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Isabelle Laumer – Physical and social cognition in a parrot (Cacatua goffiniana) and ape model species (Pongo abelii)

Physical and social cognition in a parrot (Cacatua goffiniana) and ape model species (Pongo abelii) Isabelle Laumer Department of Anthropology, UCLA The comparative approach is a powerful tool to deepen our understanding of the adaptive value of complex information processing. Modern approaches of comparative cognition are interested in how cognitive outputs are influenced on the […]

Chris Krupenye – The social minds of humans and other apes

The social minds of humans and other apes Chris Krupenye Department of Psychology, Durham University and Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Few traits characterise humans more profoundly than the complexity of our social lives, and the depth of our insights into the social and mental lives of others. To predict behaviour […]

Alyssa Crittenden – Microbiomania, rewilding, and the threat of bioprospecting: How anthropologists can help to set a more ethical research agenda in microbiome sciences

Microbiomania, rewilding, and the threat of bioprospecting: How anthropologists can help to set a more ethical research agenda in microbiome sciences Alyssa N. Crittenden Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Scientific knowledge and commercial interest in the human microbiome are growing exponentially. As our understanding of the vital role of microbes increases, so […]

Herman Pontzer – Evolution, Activity, and Aging in Human Energy Expenditure

Evolution, Activity, and Aging in Human Energy Expenditure Herman Pontzer Duke University Metabolic energy expenditure, the combined activity of our 37 trillion cells, and shapes our daily energy requirements and affects our health. Conventional wisdom, born largely from clinical studies in industrialized populations, has held that daily energy expenditures are similar for closely related species, […]

James Holland Jones — Cultural Evolutionary Dynamics Under Structural Uncertainty and the Consequences for Coupled Diffusion Processes

Cultural Evolutionary Dynamics Under Structural Uncertainty and the Consequences for Coupled Diffusion Processes James Holland Jones Earth Systems Science, Stanford University The COVID-19 Pandemic has laid bare the social vulnerabilities that make epidemics larger, more deadly, and more difficult to control, both within the US and internationally. Differential vulnerability by social attributes (e.g., race, socioeconomic […]

Damian Caillaud – Behavioral ecology: an important tool to protect threatened gorilla populations

Behavioral ecology: an important tool to protect threatened gorilla populations. Damian Caillaud, UC Davis Conservation measures are often based on survey data and demographic projections, rather than behavior ecology studies. However, animal behavior research often provides key information explaining why some populations are threatened with extinction. For example, aspects of the ranging behavior and social […]

Idan Blank – The relationship between language and executive functions

Idan Blank UCLA Department of Psychology Two cognitive capacities that “make us human” are our ability to communicate via language and our executive functions (working memory, cognitive control, inhibition, etc.), both unparalleled in the animal kingdom. Language comprehension is mainly carried out by specialized mechanisms that are language-specific and are not engaged in other high-level […]

Sarah Hill – Cytokines as a mediator of condition-dependent behavioral strategies

Sarah E. Hill Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University A growing body of research finds that the activities of the immune system – in addition to protecting the body from infection and injury – also influence how we think, feel, and behave. Although research on the relationship between the immune system and psychological and behavioral […]

Cody Ross – Social networks, network-structured economic games, and a toolbox for fine-scale, comparative research

In this talk, I review challenges of collecting and analyzing human social network data. I first discuss trade-offs between the use of roster-based and name-generator-based tools for studying cooperative networks, and highlight the potential of roster-based, network-structured economic games (e.g., the RICH economic games introduced by Gervais 2017) to address anthropological questions. I then introduce […]

David Raichlen – Evolutionary links between physical activity and brain health

Recent work suggests physical activity can have important beneficial effects on the aging brain, however the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. An evolutionary-neuroscience approach may help us better understand these mechanisms and can provide a foundation for developing novel interventions to improve brain aging. Here, we suggest that, from an evolutionary perspective, physical activity mainly […]