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The evolutionary neuroscience of domestication
Erin E Hecht1, Sophie A Barton1, Christina N Rogers Flattery1
1Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02171, USA.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|April 22, 2023
Summary
Domestication
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Evolutionary Biology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Domesticated animals are vital to human society.
- The domestication syndrome hypothesis links traits across species, including humans.
- Neuroscience research on domestication is disconnected from evolutionary brain change knowledge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To bridge the gap between neuroscience and evolutionary knowledge of domestication.
- To examine how domestication impacts brain evolution.
- To identify commonalities and variations in brain changes across domesticated species.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent neuroscience and evolutionary biology research.
- Comparative analysis of brain changes in domesticated species.
- Synthesis of findings related to domestication and brain evolution.
Main Results:
- Some commonalities in brain changes exist across domesticated species.
- Brain changes associated with domestication are complex and highly variable.
- Existing research overlooks crucial factors influencing brain evolution.
Conclusions:
- Domestication's impact on the brain is not uniform.
- Interactions between selection pressures (behavioral, metabolic, life-history) are key.
- The roles of experience and environment in domestication-related brain changes require further investigation.
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