibiko
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.,Psycholinguistics Laboratory, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Carlos A Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Claire Bowern
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.,Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Carol R Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Dan Leehr
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States of America
| | - Bobbi S Low
- University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.,University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America
| | - Joe McCarter
- Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, United States of America
| | - William Divale
- York College, City University of New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Michael C Gavin
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States of America
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43
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Watts J, Greenhill SJ, Atkinson QD, Currie TE, Bulbulia J, Gray RD. Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity in Austronesia. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20142556. [PMID: 25740888 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Supernatural belief presents an explanatory challenge to evolutionary theorists-it is both costly and prevalent. One influential functional explanation claims that the imagined threat of supernatural punishment can suppress selfishness and enhance cooperation. Specifically, morally concerned supreme deities or 'moralizing high gods' have been argued to reduce free-riding in large social groups, enabling believers to build the kind of complex societies that define modern humanity. Previous cross-cultural studies claiming to support the MHG hypothesis rely on correlational analyses only and do not correct for the statistical non-independence of sampled cultures. Here we use a Bayesian phylogenetic approach with a sample of 96 Austronesian cultures to test the MHG hypothesis as well as an alternative supernatural punishment hypothesis that allows punishment by a broad range of moralizing agents. We find evidence that broad supernatural punishment drives political complexity, whereas MHGs follow political complexity. We suggest that the concept of MHGs diffused as part of a suite of traits arising from cultural exchange between complex societies. Our results show the power of phylogenetic methods to address long-standing debates about the origins and functions of religion in human society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Watts
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Quentin D Atkinson
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Thomas E Currie
- Department of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK
| | - Joseph Bulbulia
- School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
| | - Russell D Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena 07745, Germany Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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44
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Taylor AH, Cheke LG, Waismeyer A, Meltzoff A, Miller R, Gopnik A, Clayton NS, Gray RD. No conclusive evidence that corvids can create novel causal interventions. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20150796. [PMID: 26246543 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alex H Taylor
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Lucy G Cheke
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Anna Waismeyer
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Andrew Meltzoff
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Rachael Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1091, Austria
| | - Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Russell D Gray
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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45
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Watts J, Sheehan O, Greenhill SJ, Gomes-Ng S, Atkinson QD, Bulbulia J, Gray RD. Pulotu: Database of Austronesian Supernatural Beliefs and Practices. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0136783. [PMID: 26398231 PMCID: PMC4580586 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2015] [Accepted: 08/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Scholars have debated naturalistic theories of religion for thousands of years, but only recently have scientists begun to test predictions empirically. Existing databases contain few variables on religion, and are subject to Galton's Problem because they do not sufficiently account for the non-independence of cultures or systematically differentiate the traditional states of cultures from their contemporary states. Here we present Pulotu: the first quantitative cross-cultural database purpose-built to test evolutionary hypotheses of supernatural beliefs and practices. The Pulotu database documents the remarkable diversity of the Austronesian family of cultures, which originated in Taiwan, spread west to Madagascar and east to Easter Island-a region covering over half the world's longitude. The focus of Austronesian beliefs range from localised ancestral spirits to powerful creator gods. A wide range of practices also exist, such as headhunting, elaborate tattooing, and the construction of impressive monuments. Pulotu is freely available, currently contains 116 cultures, and has 80 variables describing supernatural beliefs and practices, as well as social and physical environments. One major advantage of Pulotu is that it has separate sections on the traditional states of cultures, the post-contact history of cultures, and the contemporary states of cultures. A second major advantage is that cultures are linked to a language-based family tree, enabling the use phylogenetic methods, which can be used to address Galton's Problem by accounting for common ancestry, to infer deep prehistory, and to model patterns of trait evolution over time. We illustrate the power of phylogenetic methods by performing an ancestral state reconstruction on the Pulotu variable "headhunting", finding evidence that headhunting was practiced in proto-Austronesian culture. Quantitative cross-cultural databases explicitly linking cultures to a phylogeny have the potential to revolutionise the field of comparative religious studies in the same way that genetic databases have revolutionised the field of evolutionary biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Watts
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Oliver Sheehan
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | | | - Quentin D. Atkinson
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Joseph Bulbulia
- School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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46
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Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Gray RD. Investigating animal cognition with the Aesop's Fable paradigm: Current understanding and future directions. Commun Integr Biol 2015; 8:e1035846. [PMID: 26478777 PMCID: PMC4594378 DOI: 10.1080/19420889.2015.1035846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2015] [Revised: 03/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The Aesop's Fable paradigm – in which subjects drop stones into tubes of water to obtain floating out-of-reach rewards – has been used to assess causal understanding in rooks, crows, jays and human children. To date, the performance of corvids suggests that they can recognize the functional properties of a variety of objects including size, weight and solidity, and they seem to be more capable of learning from causal information than arbitrary information. However, 2 alternative explanations for their performance have yet to be ruled out. The perceptual-motor feedback hypothesis suggests that subjects may attend solely to the movement of the reward, repeating actions which bring the reward closer, while the object-bias hypothesis suggests that subjects could pass certain tasks by preferring to handle objects that resemble natural stones. Here we review our current understanding of performance on the Aesop's Fable tasks, and suggest that studies controlling for feedback and object preferences will help us determine exactly what animals understand about the cause and effect of water displacement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Jelbert
- School of Psychology; University of Auckland ; Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Alex H Taylor
- School of Psychology; University of Auckland ; Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Russell D Gray
- School of Psychology; University of Auckland ; Auckland, New Zealand
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Jelbert SA, Singh PJ, Gray RD, Taylor AH. New Caledonian crows rapidly solve a collaborative problem without cooperative cognition. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0133253. [PMID: 26266937 PMCID: PMC4534463 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2014] [Accepted: 06/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing comparative evidence that the cognitive bases of cooperation are not unique to humans. However, the selective pressures that lead to the evolution of these mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that while tool-making New Caledonian crows can produce collaborative behavior, they do not understand the causality of cooperation nor show sensitivity to inequity. Instead, the collaborative behavior produced appears to have been underpinned by the transfer of prior experience. These results suggest that a number of possible selective pressures, including tool manufacture and mobbing behaviours, have not led to the evolution of cooperative cognition in this species. They show that causal cognition can evolve in a domain specific manner–understanding the properties and flexible uses of physical tools does not necessarily enable animals to grasp that a conspecific can be used as a social tool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A. Jelbert
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Puja J. Singh
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
| | - Russell D. Gray
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
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Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Gray RD. Reasoning by exclusion in New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) cannot be explained by avoidance of empty containers. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 129:283-90. [PMID: 26010196 DOI: 10.1037/a0039313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Whether animals can reason or merely learn associatively is a long-standing debate. Researchers have approached this question by investigating whether dogs, birds, and primates can reason by exclusion (choosing by logically excluding all other alternatives). However, these studies have not resolved whether animals are capable of inferring which option is rewarded or are merely avoiding options known to be incorrect. Here, we used a forced-choice tubes task, where strategies of "reasoning by exclusion" and "avoidance of empty containers" predicted different responses. Two tubes (1 straight, 1 bent) were presented in 5 types of orientation, varying whether the rewarded location could be inferred. We compared predictions from both strategies with the observed performance of 8 wild-caught New Caledonian crows. Two of the 8 birds' choices were entirely consistent with reasoning by exclusion only. A further 4 birds followed a mixed strategy, where both reasoning and avoidance could have influenced their decisions. Thus, although avoidance plays a role, it cannot fully explain the crows' choices. Confirming how animals naturally solve problems is increasingly important in animal cognition; we demonstrate that NC crows can inferentially reason without explicit training, but, like humans, most do not rely solely on reasoning to make decisions.
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Abstract
New Caledonian crows craft wooden hook tools and incorporate naturally occurring barbs into the leaf tools that they manufacture. This raises the question as to whether, or to what degree, these birds are sensitive to the hooks on their hooked and barbed tools. Past research in this area has provided equivocal results. We tested whether New Caledonian crows attend to the presence and orientation of barbs on pandanus leaves and tools during tool manufacture and selection tasks. Our results show that New Caledonian crows attend to barb presence during both pandanus tool manufacture and use, but do not attend to barb direction during pandanus tool use. We conclude that task context, the time and energetic costs of attending to barbs, relative foraging efficiency, and different experimental designs may influence whether, and to what degree, NC crows attend to pandanus barbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenna Knaebe
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Rachael Miller
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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