scholarly journals The false dichotomy: a refutation of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wynn ◽  
Karenleigh A. Overmann ◽  
Frederick L. Coolidge
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Middle Position ◽  
False Dichotomy ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Excluded Middle

In the debate about the demise of the Neandertal, several scholars have claimed that humanity’s nearest relatives were indistinguishable archaeologically, and thus behaviorally and cognitively, from contemporaneous Homo sapiens. They suggest that to hold otherwise is to characterize Neandertals as inferior to H. sapiens, a false dichotomy that excludes the possibility that the two human types simply differed in ways visible to natural selection, including their cognition. Support of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim requires ignoring the cranial differences between the two human types, which have implications for cognition and behavior. Further, support of the claim requires minimizing asymmetries in the quantity and degree of behavioral differences as attested by the archaeological record. The present paper reviews the evidence for cognitive and archaeological differences between the two human types in support of the excluded middle position.

Darwinian Evolutionary Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Robert Darwin, the English naturalist, published On the Origin of Species in 1859 and the follow-up work The Descent of Man in 1871. In these works, he argued for his theory of evolution through natural selection, applying it to all organisms, living and dead, including our own species, Homo sapiens. Although controversial from the start, Darwin’s thinking was deeply embedded in the culture of his day, that of a middle-class Englishman. Evolution as such was an immediate success in scientific circles, but although the mechanism of selection had supporters in the scientific community (especially among those working with fast-breeding organisms), its real success was in the popular domain. Natural selection, and particularly the side mechanism of sexual selection, were known to all and popular themes in fiction and elsewhere.

Homo Sapiens Adaptation and the Law of Natural Selection

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Karen Kh. Momdzhyan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
The Law

A Brief History of Life and Brain Evolution

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Behavioral Features ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Shape ◽  
Evolutionary Fitness

This chapter reviews some of the fundamentals of evolution, particularly adaptations and exaptations. Adaptations are physical or behavioral features that through natural selection aided survival and reproduction. Exaptations are physical or behavioral features that have been co-opted from their initial adaptive functions and subsequently enhanced fitness. The reuse, recycling, or redeployment of brain neurons for purposes other than their original adaption may be considered a central organizing principle of the brain. The chapter reviews the beginnings of life and presents a timeline of life through the evolution of hominins. The term hominin refers to all current and extinct relatives and ancestors of Homo sapiens, including the australopithecines and habilines, within about the last 6 million years. The chapter introduces the hypothesis that Homo sapiens survived and flourished, instead of Neandertals, Denisovans, and other hominins, because of brain shape differences, which created cognitive differences that enhanced the evolutionary fitness of Homo sapiens.

The Expansion of Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-118
Author(s):  
Franklin M. Harold
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Atmospheric Oxygen ◽  
Gene Level ◽  
Chance Events ◽  
Eukaryotic Microbes ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
New Phase ◽  
Recurrent Theme

The story of life tells of relentless expansion from obscure beginnings to smother the earth in organized biochemistry. First came the prokaryotes, Bacteria and Archaea, followed some two billion years later by eukaryotic microbes. The latter pattern of organization underpins the rise of multicellular organisms, and their spectacular proliferation over the past 600 million years. There have been no fundamentally new kinds of organisms since, but the rise of mind culminating in humanity may signal a new phase in life’s history. Life has expanded in both quantity and quality, a gyre of mounting size, complexity, and functional capacity; in some elusive sense evolution is progressive. Multicellularity, the key invention, is not singular but happened multiple times in several eukaryotic lineages. The proliferation of higher organisms was probably enabled by increased energy flow, and dependent on the increase in atmospheric oxygen. It is studded with innovations in structure, physiology, and behavior, whose origin is a recurrent theme in evolutionary biology. Novelty is rooted in mutational events at the gene level, supplemented by the acquisition of genes from the outside by both gene transfer and symbiosis, and possibly by other avenues. Chance events were scrutinized and culled by natural selection. There appears to be no intrinsic progressive drive, but natural selection generally favors the more functional and better organized.

The Point of Politics

1994 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Betzig
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Reproductive Competition ◽  
Western History ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Men And Women

AbstractWhy do men and women compete? And what makes them compete more or less? An answer to the first question follows directly from Darwin. If Homo sapiens, like other species, is a product of natural selection, then we should have evolved to compete in order to reproduce. An answer to the second question follows from more recent versions of Darwinism. People, like other organisms, are likely to compete socially - to form dominance hierarchies - to the extent that it is costly for subordinates to flee ecologically. This paper first reviews evidence that winners at political competition have consistently won at reproductive competition. Next, it documents the slow shift toward declining political competition - toward democracy, and toward declining reproductive competition - toward monogamy, in the course of Western history. Last, it offers a model of what might account for that change.

What the human annals tell us

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 888-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen J. Broude
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Reciprocal Altruism ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Cultural Data

Evidence reveals numerous cross-cultural universals regarding human mental processes and behavior. Similarly, cross-cultural data are consistent with predictions from theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and sexual selection inspired by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Thus, the “annals of human behaviour” do provide “example[s] fitting the sociobiological bill,” (Lifelines, p. 202) thereby, supporting sociobiological accounts of human behavior.

NEUROBIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF LANGUAGE IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 128-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inge-Marie Eigsti ◽  
Jillian M. Schuh
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Complex Cognitive Task ◽  
Brain And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain

As a neurodevelopmental disorder, autism is characterized by impairments and differences at the levels of both brain and behavior. Communicative impairments in autism are a core feature of the disorder, and a rapidly expanding literature is exploring language in autism using the tools of cognitive neuroscience, particularly electroencephalography and brain imaging. Recent research indicates consistent differences in the degree to which language-specific processes are lateralized in the brain, and it also suggests that language impairments are linked to differences in brain structure that may lead to inefficient coordination of activity between different neural assemblies to achieve a complex cognitive task, defined as functional connectivity. We review findings from current work and suggest that neurobiological data are critical in our ability to understand the mechanisms underlying behavioral differences in communicative skills. Going beyond simple dichotomies between delayed versus deviant development, we can use such data to ask whether behavior reflects processes that are merely inefficient or, instead, whether impairments at the behavioral level reflect fundamental differences in brain organization and the networks involved in various tasks.

The rise and fall of Homo sapiens sapiens

1989 ◽  
Vol 325 (1228) ◽  
pp. 479-488 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Food ◽  
The World ◽  
Present Rate

Human beings have broken the ecological ‘law’ that says that big, predatory animals are rare. Two crucial innovations in particular have enabled us to alter the planet to suit ourselves and thus permit unparalleled expansion: speech (which implies instant transmission of an open-ended range of conscious thoughts) and agriculture (which causes the world to produce more human food than unaided nature would do). However, natural selection has not equipped us with a long-term sense of self-preservation. Our population cannot continue to expand at its present rate for much longer, and the examples of many other species suggests that expansion can end in catastrophic collapse. Survival beyond the next century in a tolerable state seems most unlikely unless all religions and economies begin to take account of the facts of biology. This, if it occurred, would be a step in cultural evolution that would compare in import with the birth of agriculture.

scholarly journals The Core Human Fecal Metabolome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Haffner ◽  
Mitchelle Katemauswa ◽  
Therese S Kagone ◽  
Ekram Hossain ◽  
David Jacobson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Metabolomic Analysis ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Human Phenotype ◽  
The Core ◽  
Hyocholic Acid ◽  
And Behavior

Among the biomolecules at the center of human health and molecular biology is a system of molecules that define the human phenotype known as the metabolome. Through an untargeted metabolomic analysis of samples from Africa and the Americas, the birthplace and the last continental expansion of our species, we present the characterization of the core human fecal metabolome. The majority of detected metabolite features were ubiquitous across populations, despite any geographic, dietary, or behavioral differences. Such shared metabolite features included hyocholic acid and cholesterol. However, any characterization of the core human fecal metabolome is insufficient without exploring the influence of industrialization. Here we show chemical differences along an industrialization gradient, where the degree of industrialization correlates with metabolomic changes. We identified differential metabolite features like leucyl-leucine dipeptides and urobilin as major metabolic correlates of these behavioral shifts. Our results indicate that industrialization significantly influences the human fecal metabolome, but diverse human lifestyles and behavior still maintain a core human fecal metabolome. This study represents the first characterization of the core human fecal metabolome through untargeted analyses of populations along an industrialization gradient.

scholarly journals microRNA profiling uncovers region-specific molecular correlates of threat responses in a marmoset model of anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Popa ◽  
Angela C Roberts ◽  
Andrea M Santangelo ◽  
Eduardo Gascon
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Molecular Heterogeneity ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Molecular Changes ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
And Behavior

Background: Neuroimaging studies have consistently reported that stress-related disorders such as depression and anxiety impinge on the activity of emotion regulation networks, namely in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). This circuitry is known to be extensively modulated by serotonin and it has been long shown that genetic polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) are linked to anxiey and depression. vmPFC encompasses different brain regions in terms of cytoarchitecture, activity and connectivity. However, molecular heterogeneity within the vmPFC and how these differences affect emotional regulation and behavior have not been elucidated. Methods: Here, we took advantage of recently described polymorphisms in marmoset SLC6A4 gene linked to alter threat responses. Using FACS-sorted cells from different brain areas of genotyped marmosets, we tested the hypothesis that specific molecular changes in precise regions of the vmPFC underlie the behavioral differences and can be associated with high anxiety-like trait. Results: miRNA analysis of FACS-sorted cells from marmoset cortex revealed that clear miRNA profiles can be identified for different cell subsets (NeuN+ versus NeuN- cells) or cortical regions (visual cortex versus vmPFC). More importantly, marmosets bearing different SLC6A4 polymorphisms show distinct miRNAs signatures specifically in vmPFC area 32 neurons but not in the closely related vmPFC area 25 neurons. Finally, levels of these miRNAs were highly correlated to the anxiety-like score in a test of uncertain threat. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that molecular changes within area 32 likely underlie the differential anxiety-like responses associated with SLC6A4 polymorphisms.

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