Theoretical frameworks for human behavioral endocrinology

Roney, James R.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.06.004

Cited by 74 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 161 publications

(149 reference statements)

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“…Related to the adaptive function of pubertal hormones, life history theory puts an emphasis on reproductive success and highlights the coordinating effects of hormones (Roney, 2016 (Dorn, Dahl, Woodward & Biro, 2006), students' sex may also be a relevant factor for educational and psychological interventions. While none of the reviewed cognitive training studies assessed sex differences in training benefits, animal and human imaging studies point towards sex-specific effects for plasticity (Herting et al, 2017;.…”

Section: Reliable Measures Of Plasticity-related Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between pubertal hormones and brain plasticity: Implications for cognitive training in adolescence

Laube¹,

Bos²,

Fandakova³

2019

Preprint

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Adolescence may mark a sensitive period for the development of higher-order cognition through enhanced plasticity of cortical circuits. At the same time, animal research indicates that pubertal hormones may represent one key mechanism for closing sensitive periods in the associative neocortex, thereby resulting in decreased plasticity of cortical circuits in adolescence. In the present review, we set out to solve some of the existing ambiguity and examine how hormonal changes associated with pubertal onset may modulate plasticity in higher-order cognition during adolescence. We build on existing age-comparative cognitive training studies to explore how the potential for change in neural resources and behavioral repertoire differs across age groups. We review animal and human brain imaging studies, which demonstrate a link between brain development, neurochemical mechanisms of plasticity, and pubertal hormones. Overall, the existent literature indicates that pubertal hormones play a pivotal role in regulating the mechanisms of experience-dependent plasticity during adolescence. However, the extent to which hormonal changes associated with pubertal onset increase or decrease brain plasticity may depend on the specific cognitive domain, the sex, and associated brain networks. We discuss implications for future research and suggest that systematical longitudinal assessments of pubertal change together with cognitive training interventions may be a fruitful way toward a better understanding of adolescent plasticity. As

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Section: Reliable Measures Of Plasticity-related Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between pubertal hormones and brain plasticity: Implications for cognitive training in adolescence

Laube¹,

Bos²,

Fandakova³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…From an adaptationist standpoint, therefore, the primary goals of the scientist are to (1) define the adaptive problems likely faced by members of a species over their evolutionary history; (2) perform a task analysis of those adaptive problems to formulate hypotheses about which phenotypic mechanisms an organism would need to possess in order to solve those problems; and (3) test these hypotheses to determine whether there is evidence for the existence of design features that exhibit an improbably close functional match with the structure of the adaptive problem(s) in question (Buss, 2012;Lewis et al, 2017;Tooby & Cosmides, 2015;Williams, 1966;Roney, 2016). One can also proceed in the reverse direction: begin with an inspection of a phenotypic mechanism's properties in order to gain insight into the ancestrally recurrent adaptive problems they might be designed to solve Lewis et al, 2017;Tooby & Cosmides, 2015).…”

Section: Evolution and Phenotypic Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The central feature of GUA that distinguishes it from DCBA is its focus on explaining the species-typical structure of evolved mechanisms Buss, 2015;Tooby & Cosmides, 2015;Roney, 2016). This is frequently misinterpreted to imply that evolutionary psychologists neglect adaptively patterned quantitative variation (e.g., Hawley, 2011;Penke et al, 2007;Winegard et al, 2017).…”

Section: Paradigm #2: Ground-up Adaptationism (Gua)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary perspectives on the mechanistic underpinnings of personality

Lukaszewski¹

2019

Preprint

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Evolutionary theory is the organizing framework for the life sciences because of its unique value in deriving falsifiable predictions about the causal structure of organisms. This paper outlines the relationships of evolutionary principles to the study of phenotypic variation and defines two distinct paradigms for personality science. The first of these, dimensional cost-benefit analysis (DCBA), entails analyzing the reproductive cost-benefit tradeoffs along inductively derived personality dimensions (e.g., the big five) to derive predictions regarding adaptively-patterned variation in manifest trait levels. The second paradigm, ground-up adaptationism (GUA), requires building models of specific psychological mechanisms, from the ground-up, including their variable parameters that result in manifest behavioral variation. After evaluating the strengths and limitations of these paradigms, it is concluded that (1) inductively derived dimensions of person description should not serve as the field's explanatory targets; (2) GUA represents the most powerful available framework for elucidating the psychological mechanisms which comprise human nature and produce its diverse range of behavioral variants; and (3) the goals of adaptationist evolutionary psychology are the same as those guiding personality psychology's next era: to identify the mechanisms that comprise the mind, figure out how they work, and determine how they generate behavioral variation.

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“…Energy investment in these three central functions of the body is not only interconnected but also reproductive success will be prioritised over growth and maintenance in adverse circumstances. The coordinated response of diverting energy to reproductive function is facilitated by hormones from the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and thus is a physiological response (Roney 2016). Given that perfection of physiological functions is a key concept of biomedical health, a further point of discordance arises between biomedical and evolutionary health perspectives (Canguilhem, Fawcett et al 1978).…”

Section: Evolutionary Approaches To Public Health: Life History Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

What can an evolutionary perspective on women’s health provide to the current public health paradigm? A case study on redefining thyroid cancer as a reproductive cancer

Fraser

2017

Preprint

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Incidence rates of non-communicable diseases in women are increasing worldwide and now contributing more to mortality and morbidity than reproductive health. Despite this universal trend, there is no recognition by the WHO of this phenomenon in women's health. Additionally, thyroid cancer is considered a non-sex specific cancer despite female incidence rates being triple those of males. To understand why there are such conceptual limitations to women's health, biomedicine -and its prevalence in western public health authorities -will be analysed from an anthropological perspective. In mind of these conceptual limitations, insights from evolutionary perspectives on health are introduced as well as how they may alleviate the conceptual barriers in the current biomedical paradigm. Using the example of breast cancer, the difference between a reproductive cancer in women, and cancer located in the reproductive tract will be explored. From this, the possibility that a cancer outside the reproductive tract can be directly influenced by reproductive function is explored in the specific case of thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer and current public health approaches to preventing malignancies of the thyroid are examined to show the limitations of their scope. Furthermore, evidence supporting the direct link between thyroid function and reproductive function is presented. Current academic studies into the link between thyroid cancer and women's reproductive function are analysed to show they are subject to the same conceptual limitations of women's reproductive function as found previously in biomedicine.To conclude, I will introduce a new hypothesis for exploring the impact of women's reproductive function on thyroid cancer incidence rates. This hypothesis will allow women's health to be viewed holistically, and allows reproductive function to be investigated beyond parity. Thus, the conceptual limitations of women's health in the public health paradigm will be alleviated.

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Theoretical frameworks for human behavioral endocrinology

Cited by 74 publications

References 161 publications

The relationship between pubertal hormones and brain plasticity: Implications for cognitive training in adolescence

The relationship between pubertal hormones and brain plasticity: Implications for cognitive training in adolescence

Evolutionary perspectives on the mechanistic underpinnings of personality

What can an evolutionary perspective on women’s health provide to the current public health paradigm? A case study on redefining thyroid cancer as a reproductive cancer

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