A milk-sharing economy allows placental mammals to overcome their metabolic limits

Cerrito, Paola; Spear, Jeffrey K.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2114674119

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Phenotypic convergences between distantly related species as a consequences of changes in developmental timing are all but surprising. Indeed, across mammals, both allomaternal behavior and developmental timing are phylogenetically labile compared to most other traits (Blomberg et al, 2003; Cerrito & Spear, 2022). Hence, heterochrony (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurodevelopmental timing and socio-cognitive development in a prosocial cooperatively breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus)

Cerrito,

Gascon,

Roberts

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Primate, and especially human, brain development is experience-dependent: it is shaped by the inputs received during critical periods. During early development, these inputs systematically differ between independently and cooperatively breeding species, because in cooperative breeders infants are interacting from birth with multiple caretakers and have to thrive in a richer and more challenging social environment. Here, we study the neurodevelopmental timing of the cooperatively breeding common marmoset and how it maps onto behavioral and developmental milestones. To obtain meaningful correlations of structure-function co-constructions, we combine behavioral, imaging (anatomical and functional) and neural tracing experiments. We focus on brain areas that are critically involved when observing conspecifics interacting with others and find that (i) these areas develop in clusters; (ii) these areas reach their maximum gray matter volume shortly after peak provisioning, when immatures are intensely provisioned by group members; (iii) the differentiation of these areas coincides with the period of intense negotiation between immatures and multiple adults over food, the birth of the next set of siblings, and the task of becoming a helper. Moreover, like in humans, differentiation is not fully completed at the age of first reproduction. In sum, we find that the developmental timing of social brain areas coincides with key social and developmental milestones in marmosets, and extends into early adulthood. This rich social input is likely critical for the emergence of the particularly strong prosociality and socio-cognitive skills of marmosets. Since humans are cooperative breeders too, these findings have strong implications for the evolution of human social cognition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurodevelopmental timing and socio-cognitive development in a prosocial cooperatively breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus)

Cerrito,

Gascon,

Roberts

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Human Amygdala Volumetric Patterns Convergently Evolved in Cooperatively Breeding and Domesticated Species

Cerrito,

Burkart

2023

Hum Nat

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The amygdala is a hub in brain networks that supports social life and fear processing. Compared with other apes, humans have a relatively larger lateral nucleus of the amygdala, which is consistent with both the self-domestication and the cooperative breeding hypotheses of human evolution. Here, we take a comparative approach to the evolutionary origin of the relatively larger lateral amygdala nucleus in humans. We carry out phylogenetic analysis on a sample of 17 mammalian species for which we acquired single amygdala nuclei volumetric data. Our results indicate that there has been convergent evolution toward larger lateral amygdala nuclei in both domesticated and cooperatively breeding mammals. These results suggest that changes in processing fearful stimuli to reduce fear-induced aggression, which are necessary for domesticated and cooperatively breeding species alike, tap into the same neurobiological proximate mechanism. However, humans show changes not only in processing fearful stimuli but also in proactive prosociality. Since cooperative breeding, but not domestication, is also associated with increased proactive prosociality, a prominent role of the former during human evolution is more parsimonious, whereas self-domestication may have been involved as an additional stepping stone.

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Reading children’s teeth to reconstruct life history and the evolution of human cooperation and cognition: The role of dental enamel microstructure and chemistry

Nava,

Lugli,

Lemmers

et al. 2024

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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A milk-sharing economy allows placental mammals to overcome their metabolic limits

Cited by 5 publications

References 93 publications

Neurodevelopmental timing and socio-cognitive development in a prosocial cooperatively breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus)

Neurodevelopmental timing and socio-cognitive development in a prosocial cooperatively breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus)

Human Amygdala Volumetric Patterns Convergently Evolved in Cooperatively Breeding and Domesticated Species

Reading children’s teeth to reconstruct life history and the evolution of human cooperation and cognition: The role of dental enamel microstructure and chemistry

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