Genetics and evolution of vocal learning and language

 

 

Reading list


 

Feb 4: Language Evolution (Uriagereka)

 

Required reading

 

Hauser, Marc D., Noam Chomsky, and W. Tecumseh Fitch. 2002. The faculty of language. Science 198.5598: 1569–1579.

 

Optional reading

Uriagereka, J.  2008  Chapter 7 "Reinterpreting the Chomsky Hierarchy" In: Syntactic Anchors: On Semantic Structuring.  pp. 225-265.  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

 

Feb 11: Communication and vocal learning (Wilkinson)

 

Required reading

 

Boughman JW & Moss CF  2003  Social sounds: vocal learning and development of mammal and bird calls. In Megela-Simmons, A, Popper, AN, & Fay, R (eds) Acoustic Communication. Springer-Verlag. pp. 138-224.

 

Optional reading

 

Crockford C, Herbinger I, Vigilant L, et al.  2004  Wild chimpanzees produce group-specific calls: a case for vocal learning? ETHOLOGY 110 (3): 221-243.

Foote AD, Griffin RM, Howitt D, Larsson L, Miller PJO, et al. 2006 Killer whales are capable of vocal learning. Biology Letters 2: 509–512.

Janik VM  2000 Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Science 289: 1355–1357. 568–573.

Janik VM, Slater PJB  1997 Vocal learning in mammals. Advances in the Study of Behavior 26: 59–99.

McComb, K. and Semple, S.  2005 Coevolution of vocal communication and sociality in primates.  Biology Letters 1:381-385.

Mercado E, Herman LM, Pack AA  2005 Song copying by humpback whales: themes and variations. Animal Cognition 8: 93–102.

Poole JH, Tyack PL, Stoeger-Horwath AS, Watwood S  2005  Elephants are capable of vocal learning. Nature 434: 455–456.

 

Feb 18: Computational approaches to studying communication (Reggia)

 

Required reading

 

Wagner, K., Reggia, J.A., Uriagereka, J. and Wilkinson, G.S. 2003 Progress in the simulation of emergent communication and language. Adaptive Behavior 11:37-69.

 

Feb 25: Methods for studying the genetic basis of behavior (Wilkinson)

 

Required reading

 

Fitzpatrick, M.J., Ben-Shahar, Y., Smid, H.M., Vet, L.E.M., Robinson, G.E. and Sokolowski, M.B.  2005  Candidate genes for behavioral ecology.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20:96-104.

Vasemagi A, Primmer CR  2005  Challenges for identifying functionally important genetic variation: the promise of combining complementary research strategies.  Molecular Ecology 14: 3623-3642.

 

Optional reading

 

McVean G, Spencer CCA  2006  Scanning the human genome for signals of selection CURRENT OPINION IN GENETICS & DEVELOPMENT 16: 624-629.

Nielsen R, Hellmann I, Hubisz M, et al.  2007  Recent and ongoing selection in the human genome.  NATURE REVIEWS GENETICS 8: 857-868.

Teshima KM, Coop G, Przeworski M  2006 How reliable are empirical genomic scans for selective sweeps?  GENOME RESEARCH 16: 702-712.

 

March 3: FoxP2 in humans (Carrie and Kat)

 

Required reading

 

Lai, C. S. L., S. E. Fisher, J. A. Hurst, F. Vargha-Khadem, and A. P. Monaco. 2001. A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder. Nature 413:519-523.

Marcus, G.F. and Fisher, S.E.  2003  FOXP2 in focus: what can genes tell us about speech and language?  Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:257-262.

Vargha-Khadem F, Gadian DG, Copp A, Mishkin M (2005) FOXP2 and the  neuroanatomy of speech and language. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6: 131–138.

 

Optional reading

 

Bruce HA, Margolis RL (2002) FOXP2: novel exons, splice variants, and CAG repeat length stability. Hum Genet 111:136 –144.

Enard, W., M. Przeworski, S. E. Fisher, C. S. L. Lai, V. Wiebe, T. Kitano, A. P. Monaco, and S. Paabo. 2002. Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language. Nature 418:869-872.

Ferland RJ, Cherry TJ, Preware PO, Morrisey EE, Walsh CA (2003) Characterization of Foxp2 and Foxp1 mRNA and protein in the developing and mature brain. J Comp Neurol 460:266 –279.

Krause, J., Lalueza-Fox, C., Orlando, L., Enard, W., Green, R.E., Burbano, H.A., Hublin, J.-J., HŠnni, C., Fortea, J., de la Rasilla, M., Bertranpetit, J., Rosas, A., and PŠŠbo, S. (2007). The derived FOXP2 variant of modern humans was shared with neandertals. Current Biology 17:1908-1912.

Liegeois F, Baldeweg T, Connelly A, Gadian DG, Mishkin M, et al. (2003) Language fMRI abnormalities associated with FOXP2 gene mutation. Nature Neuroscience 6: 1230–1237.

MacDermot KD, Bonora E, Sykes N, Coupe AM, Lai CS, Vernes SC, Vargha-Khadem F, McKenzie F, Smith RL, Monaco AP, Fisher SE (2005) Identification of FOXP2 truncation as a novel cause of developmental speech and language deficits. Am J Hum Genet 76:1074 –1080.

Mizutani, A., Matsuzaki, A., Momi, M.Y., Fujita, E., Tanabe, Y., Momoi, T.  2007  Intracellular distribution of a speech/language disorder associated FoxP2 mutant.  Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 353:869-874.

Shriberg LD, Ballard KJ, Tomblin JB, Duffy JR, Odell KH, et al. (2006) Speech, prosody, and voice characteristics of a mother and daughter with a 7;13 translocation affecting FOXP2. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 49: 500–525.

Spiteri, E., Konopka, G., Coppola, G., Bomar, J., Oldham, M., Ou, J., Vernes, S. C., Fisher, S. E., Ren, B., and Geschwind, D. H. (2007). Identification of the transcriptional targets of FOXP2, a gene linked to speech and language, in developing human brain. American Journal of Human Genetics 81, pp. 1144-1157.

Ullman, Michael T., and Elizabeth I. Pierpont. 2005. Specific Language Impairment is not specific to language: The Procedural Deficit Hypothesis. Cortex 41.3: 399-433.

Van der Lely, Heather K. 2005. Grammatically-Specific Language Impairment (G-SLI): Indentifying and Characterising the G-SLI Group. Frequences 17: 13-19.

Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh,  Kate Watkins, Katie Alcock, Paul Fletcher and Richard Passingham. 1995. Praxic and nonverbal cognitive deficits in a large family with a genetically transmitted speech and language disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 92, 930-933.

Vernes, S. C., Spiteri, E., Nicod, J., Groszer, M., Taylor, J. M., Davies, K. E., Geschwind, D. H., and Fisher, S. E. (2007). High-Throughput analysis of promoter occupancy reveals direct neural targets of FOXP2, a gene mutated in speech and language disorders. American Journal of Human Genetics 81, pp. 1232-1250.

Zhang JZ, Webb DM, Podlaha O (2002) Accelerated protein evolution and origins of human-specific features: FOXP2 as an example. Genetics 162: 1825–1835.

 

March 10: Neurobiology of vocal learning (Sandra and Jason)

 

Required reading

 

Brenowitz EA, Beecher MD 2005 Song learning in birds: diversity and plasticity, opportunities and challenges.  TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES 28: 127-132.

Wilbrecht L, Nottebohm F  2003  Vocal learning in birds and humans.  MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEWS 9: 135-148.

 

Optional reading

 

Agate RJ, Hertel M, Nottebohm F  2007  FnTm2, a novel brain-specific transcript, is dynamically expressed in the song learning circuit of the zebra finch.  JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY 504 (2): 127-148.

Beecher MD, Brenowitz EA  2005  Functional aspects of song learning in songbirds. TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION 20: 143-149

Farries MA  2004  The avian song system in comparative perspective.   ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1016: 61-76.

Feenders, G., Liedvogel, M., Rivas, M., Zapka, M., Horita, H., Hara, E., Wada, K., Mouritsen, H. and Jarvis, E.D.  in press  Molecular mapping of movement-associated areas in the avian brain: a motor theory for vocal learning origin.  (caution: 16 MB!)

Funabiki Y, Konishi M  2003  Long memory in song learning by zebra finches JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE 23 (17): 6928-6935.

Gil D, Naguib M, Riebel K, et al.  2006  Early condition, song learning, and the volume of song brain nuclei in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).  JOURNAL OF NEUROBIOLOGY 66 (14): 1602-1612.

Gil-da-Costa R, Martin A, Lopes MA, Munoz M, Fritz JB, Braun AR  2006  Species-specific calls activate homologs of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas in the macaque. Nat Neurosci 9:1064-1070.

Jarvis ED, Ribeiro S, da Silva ML, Ventura D, Vielliard J, Mello CV  2000  Behaviourally driven gene expression reveals song nuclei in hummingbird brain. Nature 406:628-32.

Jarvis, ED, Mello, CV 2000 Molecular mapping of brain areas involved in parrot vocal communication.  Journal of Comparative Neurology 419:1-31.

Jarvis, E.D.  2004  Learned birdsong and the neurobiology of human language.  Ann. NY Acad. Sci.  1016:749-777.

Jarvis, E.D. 2006. Evolution of structures for song-learning in birds: A synopsis. Acta Zoologica Sinica 52 (Supplement): 85-89.

Jarvis ED  2006  Evolution of vocal learning systems in birds and humans. In: Evolution of Nervous Systems. Kaas J (ed). 2:213-228.

Kanwal, J.S. and Rauschecker, J.P.  2007  Auditory cortex of bats and primates: managing species specific calls for social communication.  Frontiers in Bioscience 12:4621-4640.

Nordby JC, Campbell SE, Beecher MD  2007  Selective attrition and individual song repertoire development in song sparrows.  ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 74: 1413-1418.

Phan ML, Pytte CL, Vicario DS  2006  Early auditory experience generates long-lasting memories that may subserve vocal learning in songbirds.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 103: 1088-1093.

Prather, J. F., Peters, S., Nowicki, S. & Mooney, R.   2008  Precise auditory–vocal mirroring in neurons for learned vocal communication.  Nature 451:305-310.

Saranathan V, Hamilton D, Powell GVN, et al.  2007  Genetic evidence supports song learning in the three-wattled bellbird Procnias tricarunculata (Cotingidae).  MOLECULAR ECOLOGY 16: 3689-3702.

Theunissen FE, Shaevitz SS  2006  Auditory processing of vocal sounds in birds CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY 16: 400-407.

Trevisan, M.A., Mindlin, G.B., and F. Goller  2006  Nonlinear model predicts diverse respiratory patterns.  Physical Review Letters 96: 058103-1-4.

 

March 24: Fox P2 in birds and other animals (Colin and Carrie)

 

Required reading

 

Scharff C, Haesler S  2005  An evolutionary perspective on FoxP2: strictly for the birds? Curr Opin Neurobiol 15:694 –703.

White SA, Fisher SE, Geschwind DH, et al.  2006  Singing mice, songbirds, and more: Models for FOXP2 function and dysfunction in human speech and language.  JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE 26: 10376-10379.

 

Optional reading

 

Fujita, E., Tanabe, Y., Shiota, A., Ueda, M., Suwa, K., Momoi, M, and Momoi, T.  2008  Ultrasonic vocalization impairment of FoxP2 (R552H) knockin mice related to speech-language disorder and abnormality of Purkinje cells.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA  105:3117-3122.

Haesler, S., K. Wada, A. Nshdejan, E. E. Morrisey, T. Lints, E. D. Jarvis, and C. Scharff. 2004. FoxP2 expression in avian vocal learners and non-learners. Journal of Neuroscience 24:3164-3175.

Haesler, S., Rochefort, C., Georgi, B., Licznerski, P., Osten, P. and Scharff, C.  2007  Incomplete and inaccurate vocal imitation after knockdown of FoxP2 in songbird basal ganglia nucleus area X.  PLoS Biology 5:e321-1-13.

Kiya, T., Itoh, Y. and Kubo, T.  2008  Expression of the FoxP homologue in the honeybee, Apis mellifera.  Insect Mol. Biol.  17: 53-60.

Li, G., Wang, J. Rossiter, S.J., Jones, G. and Zhang, S. 2007  Accelerated FoxP2 evolution in echolocating bats.  PLoS One 9, e900.

Mello CV, Vicario DS, Clayton DF (1992) Song presentation induces gene expression in the songbird forebrain. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:6818 – 6822

Rochefort C, He X, Scotto-Lomassese S, et al.  2007  Recruitment of FoxP2-expressing neurons to Area X varies during song development.  DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY 67 (6): 809-817.

Scharff C, White SA  2004  Genetic components of vocal learning ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1016: 325-347.

Shu W, Cho JY, Jiang Y, Zhang M, Weisz D, Elder GA, Schmeidler J, DeGasperi R, Sosa MA, Rabidou D, Santucci AC, Perl D, Morrisey E, Buxbaum JD (2005) Altered ultrasonic vocalization in mice with a disruption in the Foxp2 gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:9643–9648.

Teramitsu I, Kudo LC, London SE, Geschwind DH, White SA (2004) Parallel FoxP1 and FoxP2 expression in songbird and human brain predicts functional interaction. J Neurosci 24:3152–3163.

Teramitsu I & White SA (2006) FoxP2 regulation during undirected singing in adult songbirds. J Neurosci 26:7390-7394.

Webb DM, Zhang J (2005) FoxP2 in song-learning birds and vocal-learning mammals. Journal of Heredity 96: 212–216.

 

March 31: Modularity and cognition (Taylor, Mark and Kat)

Required reading

Barrett, H.C. and Kurzban, R. 2006  Modularity in Cognition: Framing the Debate. Psychological Review 113:3, 628

Calabretta, R. and Parisi, D.  2005  Evolutionary connectionism and mind/brain modularity. In: Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Complex Systems. (eds. W. Callebaut and D. Rasskin-Gutman) pp. 309-330.

Optional reading

 

Butterfill, S. 2007 What Are Modules and What Is Their Role in Development?. Mind & Language 22:4, 450–473

Callebaut, W.  2005 The ubiquity of modularity. In: Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Complex Systems. (eds. W. Callebaut and D. Rasskin-Gutman) pp. 3-28.

Pinker, S. (2005) So How Does the Mind Work? Mind & Language, 20: 1-24.

Sarnecki, J. (2006) Developmental objections to evolutionary modularity. Biology & Philosophy, 22, 529-546.

Velichovsky, BM  2005  Modularity of cognitive organization: why it is so appealing and why it is wrong.  In: Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Complex Systems. (eds. W. Callebaut and D. Rasskin-Gutman) pp. 353-382.

Wagner, G.P., Mezey, J. and Calabretta, R.  2005  Natural selection and the origin of modules. In: Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Complex Systems. (eds. W. Callebaut and D. Rasskin-Gutman) pp. 3-28.

 

April 7: Computational approaches to studying language (Thuan and Derek)

 

Required reading

 

Kvasnicka, V., Pospichal, J. 1999. An emergence of coordinated communication in populations of agents. Artificial Life, 5: 319-342

Nowak, Martin A., Natalia L. Komarova, and Partha Niyogi. 2002. Computational and evolutionary aspects of language. Nature 417: 611-617.

 

Optional reading

 

Baker, M.C.  2005  The innate endowment for language: underspecified or overspecified?  In: The Innate Mind: Structure and Contents.  eds., P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, and S. Stich.  pp. 156-174.  Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Fontanari, J., Perlovsky, L. 2007. Evolving compositionality in evolutionary language games. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 11: 758-769.

Hurford, J.R.  1991.  The evolution of the critical period for language acquisition.  Cognition 40(3):  159-202.

Hurford, J.R. 2000. The Emergence of Syntax. In The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form, eds. C. Knight, M. Studdert-Kennedy and J. Hurford, 219-230. Cambridge: CUP.

Kirby, S. 2000. Syntax without natural selection: How compositionality emerges from vocabulary in a population of learners. In The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social Function and the Origins of Linguistic Form, eds. C. Knight, M. Studdert-Kennedy, and J. R. Hurford, 303-323. Cambridge: CUP.

Kirby, S. 2001. Spontaneous evolution of linguistic structure-an iterated learning model of the emergence of regularity and irregularity. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 5:102-110

Lorenzo, G. and Longa, V.  2003 Minimizing the genes for grammar. The minimalist program as a biological framework for the study of language. Lingua  113, Issue 7.

Nowak, M.A., D.C. Krakauer, and A. Dress.  1999.  An error limit for the evolution of language.  Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences Series B 266(1433):  2131-2136.

Nowak, M.A. and D.C. Krakauer. 1999. The evolution of language.  PNAS 96(14):  8028-8033.

Nowak, M.A., J.B. Plotkin, and V.A.A. Jansen. 2000 The evolution of syntactic communication.  Nature 404:  495-498.

Nowak, M.A., N.L. Komarova, and P. Niyogi  2001  Evolution of universal grammar.  Science 291:114-118.

Vogt, P. 2005. The emergence of compositional structures in perceptually grounded language games. Artificial Intelligence 167:206-242.

 

 

April 14: Language Evolution (Kent, Sandra and Taylor)

 

Required reading

 

Okanoya, K. 2007 Language evolution and an emergent property.  CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY 17: 271-276.

Szamado, S. and Szathmary, E.  2006  Selective scenarios for the emergence of natural language.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:555-561.

Optional reading

 

Arbib MA  2005 From monkey-like action recognition to human language: an evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behav Brain Sci 28:105-124.

Bartlett M, Kazakov D  2005 The origins of syntax: from navigation to language. Connect Sci 17:271-288.

Bickerton, D. 2000. How protolanguage became language. In The Evolutionary Emergence of Language, eds. Chris Knight, Michael Studdert-Kennedy, and James R. Hurford, 264-284. Cambridge: CUP.

Calvin, W. H.,  and D. Bickerton. 2000. Lingua Ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky With the Human Brain. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Camps, M., and J. Uriagereka. 2006. The Gordian Knot of Linguistic Fossils. In The Biolinguistic Turn, eds. J. Martin and J. Rossell—, 34-65.  Publications of the University of Barcelona.

Carstairs-McCarthy, A. 1999. The Origins of Complex Language. Oxford: OUP.

Carstairs-McCarthy, A. 2000. The distinction between sentences and noun phrases: An impediment to language evolution? In The evolutionary emergence of language:Social function and the origins of linguistic form, eds. C. Knight, M. Studdert-Kennedy and J.R. Hurford, 248-63. Cambridge: CUP.

Carstairs-McCarthy, A. 2005. The evolutionary origin of morphology.  In Language Origins,  ed. M. Tallerman, 167-184. Oxford: OUP.

Fitch WT, Hauser MD 2004 Computational constraints on syntactic processing in a nonhuman primate. Science 303:377-380.

Fitch WT 2005  The evolution of music in comparative perspective.  ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1060: 29-49.

Gentner TQ, Fenn KM, Margoliash D, Nusbaum H  2006 Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds. Nature 440:1204-1207.

Lieberman, Philip. 2006. Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language. Cambridge, Mass: HUP.

Jackendoff, R. 2002. Foundations of Language.  Oxford University Press, New York.

Nettle, D. 1999. Linguistic Diversity. Oxford University Press: New York.

Newmeyer, F. 2003  What can the field of linguistics tell us about the origins of language?  In Language Evolution, eds. M.H. Christiansen and S. Kirby, 58-76. Oxford: OUP.

Pepperberg, I.M. 2005. An avian perspective on language evolution: implications of simultaneous development of vocal and physical object combinations by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus).  In Language Origins,  ed. M. Tallerman, 239-261. Oxford: OUP.

Piattelli-Palmarini, Massimo and Juan Uriagereka. Forthcoming. Why Knots, Finches and More: Extending our Data Base. In Biolinguistics: Language Evolution and Variation, ed. Anna Maria di Sciullo. Oxford: OUP.

Pinker, S. and P. Bloom.  1990.  Natural language and natural selection.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13(4):  707-784.

Pinker, S.  1997.  Evolutionary biology and the evolution of language.  In M. Gopnik (ed.) The inheritance and innateness of grammars.  New York:  Oxford University Press:  181-208.

Pinker S, Jackendoff R  2005 The faculty of language: what’s special about it? Cognition 95:201-246.

Smith, J.M. and E. Smathmary.  1995.  Chapter 17:  The evolution of language.  In The major transitions in evolution.  New York:  W.H. Freeman and Co.:  281-309.

Solan, Z., Ruppin, E., Horn, D., and Edelman, S.  2005  Evolution of language diversity: why fitness counts.  In Language Origins,  ed. M. Tallerman, 167-184. Oxford: OUP.

 

Wynn, Thomas, and Frederick L. Coolidge. 2004. The expert Neanderthal mind. Journal of Human Evolution 46: 467-487.

 

April 21: Human Brain Evolution (Jason and Derek)

 

Required reading

 

Fisher SE, Marcus GF (2006) The eloquent ape: genes, brains and the evolution of language. Nature Reviews Genetics 7: 9–20.

 

Optional reading

 

Aiello, L.C. and R.I.M. Dunbar  1993  Neocortex size, group size and the evolution of language.  Current Anthropology 34:184-193.

Aiello, L.C. and P. Wheeler  1995  The expensive tissue hypothesis.  Current Anthropology 36:199-221

Barton, R.A. and P.H. Harvey  2000  Mosaic evolution of brain structure in mammals.  Nature 405:1055-1058.

Byrne, R.W. and N. Corp  2004 Neocortex size predicts deception rate in primates.  271:1693-1699.

Caceres, M., Lachuer, J., Zapala, M.A., Redmond, J.C., Kudu, L., Geschwind, D.H, Lockhart, D.J., Preuss, T.M. and Barlow, C.  2003  Elevated gene expression levels distinguish human from non-human primate brains.  PNAS 100:13030-13035.

Dunbar, R.I.M. 1993  Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16:681-735.

Evans, P.D., et al.  2005  Microcephalin, a gene regulating brain size, continues to evolve adaptively in humans.  Science 309:1717-1720.

Evans, P.D., Mekel-Bobrov, N., Vallender, E.J., Hudson, R.R., Lahn, B.T.  2006  Evidence that the adaptive allele of the brain size gene microcephalin introgressed into Homo sapiens from an archaic Homo lineage.  PNAS 103:18178-18183.

Finlay, B.L. and R.B. Darlington  1995  Linked regularities in the development and evolution of mammalian brains.  Science 266:1578-1584.

Hill & Walsh, 2005 Molecular insights into human brain evolution, Nature, 437, 64-66

Iwaniuk AN, Dean KM, Nelson JE  2005 Interspecific allometry of the brain and brain regions in parrots (Psittaciformes): comparisons with other birds and primates. Brain Behav Evol 65:40-59. 

Kaplan, H.S. and A.J. Robson  2002  The emergence of humans: the coevolution of intelligence and longevity with intergenerational transfer.  PNAS 99: 10221-10226.

Lewontin, R. C. 1990. How much did the brain have to change for speech? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13.4: 740-741.

McCollum, M.A., Sherwood, C.C., Vinyard, C.J., Lovejoy, C.O., and Schachat, F.  2005  Of muscle-bound crania and human brain evolution: the story behind the MYH16 headlines. J Human Evol 50:232-236.

Mekel-Bobrov, N., et al. 2005  Ongoing adaptive evolution of ASPM, a brain size determinant in Homo sapiens.  Science 309:1720-1722.

Mekel-Bobrov, N., et al. 2007  Response to comments by Timpson et al. and Yu et al.  Science 317:1036.

Preuss, T.M., Caceres, M., Oldham, M.C., Geschwind, D.H.  2004  Human brain evolution: insights from microarrays.  Nature Reviews Genetics 5: 850-860.

Roth & Dicke, 2005  Evolution of the brain and intelligence, Trends in Cognitive Science, 9, 250-257

Timpson, N., Heron, J., Smith, G.D., Enard, W.  2007  Comment on papers by Evans et al. and Mekel-Bobrov et al. on evidence for positive selection of MCPH1 and ASPM.  Science 317:1036.

Weaver, A.H.  2005  Reciprocal evolution of the cerebellum and neocortex in fossil humans.  PNAS 102:3576-3580.

 

May 5: Gene-culture coevolution (Beth and Colin)

Required reading

Cavalli-Sforza, LL  1997  Genes, peoples, and languages.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 94 (15): 7719-7724.

Hunley, KL; Cabana, GS; Merriwether, DA; et al.  2007  A formal test of linguistic and genetic coevolution in Native Central and South America.  AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 132 (4): 622-631.

Optional reading


Atkinson, QD; Meade, A; Venditti, C; et al.   2008  Languages evolve in punctuational bursts.  SCIENCE, 319 (5863): 588-588.

Barbujani, G  1997  DNA variation and language affinities.  American Journal of Human Genetics  61:1011-1014.

Belle, EMS; Barbujani, G  2007  Worldwide analysis of multiple microsatellites: Language diversity has a detectable influence on DNA diversity. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 133 (4): 1137-1146.

Blute, M  2006  Gene-culture coevolutionary games.  SOCIAL FORCES, 85: 151-166.

Castro, L. and Toro, MA  2004  The evolution of culture: From primate social learning to human culture. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 101:10235-10240.

Curran, D; O'Riordan, C  2007  The effects of cultural learning in populations of neural networks.  ARTIFICIAL LIFE, 13 (1): 45-67.

Dunn M, Terrill A, Reesink G, Foley RA, Levinson SC. 2005. Structural phylogenetics and the reconstruction of ancient
language history. Science 309:2072–2075.

Feldman, MW; Laland, KN  1996  Gene-culture coevolutionary theory.  TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 11 (11): 453-457.

Grant, BR; Grant, PR  1996  Cultural inheritance of song and its role in the evolution of Darwin's finches.  EVOLUTION, 50 (6): 2471-2487.

Hunley, K; Long, JC  2005  Gene flow across linguistic boundaries in Native North American populations.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 102 (5): 1312-1317.

Hutchins, E.  2008  The role of cultural practices in the emergence of modern human intelligence.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B  363:2011-2019.

Krutzen, M; Mann, J; Heithaus, MR; et al.  2005  Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 102 (25): 8939-8943.

Lachlan, RF Slater, PJB. 1999 The maintenance of vocal learning by gene-culture interaction: the cultural trap hypothesis. PROC. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON SERIES B.  266: 701-706.

Lachlan, RF; Feldman, MW  2003 Evolution of cultural communication systems: the coevolution of cultural signals and genes encoding learning preferences.  JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 16 (6): 1084-1095.

Lycett, S.J., Collard, M. and McGrew, W.C.  2007  Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 104:17588-17592.

Nettle, D. & Harris, L.  2003  Genetic and linguistic affinities between human populations in Eurasia and West Africa.  Human Biology 75:331-344.

Pagel, M; Atkinson, QD; Meade, A 2007  Frequency of word-use predicts rates of lexical evolution throughout Indo-European history.  NATURE, 449 (7163): 717

Whitehead, H.  2005  Genetic diversity in the matrilineal whales: Models of cultural hitchhiking and group-specific non-heritable demographic variation.  MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, 21 (1): 58-79.

May 12: Future Research Directions (Mark and Beth)

 

(Optional - Gene networks)

 

Cooper, M.B., Loose, M. and Brookfield, J.F.Y.  2008  Evolutionary modelling of feed forward loops in gene regulatory networks.  Biosystems 91:231-244.