Aggressive Mimicry as a Human Hunting Strategy

The expansion of human cognition is a major question in the science of human origins. Several hypotheses have been proposed for its evolution, primarily the Foraging Brain and the Social Brain Hypotheses. Thus far, the Social Brain Hypothesis has much support based on its explanation for the evolution of Theory of Mind (ToM) in which social group size led to the development of `adept mind-reading and human deception in the human species. Alternatively, the Foraging Brain Hypothesis explains cognition through the lens of environmental pressure. Viewed as emphasizing separate sides of the same problem, I propose a potential pathway for the evolution of human deception independent of sociality that can be explained through ecological drivers: that of deception as a human hunting practice. Utilizing cross-cultural data gathered from the Human Relations Area File, I identified numerous (n=356) cross-cultural cases of the application of a hunting strategy in non-social hunting contexts across 143 cultures. By comparing similar behaviors in non-human animals which utilize a hunting strategy known as aggressive mimicry, I suggest a potential pathway through which the evolution of deception and mind-reading may have taken place. Namely, whereby shifts in the ancestral environment and a change in the human dietary niche to rely on broad, hard-to-obtain foods led to a reliance on novel ways of capturing prey, including deception. Rather than theory of mind developing from sociality, I suggest social applications of mind-reading in humans could have theoretically followed the development of these applications for foraging contexts. This framework is also discussed in relation to paleoanthropological findings and human language evolution

VCU Jazz Orchestra I

First half of performanc

Genetic diversity and stability of the porA allele as a genetic marker in human Campylobacter infection

The major outer-membrane protein (MOMP) of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, encoded by the porA gene, is extremely genetically diverse. Conformational MOMP epitopes are important in host immunity, and variation in surface-exposed regions probably occurs as a result of positive immune selection during infection. porA diversity has been exploited in genotyping studies using highly discriminatory nucleotide sequences to identify potentially epidemiologically linked cases of human campylobacteriosis. To understand the overall nature and extent of porA diversity and stability in C. jejuni and C. coli we investigated sequences in isolates (n=584) obtained from a defined human population (approx. 600 000) over a defined time period (1 year). A total of 196 distinct porA variants were identified. Regions encoding putative extracellular loops were the most variable in both nucleotide sequence and length. Phylogenetic analysis identified three porA allele clusters that originated in (i) predominantly C. jejuni and a few C. coli, (ii) solely C. jejuni or (iii) predominantly C. coli and a few C. jejuni. The stability of porA within an individual human host was investigated using isolates cultured longitudinally from 64 sporadic cases, 27 of which had prolonged infection lasting between 5 and 98 days (the remainder having illness of normal duration, 0–4 days), and 20 cases from family outbreaks. Evidence of mutation was detected in two patients with prolonged illness. Despite demonstrable positive immune selection in these two unusual cases, the persistence of numerous variants within the population indicated that the porA allele is a valuable tool for use in extended typing schemes

Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication

All Intelligence is Collective Intelligence

Collective intelligence, broadly conceived, refers to the adaptive behavior achieved by groups through the interactions of their members, often involving phenomena such as consensus building, cooperation, and competition. The standard view of collective intelligence is that it is a distinct phenomenon from supposed individual intelligence. In this position piece, we argue that a more parsimonious stance is to consider all intelligent adaptive behavior as being driven by similar abstract principles of collective dynamics. To illustrate this point, we highlight how similar principles are at work in the intelligent behavior of groups of non-human animals, multicellular organisms, brains, small groups of humans, cultures, and even evolution itself. If intelligent behavior in all of these systems is best understood as the emergent result of collective interactions, we ask what is left to be called “individual intelligence”? We believe that viewing all intelligence as collective intelligence offers greater explanatory power and generality, and may promote fruitful cross-disciplinary exchange in the study of intelligent adaptive behavior.Peer reviewe

Racial Differences in Women's Prodromal and Acute Symptoms of Myocardial Infarction

Abstract available at publisher's web site

Jazz Orchestra I Disc Two

Second half on concert Jazz OrchestraI, Antonio J. Garcia, director with Guest soloist Dick Oatts, saxophone and celebrating the 14th annual Jazz Appreciation Mont

Jazz Orchestra I Disc One

First half of performance Jazz Orchestra I, Antonio J. Garcia, director with guest soloist, Dick Oatts, saxophone and celebrating the 14th Annual Jazz Appreciation Mont