Introduction to Special Issue: 'Life History and Learning: How Childhood, Caregiving and Old Age Shape Cognition and Culture in Humans and Other Animals'

Overview

Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Jun 2

PMID 32475324

Citations 6

Authors

Alison Gopnik

Willem E Frankenhuis

Michael Tomasello

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This special issue focuses on the relationship between life history and learning, especially during human evolution. 'Life history' refers to the developmental programme of an organism, including its period of immaturity, reproductive rate and timing, caregiving investment and longevity. Across many species an extended childhood and high caregiving investment appear to be correlated with particular kinds of plasticity and learning. Human life history is particularly distinctive; humans evolved an exceptionally long childhood and old age, and an unusually high level of caregiving investment, at the same time that they evolved distinctive capacities for cognition and culture. The contributors explore the relations between life history, plasticity and learning across a wide range of methods and populations, including theoretical and empirical work in biology, anthropology and developmental psychology. 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'.

Citing Articles

Developmental Correlates of Accelerated Molar Eruption in Early Childhood.

McDermott C, Lee J, Park A, Tooley U, Boroshok A, Hilton K Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci. 2023; 3(4):847-854.

PMID: 37881542 PMC: 10593886. DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.02.006.

Individual differences in T1w/T2w ratio development during childhood.

Boroshok A, McDermott C, Fotiadis P, Park A, Tooley U, Gatavins M Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2023; 62:101270.

PMID: 37348147 PMC: 10439503. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101270.

Multilevel cultural evolution: From new theory to practical applications.

Wilson D, Madhavan G, Gelfand M, Hayes S, Atkins P, Colwell R Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023; 120(16):e2218222120.

PMID: 37036975 PMC: 10120078. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218222120.

Entropy and Cross-Level Orderliness in Light of the Interconnection between the Neural System and Consciousness.

Kanaev I Entropy (Basel). 2023; 25(3).

PMID: 36981307 PMC: 10047885. DOI: 10.3390/e25030418.

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked.

Doebel S, Stucke N, Pang S Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):11903.

PMID: 35831339 PMC: 9279288. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15922-z.

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