Melissa Emery Thompson: University of New MexicoAmong the most dramatic changes to occur during human evolution were those affecting our life history. The evolution of the human fertility pattern, including relatively fast birth rates, overlapping offspring dependencies, and extended postreproductive life, remains an active area of research and debate that can be greatly informed by […]
Elizabeth Cashdan: University of UtahSex differences in range size and navigation are widely reported, with males traveling farther than females, being less spatially anxious, and, in many studies, navigating more effectively. We want to know why males range farther, and what this might tell us about sex differences in wayfinding and spatial confidence. Proposed evolutionary […]
Brenna Henn: SUNY Stony BrookOver twenty-five years ago, geneticists sequenced mitochondrial DNA from a diverse sample of human populations and hypothesized that all humans have a common origin in Africa 200,000 years ago.The broad outlines of this hypothesis remain remarkably unaltered, but many details of our African origin continue to be elusive. After decades of […]
Bruce Ellis: University of ArizonaLife history theory is used to explain how individuals adapt their physiology, behavior, and reproduction to different social and ecological conditions. Using a life history framework, I will present a program of research examining linkages between childhood experiences (including familial and extra-familial conditions), pubertal development, sexual activity, and health, highlighting the […]
Marcus Hamilton: Santa Fe InstituteWe can observe, examine and study the world around us meaningfully at many scales. Biologists may study genes, populations, species, ecosystems, or the biosphere. Social scientists may study the behavior of individuals, the dynamics of cities, or aspects of the archaeological past. But of course, at a coarse-grained level we are […]
Stephanie White: UCLAHumans and songbirds learn their vocalizations through social interactions and sensorimotor experience. These processes enlist implicit learning, a critical component of social cognition. Deficits in implicit learning including language disorders have devastating consequences for social integration and well-being. To treat or prevent these deficits, the neural mechanisms for learned vocal communication must be […]
Sean Prall: University of Washington School of MedicineThe developmental pattern of adrenal androgen production is unique to humans and chimpanzees, and this pattern is thought to have important implications in human evolutionary biology. Unlike other hormones, the ultimate role of adrenal androgens is not well understood despite the important physiological roles these hormones play. The […]
Paul Smaldino: UC DavisThe lives of social animals, none more so than humans, are shaped by cooperative interactions. Sharing, exchange, and synergy are the name of the game. Understanding the origins of cooperative behavior with any clarity often requires formalization of theories in the way of mathematical and computational models. These models by necessity ignore […]
Mirta Galesic: Santa Fe InstituteThe importance and scale of cooperation in human societies is unmatched among other primates and is considered to be a major contributor to our species’ exceptional success. Given that cooperation seems so useful, it is surprising that it flourished only in humans but not in other primates who had similar cognitive […]
Jeff Winking: Texas A&MFathering traditionally played a central role in the evolutionary stories of human marriage. Paternal investment proved a convincing lynchpin linking together numerous hallmark aspects of the human adaptive strategy: the capacity for long-term romantic bonds, altricial infancy, extended juvenile dependence, etc. However, recent theoretical work suggests that the importance of paternal investment […]
