gregdowney

15 posts · 9,420 views

Greg Downey is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Macquarie University (Sydney). He did his PhD at the University of Chicago and has taught at Chicago, Columbia University and the University of Notre Dame. An avid amateur farmer and horse breeder, he lectures on human evolution, economic anthropology, human rights and biology-culture interaction. His own research is on sports, including the Afro-Brazilian martial art, capoeira, mixed martial arts, and rugby training in Australia and the Pacific.

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  • June 14, 2011
  • 09:03 AM
  • 493 views

Getting around by sound: Human echolocation

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

By Greg Downey
As any fan of the adventures of Daredevil, being blind in comic books can give you superpowers.  Matt Murdoch was blinded by a radioactive accident that he befell because he tried to save a blind pedestrian from the truck carrying the waste (ah, the irony…). Murdoch developed a kind of ‘radar’ sense that allowed him to prowl Hell’s Kitchen, rooting out the miscreants and lowlifes who, like the blind Man Without Fear, preferred to lurk in the dark.
Although his personal li........ Read more »

COTZIN M, & DALLENBACH KM. (1950) "Facial vision:" the role of pitch and loudness in the perception of obstacles by the blind. The American journal of psychology, 63(4), 485-515. PMID: 14790019  

Kellogg, W. (1962) Sonar System of the Blind: New research measures their accuracy in detecting the texture, size, and distance of objects "by ear.". Science, 137(3528), 399-404. DOI: 10.1126/science.137.3528.399  

Merabet, L., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2009) Neural reorganization following sensory loss: the opportunity of change. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(1), 44-52. DOI: 10.1038/nrn2758  

Nagel, T. (1974) What Is It Like to Be a Bat?. The Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435. DOI: 10.2307/2183914  

Pascual-Leone, A., Amedi, A., Fregni, F., & Merabet, L. (2005) THE PLASTIC HUMAN BRAIN CORTEX. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28(1), 377-401. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144216  

Pascual-Leone A, & Hamilton R. (2001) The metamodal organization of the brain. Progress in brain research, 427-45. PMID: 11702559  

Rosenblum, L., Gordon, M., & Jarquin, L. (2000) Echolocating Distance by Moving and Stationary Listeners. Ecological Psychology, 12(3), 181-206. DOI: 10.1207/S15326969ECO1203_1  

Schenkman, B., & Nilsson, M. (2010) Human echolocation: Blind and sighted persons’ ability to detect sounds recorded in the presence of a reflecting object. Perception, 39(4), 483-501. DOI: 10.1068/p6473  

Stroffregen, T., & Pittenger, J. (1995) Human Echolocation as a Basic Form of Perception and Action. Ecological Psychology, 7(3), 181-216. DOI: 10.1207/s15326969eco0703_2  

Thaler, L., Arnott, S., & Goodale, M. (2011) Neural Correlates of Natural Human Echolocation in Early and Late Blind Echolocation Experts. PLoS ONE, 6(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020162  

WORCHEL P, & DALLENBACH KM. (1947) Facial vision; perception of obstacles by the deaf-blind. The American journal of psychology, 60(4), 502-53. PMID: 20273385  

  • February 22, 2011
  • 11:30 AM
  • 764 views

John Shea, Human Evolution, and Behavioral Variability – Not Behavioral Modernity

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

John Shea, a professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University, gives us a double whammy of actual human evolution this month, rather than the typical victorious narrative. Using fossil and archaeological evidence, Shea takes down the idea that we became “modern” late in human evolution, with that sense of modernity (or progress) often tied to causes like “a cognitive revolution” or “an explosion of culture.”
In other words, he wants to contradict the popul........ Read more »

Shea, J. (2011) Is as Was . Current Anthropology, 52(1), 1-35. DOI: 10.1086/658067  

  • February 3, 2011
  • 05:42 AM
  • 376 views

Human (amphibious model): living in and on the water

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

At the beginning of the film clip, Bajau fisherman Sulbin sits on the side of a boat on the coast of Borneo, gulping air, handling his speargun.  And then, he drops into the water.  The footage suddenly changes and becomes arresting: silent, dreamy, slow, and so blue.  Sulbin strokes deliberately and descends until he strides along the bottom of the ocean, holding his breath, and hunts for fish through handmade goggles.
Finally, after a couple of minutes, he spears a fish and heads for the su........ Read more »

Bavis, R., Powell, F., Bradford, A., Hsia, C., Peltonen, J., Soliz, J., Zeis, B., Fergusson, E., Fu, Z., Gassmann, M.... (2007) Respiratory plasticity in response to changes in oxygen supply and demand. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47(4), 532-551. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icm070  

Ferretti, G. (2001) Extreme human breath-hold diving. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 84(4), 254-271. DOI: 10.1007/s004210000377  

Fitz-Clarke JR. (2006) Adverse events in competitive breath-hold diving. Undersea , 33(1), 55-62. PMID: 16602257  

Ferretti G, & Costa M. (2003) Diversity in and adaptation to breath-hold diving in humans. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular , 136(1), 205-13. PMID: 14527641  

Gislén A, Dacke M, Kröger RH, Abrahamsson M, Nilsson DE, & Warrant EJ. (2003) Superior underwater vision in a human population of sea gypsies. Current biology : CB, 13(10), 833-6. PMID: 12747831  

Gislén A, Warrant EJ, Dacke M, & Kröger RH. (2006) Visual training improves underwater vision in children. Vision research, 46(20), 3443-50. PMID: 16806388  

Parkes, M. (2005) Breath-holding and its breakpoint. Experimental Physiology, 91(1), 1-15. DOI: 10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031625  

Schagatay E, van Kampen M, Emanuelsson S, & Holm B. (2000) Effects of physical and apnea training on apneic time and the diving response in humans. European journal of applied physiology, 82(3), 161-9. PMID: 10929209  

SCHOLANDER PF, HAMMEL HT, LEMESSURIER H, HEMMINGSEN E, & GAREY W. (1962) Circulatory adjustment in pearl divers. Journal of applied physiology, 184-90. PMID: 13909130  

  • January 28, 2011
  • 12:48 AM
  • 517 views

Brand Anthropology: New and Improved, with Extra Diversity!

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

Since graduating from high school, I’ve several times worked as a salesman, first flogging reference books door-to-door over summers while an undergraduate and later, while writing my dissertation, getting involved in the ‘design consulting’ business where I helped sell something a lot less tangible.  Sales was a great training ground for an anthropologist: nothing prepares you for quickly manufacturing social relations like slogging around door-to-door with a sample case, and a large lec........ Read more »

Hannerz, U. (2010) Diversity Is Our Business. American Anthropologist, 112(4), 539-551. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01274.x  

  • January 27, 2011
  • 04:50 PM
  • 400 views

Cortico-thalamic dissociation in Sleep Paralysis

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

By Paul Mason
Paul Mason is a PhD student at Macquarie University and frequent contributor to Neuroanthropology.  He is well on his way to finishing his thesis, but occasionally shares his insightful columns on a wide range of topics here.  Please note that the former ‘Fattest Man in the World’ is a different Paul Mason.

Have you ever woken up and not been able to move your body? For those people who have experienced this sensation, it is unnerving, surreal, and often quite stress........ Read more »

Magnin, M., Rey, M., Bastuji, H., Guillemant, P., Mauguiere, F., & Garcia-Larrea, L. (2010) Thalamic deactivation at sleep onset precedes that of the cerebral cortex in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(8), 3829-3833. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0909710107  

  • January 17, 2011
  • 07:19 AM
  • 626 views

Vital topics forum in AA: ‘Nature and the human’

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

The question of ‘human nature’ is a fraught one for many anthropologists, especially those of us who pay special attention to human variation, Darwinian theory, and dynamic approaches to diversity in developmental questions.
The very concept ‘human nature’ can be the theoretical equivalent of the double-bind question, ‘So can you confirm that you no longer are a Creationist?’  Even conceding to respond to the question places us in a position where we wind up between the Scylla of th........ Read more »

Fuentes, A., Marks, J., Ingold, T., Sussman, R., Kirch, P., Brumfiel, E., Rapp, R., Ginsburg, F., Nader, L., & Kottak, C. (2010) On Nature and the Human. American Anthropologist, 112(4), 512-521. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01271.x  

  • January 10, 2011
  • 08:15 AM
  • 764 views

Delusions, odd and common: Living in the prodrome, part 2

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

Author Rachel Aviv talked at length with a number of young people who had been identified as being ‘prodromal’ for schizophrenia, experiencing periodic delusions and at risk of converting to full-blown schizophrenia, following some of the at-risk individuals for a year.  In December’s Harper’s, Aviv offered a sensitive, insightful account of their day-to-day struggles to maintain insight, recognizing which of their experiences are not real: Which way madness lies: Can psychosis be preve........ Read more »

Bauer, S., Schanda, H., Karakula, H., Olajossy-Hilkesberger, L., Rudaleviciene, P., Okribelashvili, N., Chaudhry, H., Idemudia, S., Gscheider, S., & Ritter, K. (2010) Culture and the prevalence of hallucinations in schizophrenia. Comprehensive Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2010.06.008  

Cohen, A., Patel, V., Thara, R., & Gureje, O. (2007) Questioning an Axiom: Better Prognosis for Schizophrenia in the Developing World?. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(2), 229-244. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbm105  

Corcoran, C., Davidson, L., Sills-Shahar, R., Nickou, C., Malaspina, D., Miller, T., & McGlashan, T. (2003) A Qualitative Research Study of the Evolution of Symptoms in Individuals Identified as Prodromal to Psychosis. Psychiatric Quarterly, 74(4), 313-332. DOI: 10.1023/A:1026083309607  

Gearing, R., Alonzo, D., Smolak, A., McHugh, K., Harmon, S., & Baldwin, S. (2010) Association of religion with delusions and hallucinations in the context of schizophrenia: Implications for engagement and adherence. Schizophrenia Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.11.005  

Huang, C., Shang, C., Shieh, M., Lin, H., & Su, J. (2010) The interactions between religion, religiosity, religious delusion/hallucination, and treatment-seeking behavior among schizophrenic patients in Taiwan. Psychiatry Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.07.014  

Koenig HG. (2009) Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: a review. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 54(5), 283-91. PMID: 19497160  

Lin KM, & Kleinman AM. (1988) Psychopathology and clinical course of schizophrenia: a cross-cultural perspective. Schizophrenia bulletin, 14(4), 555-67. PMID: 3064282  

López SR, & Guarnaccia PJ. (2000) Cultural psychopathology: uncovering the social world of mental illness. Annual review of psychology, 571-98. PMID: 10751981  

Roth, T., Lubin, F., Sodhi, M., & Kleinman, J. (2009) Epigenetic mechanisms in schizophrenia. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects, 1790(9), 869-877. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2009.06.009  

Saha, S., Chant, D., Welham, J., & McGrath, J. (2005) A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia. PLoS Medicine, 2(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020141  

Saravanan, B., Jacob, K., Johnson, S., Prince, M., Bhugra, D., & David, A. (2010) Outcome of first-episode schizophrenia in India: longitudinal study of effect of insight and psychopathology. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 196(6), 454-459. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.068577  

Weisman, A. (1997) Understanding Cross-Cultural Prognostic Variability for Schizophrenia. Cultural Diversity , 3(1), 23-35. DOI: 10.1037//1099-9809.3.1.23  

  • January 5, 2011
  • 06:37 PM
  • 798 views

Slipping into psychosis: living in the prodrome (part 1)

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

How might it feel to sense your own sanity eroding? Would you realize it? How might you sift the phantoms from physical reality, daydream from delusion, the irrefutable from the implausible? Or, as author Rachel Aviv puts it,
When does a strong idea take on a pathological flavor? How does a metaphysical crisis morph into a medical one? At what point does our interpretation of the world become so fixed that it no longer matters “what almost everyone else believes” [part of the definition o........ Read more »

Addington, J., Cadenhead, K., Cannon, T., Cornblatt, B., McGlashan, T., Perkins, D., Seidman, L., Tsuang, M., Walker, E., Woods, S.... (2007) North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study: A Collaborative Multisite Approach to Prodromal Schizophrenia Research. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33(3), 665-672. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbl075  

Corcoran, C., Davidson, L., Sills-Shahar, R., Nickou, C., Malaspina, D., Miller, T., & McGlashan, T. (2003) A Qualitative Research Study of the Evolution of Symptoms in Individuals Identified as Prodromal to Psychosis. Psychiatric Quarterly, 74(4), 313-332. DOI: 10.1023/A:1026083309607  

  • November 7, 2010
  • 07:49 AM
  • 773 views

Life in the dark

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

My wife, along with her many other jobs – paid and unpaid – is the local director of a campus exchange program that brings US students to Wollongong, New South Wales.  Because of her background in outdoor education and adventure therapy, she does a great job taking visiting Yanks on weekend activities that get the students to see a side of life in Australia that they might not otherwise see.  From Mystery Bay on the South Coast, to Mount Guluga with an Aboriginal guide, to abseiling (rapel........ Read more »

Navara, K., & Nelson, R. (2007) The dark side of light at night: physiological, epidemiological, and ecological consequences. Journal of Pineal Research, 43(3), 215-224. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.2007.00473.x  

  • October 27, 2010
  • 11:38 PM
  • 598 views

Food for thought: Cooking in human evolution

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

Did cooking make us human by providing the foundation for the rapid growth of the human brain during evolution?  If so, what does this tell us about the diet that we should be eating, and can we turn back the culinary clock to an evolutionarily ideal diet?  A number of provocations over the last couple of weeks have me thinking about evolution and diet, especially what our teeth and guts tell us about how our ancestors got their food.
I did a post on this a while back at Neuroanthropology.net,........ Read more »

Rosenberg, K., & Trevathan, W. (2005) Bipedalism and human birth: The obstetrical dilemma revisited. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 4(5), 161-168. DOI: 10.1002/evan.1360040506  

Suwa, G., Kono, R., Simpson, S., Asfaw, B., Lovejoy, C., & White, T. (2009) Paleobiological Implications of the Ardipithecus ramidus Dentition. Science, 326(5949), 69-69. DOI: 10.1126/science.1175824  

Wrangham, R. (2003) 'Cooking as a biological trait'. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular , 136(1), 35-46. DOI: 10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5  

  • October 16, 2010
  • 05:21 AM
  • 947 views

The @#$% 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize: Pain files 1

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology


The 2010 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded recently by the Annals of Improbable Science, and a paper I read a while ago and wanted to comment on won the Ig Nobel for Peace! (By the way, comment on, not because I thought it was Ig Nobel-esque, but because it was actually relevant to my work — what does that say about my research!?)! Congratulations to Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston for the prize, awarded for their paper, ‘Swearing as a Response to Pain,’ in Neur........ Read more »

APKARIAN, A., BUSHNELL, M., TREEDE, R., & ZUBIETA, J. (2005) Human brain mechanisms of pain perception and regulation in health and disease. European Journal of Pain, 9(4), 463-484. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2004.11.001  

BEECHER, H. (1946) PAIN IN MEN WOUNDED IN BATTLE. Annals of Surgery, 123(1), 96-105. DOI: 10.1097/00000658-194601000-00008  

Price, D. (2000) Psychological and Neural Mechanisms of the Affective Dimension of Pain. Science, 288(5472), 1769-1772. DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5472.1769  

Stephens, R., Atkins, J., & Kingston, A. (2009) Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport, 1. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1  

Van Lancker, D. (1999) Expletives: neurolinguistic and neurobehavioral perspectives on swearing. Brain Research Reviews, 31(1), 83-104. DOI: 10.1016/S0165-0173(99)00060-0  

  • September 5, 2010
  • 09:50 AM
  • 631 views

2 legs good, 4 legs better: Uner Tan Syndrome, part 2

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology


Beginning in 2005, reports by Prof. Üner Tan of Cukurova University in Turkey alerted the world to a number of families in which some members walked quadrupedally. This is the second part of a (so far) two-part post on Uner Tan Syndrome. Although you’re welcome to read the first part, I’ll give you the one sentence summary if you just want to push on and a piece of video clip on the cases. I should warn you though, before you read the first part, that the whole thing is sort of like the........ Read more »

Dietz Volker. (2002) Do human bipeds use quadrupedal coordination?. Trends in neurosciences, 25(9), 462-7. PMID: 12183207  

Dietz V, & Michel J. (2009) Human bipeds use quadrupedal coordination during locomotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 97-103. PMID: 19645886  

Hall, Brian K. (1984) Developmental mechanisms underlying the formation of atavisms. . Biological Reviews, 89-124. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.1984.tb00402.x  

Herz J, Boycott KM, & Parboosingh JS. (2008) "Devolution" of bipedality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(21). PMID: 18487453  

Humphrey, Nicholas, Stefan Mundlos, & Seval Türkmen. (2008) Genes and quadrupedal locomotion in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , 105(21). DOI: 10.1073 pnas.0802839105  

Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, Simpson SW, Matternes JH, & White TD. (2009) The great divides: Ardipithecus ramidus reveals the postcrania of our last common ancestors with African apes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 326(5949), 100-6. PMID: 19810199  

Susanne M. Morton,, & Amy J. Bastian. (2007) Mechanisms of cerebellar gait ataxia. The Cerebellum, 6(1), 79-86. DOI: 10.1080/14734220601187741  

Tayfun Ozcelik, Nurten Akarsu, Elif Uz, Safak Caglayan, Suleyman Gulsuner, Onur Emre Onat, Meliha Tan, & Uner Tan. (2008) Mutations in the very low-density lipoprotein receptor VLDLR cause cerebellar hypoplasia and quadrupedal locomotion in humans. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(11), 4232-4236. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0710010105  

Ozcelik, Tayfun,, Nurten Akarsu,, Elif Uz,, Safak Caglayan,, Suleyman Gulsuner,, Onur Emre Onat,, Meliha Tan,, & Uner Tan. (2008) Reply to Herz et al. and Humphrey et al.: Genetic heterogeneity of cerebellar hypoplasia with quadrupedal locomotion. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(23). DOI: 10.1073 pnas.0804078105  

Stanford CB. (2006) Arboreal bipedalism in wild chimpanzees: implications for the evolution of hominid posture and locomotion. American journal of physical anthropology, 129(2), 225-31. PMID: 16288480  

Tan, Meliha, Sibel Karaca, and Uner Tan. (2010) A New Case of Uner Tan Syndrome—with Late Childhood Quadrupedalism. Movement Disorders, 25(5), 652-653. DOI: 10.1002/mds.22951  

Tan, Uner. (2007) A Wrist-Walker Exhibiting No “Uner Tan Sydnrome”: A Theory for Possible Mechanisms of Human Devolution Toward the Atavistic Walking Patterns. International Journal of Neuroscience , 117(1), 147-156. DOI: 10.1080/00207450600936866  

Uner Tan, Sadrettin Penccedile, Mustafa Yilmaz, Ayhan Oumlzkur, Sibel Karaca, Meliha Tan, & Mehmet Karatascedil. (2008) “Unertan Syndrome” in two Turkish Families in Relation to Devolution and Emergence of Homo Erectus: Neurological Examination, MRI, and pet Scans. International Journal of Neuroscience, 313-336. DOI: 10.1080/00207450701667766  

Tan, Uner, & Meliha Tan. (2009) Unertan Syndrome: A New Variant of Unertan Syndrome: Running on All Fours in Two Upright-Walking Children. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119(7), 909-918. DOI: 10.1080/00207450902828050  

Thelen, E.,, & Ulrich, B. D. (1991) Hidden skills: A dynamic systems analysis of treadmill stepping during the first year. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 56(1), 1-98. DOI: 10.2307/1166099  

Thorpe, S. K. S.,, R. L. Holder,, & R. H. Crompton. (2007) Origin of Human Bipedalism As an Adaptation for Locomotion on Flexible Branches. Science, 316(5829), 1328. DOI: 10.1126/science.1140799  

Trommsdorff M, Gotthardt M, Hiesberger T, Shelton J, Stockinger W, Nimpf J, Hammer RE, Richardson JA, & Herz J. (1999) Reeler/Disabled-like disruption of neuronal migration in knockout mice lacking the VLDL receptor and ApoE receptor 2. Cell, 97(6), 689-701. PMID: 10380922  

S Türkmen,, K Hoffmann,, Osman Demirhan,, Defne Aruoba,, N Humphrey,, & S Mundlos. (2008) Cerebellar hypoplasia, with quadrupedal locomotion, caused by mutations in the very low-density lipoprotein receptor gene. European Journal of Human Genetics, 1070-1074. DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2008.73  

  • September 3, 2010
  • 10:44 AM
  • 691 views

Human, quadruped: Uner Tan Syndrome, part 1

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology


The photos that accompanied news releases about quadrupedal people living in Turkey, members of a family that allegedly could not walk except on hands and feet, looked staged when I first saw them. Three women and one man scrambling across rocky ground, the women in brightly coloured clothing, the sky radiant blue behind them, their eyes forward and backsides high in the air – like children engaged in some sort of awkward race at a field day or sporting carnival.
Members of a Turkish family ........ Read more »

Hall, Brian K. (1984) Developmental mechanisms underlying the formation of atavisms. . Biological Reviews, 89-124. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.1984.tb00402.x  

Herz J, Boycott KM, & Parboosingh JS. (2008) "Devolution" of bipedality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(21). PMID: 18487453  

Humphrey, Nicholas, Stefan Mundlos, & Seval Türkmen. (2008) Genes and quadrupedal locomotion in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , 105(21). DOI: 10.1073 pnas.0802839105  

Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, Simpson SW, Matternes JH, & White TD. (2009) The great divides: Ardipithecus ramidus reveals the postcrania of our last common ancestors with African apes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 326(5949), 100-6. PMID: 19810199  

Susanne M. Morton,, & Amy J. Bastian. (2007) Mechanisms of cerebellar gait ataxia. The Cerebellum, 6(1), 79-86. DOI: 10.1080/14734220601187741  

Tayfun Ozcelik, Nurten Akarsu, Elif Uz, Safak Caglayan, Suleyman Gulsuner, Onur Emre Onat, Meliha Tan, & Uner Tan. (2008) Mutations in the very low-density lipoprotein receptor VLDLR cause cerebellar hypoplasia and quadrupedal locomotion in humans. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(11), 4232-4236. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0710010105  

Ozcelik, Tayfun,, Nurten Akarsu,, Elif Uz,, Safak Caglayan,, Suleyman Gulsuner,, Onur Emre Onat,, Meliha Tan,, & Uner Tan. (2008) Reply to Herz et al. and Humphrey et al.: Genetic heterogeneity of cerebellar hypoplasia with quadrupedal locomotion. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(23). DOI: 10.1073 pnas.0804078105  

Stanford CB. (2006) Arboreal bipedalism in wild chimpanzees: implications for the evolution of hominid posture and locomotion. American journal of physical anthropology, 129(2), 225-31. PMID: 16288480  

Tan, Meliha, Sibel Karaca, and Uner Tan. (2010) A New Case of Uner Tan Syndrome—with Late Childhood Quadrupedalism. Movement Disorders, 25(5), 652-653. DOI: 10.1002/mds.22951  

Tan, Uner. (2007) A Wrist-Walker Exhibiting No “Uner Tan Sydnrome”: A Theory for Possible Mechanisms of Human Devolution Toward the Atavistic Walking Patterns. International Journal of Neuroscience , 117(1), 147-156. DOI: 10.1080/00207450600936866  

Uner Tan, Sadrettin Penccedile, Mustafa Yilmaz, Ayhan Oumlzkur, Sibel Karaca, Meliha Tan, & Mehmet Karatascedil. (2008) “Unertan Syndrome” in two Turkish Families in Relation to Devolution and Emergence of Homo Erectus: Neurological Examination, MRI, and pet Scans. International Journal of Neuroscience, 313-336. DOI: 10.1080/00207450701667766  

Tan, Uner, & Meliha Tan. (2009) Unertan Syndrome: A New Variant of Unertan Syndrome: Running on All Fours in Two Upright-Walking Children. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119(7), 909-918. DOI: 10.1080/00207450902828050  

Thelen, E.,, & Ulrich, B. D. (1991) Hidden skills: A dynamic systems analysis of treadmill stepping during the first year. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 56(1), 1-98. DOI: 10.2307/1166099  

Thorpe, S. K. S.,, R. L. Holder,, & R. H. Crompton. (2007) Origin of Human Bipedalism As an Adaptation for Locomotion on Flexible Branches. Science, 316(5829), 1328. DOI: 10.1126/science.1140799  

Trommsdorff M, Gotthardt M, Hiesberger T, Shelton J, Stockinger W, Nimpf J, Hammer RE, Richardson JA, & Herz J. (1999) Reeler/Disabled-like disruption of neuronal migration in knockout mice lacking the VLDL receptor and ApoE receptor 2. Cell, 97(6), 689-701. PMID: 10380922  

S Türkmen,, K Hoffmann,, Osman Demirhan,, Defne Aruoba,, N Humphrey,, & S Mundlos. (2008) Cerebellar hypoplasia, with quadrupedal locomotion, caused by mutations in the very low-density lipoprotein receptor gene. European Journal of Human Genetics, 1070-1074. DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2008.73  

  • August 31, 2010
  • 01:16 AM
  • 401 views

The new linguistic relativism: Guy Deutscher in the NYTimes

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

How does language affect thought and perception? It’s a question we’ve looked at here at Neuroanthropology.net on a number of occasions, but Prof. Guy Deutscher, offers a nice general survey of the current state of play in the research over at The New York Times in ‘Does Your Language Shape How You Think?’ Posts on [...]... Read more »

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Casasanto, D. (2008) Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic Differences in Temporal Language and Thought. Language Learning, 63-79. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00462.x  

  • August 23, 2010
  • 10:12 AM
  • 641 views

The dog-human connection in evolution

by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology

Evolutionary theorists have long recognized that the domestication of animals represented a major change in human life, providing not just a close-at-hand food source, but also non-human muscle power and a host of other advantages. Penn State anthropologist Prof. Pat Shipman argues that animal domestication is one manifestation of a larger distinctive trait of our [...]... Read more »

Bleed, Peter. (2006) Living in the human niche. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 15(1), 8-10. DOI: 10.1002/evan.20084  

FLINN, M., GEARY, D., & WARD, C. (2005) Ecological dominance, social competition, and coalitionary arms racesWhy humans evolved extraordinary intelligence. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(1), 10-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.08.005  

Miklósi A, Kubinyi E, Topál J, Gácsi M, Virányi Z, & Csányi V. (2003) A simple reason for a big difference: wolves do not look back at humans, but dogs do. Current biology : CB, 13(9), 763-6. PMID: 12725735  

Paxton, D. (2000) A Case for a Naturalistic Perspective. Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People , 13(1), 5-8. DOI: 10.2752/089279300786999996  

Schleidt, Wolfgang M., & Shalter, Michael D. (2003) Co-evolution of Humans and Canids: An Alternative View of Dog Domestication: Homo Homini Lupus?. Evolution and Cognition, 9(1), 57-72. info:/

Shipman, Pat. (2010) The Animal Connection and Human Evolution. Current Anthropology, 51(4), 519-538. DOI: 10.1086/653816  

Vila, C. et al. (1997) Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog. Science, 276(5319), 1687-1689. DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5319.1687  

Willerslev, R. (2004) NOT ANIMAL, NOT NOT-ANIMAL: HUNTING, IMITATION AND EMPATHETIC KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE SIBERIAN YUKAGHIRS. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 10(3), 629-652. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2004.00205.x  

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