The Emergence of Theory of Mind in Middle Pleistocene Hominins
Examines endocranial morphology and comparative primate behavior to reconstruct the developmental timeline of meta-representational capacities in Homo heidelbergensis.
Symbolic Cognition and the Lower Paleolithic Transition
Analyzes lithic tool standardization and early pigment use as behavioral proxies for abstract symbolic processing prior to anatomically modern humans.
The Social Brain Hypothesis: New Phylogenetic Analyses
Re-evaluates Dunbar's neocortex ratio using modern comparative methods, revealing non-linear scaling of social complexity across great ape lineages.
HARs and the Genetic Architecture of Human Brain Expansion
Investigates human-accelerated regions (HARs) and their role in regulating neurogenesis, cortical folding, and synaptic plasticity during fetal development.
Cognitive Niche Construction: Feedback Loops in Early Hominin Adaptation
Explores how environmental modification and tool use created recursive cognitive demands, driving selection pressures on working memory and planning capacities.
Predictive Processing and Evolutionary Dynamics of Learning
Applies free-energy principle frameworks to model how Bayesian inference mechanisms could have emerged from simple homeostatic control systems.
Prolonged Neoteny and the Evolution of Human Brain Development
Examines how delayed myelination and extended synaptic pruning windows enabled greater cortical plasticity and cumulative cultural learning.
Dual Inheritance Theory: Co-evolution of Genes and Cultural Cognition
Analyzes gene-culture coevolutionary models to explain the rapid acceleration of cognitive complexity during the Upper Paleolithic period.