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Camera traps and guard observations as an alternative to researcher observation for studying anthropogenic foraging (2022)
Journal Article
Walton, B., Findlay., L., & Hill, R. (2022). Camera traps and guard observations as an alternative to researcher observation for studying anthropogenic foraging. Ecology and Evolution, 12(4), Article e8808. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8808

Foraging by wildlife on anthropogenic foods can have negative impacts on both hu-mans and wildlife. Addressing this issue requires reliable data on the patterns of an-thropogenic foraging by wild animals, but while direct observation by researchers c... Read More about Camera traps and guard observations as an alternative to researcher observation for studying anthropogenic foraging.

After a decade of tool innovation, what comes next? (2022)
Journal Article
Rawlings, B. S. (2022). After a decade of tool innovation, what comes next?. Child Development Perspectives, 16(2), 118-124. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12451

A decade ago, now-seminal work showed that children are strikingly unskilled at simple tool innovation. Since then, a surge of research has replicated these findings across diverse cultures, which has stimulated evocative yet unanswered questions. Hu... Read More about After a decade of tool innovation, what comes next?.

Understanding the human brain: insights from comparative biology (2022)
Journal Article
DeCasien, A. R., Barton, R. A., & Higham, J. P. (2022). Understanding the human brain: insights from comparative biology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(5), 432-445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.02.003

Human brains are exceptionally large, support distinctive cognitive processes, and evolved by natural selection to mediate adaptive behavior. Comparative biology situates the human brain in evolutionary context to illuminate how it has been shaped by... Read More about Understanding the human brain: insights from comparative biology.

What makes us apes? The emotional building blocks of intersubjectivity in hominids (2022)
Journal Article
Demuru, E., Clay, Z., & Norscia, I. (2022). What makes us apes? The emotional building blocks of intersubjectivity in hominids. Ethology Ecology and Evolution, 34(3), 220-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/03949370.2022.2044390

Intersubjectivity, which refers to the capacity to create shared value or connection between individuals, is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon involving both cognitive and affective components. Intersubjectivity has often been lauded as one of t... Read More about What makes us apes? The emotional building blocks of intersubjectivity in hominids.

Vocal functional flexibility: what it is and why it matters (2022)
Journal Article
Derry, T., Clay, Z., Dahl, C., Zuberbühler, J., Davila-Ross, M., & Dezecache, G. (2022). Vocal functional flexibility: what it is and why it matters. Animal Behaviour, 186, 93-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.01.015

Human speech is marked by a signal–function decoupling, the capacity to produce sounds that can fulfil a variety of functions, in contrast to nonverbal vocalizations such as laughter, cries and screams, which are functionally more rigid. It has been... Read More about Vocal functional flexibility: what it is and why it matters.

Belief correlations with parental vaccine hesitancy: results from a national survey (2022)
Journal Article
Matthews, L., Nowak, S., Gidengil, C., Chen, C., Stubbersfield, J., Tehrani, J., & Parker, A. (2022). Belief correlations with parental vaccine hesitancy: results from a national survey. American Anthropologist, 124(2), 291-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13714

We conducted a nationally representative survey of parents’ beliefs and self-reported behaviors regarding childhood vaccinations. Using Bayesian selection among multivariate models, we found that beliefs, even those without any vaccine or health cont... Read More about Belief correlations with parental vaccine hesitancy: results from a national survey.

A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans (2022)
Journal Article
Lidborg, L. H., Cross, C. P., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans. eLife, 11, Article e65031. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031

Humans are sexually dimorphic: men and women differ in body build and composition, craniofacial structure, and voice pitch, likely mediated in part by developmental testosterone. Sexual selection hypotheses posit that, ancestrally, more 'masculine' m... Read More about A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans.

Comparative Perspectives of Empathy Development: Insights from chimpanzees and bonobos (2022)
Book Chapter
Clay, Z., Webb, C., Romero, T., & de Waal, F. (2022). Comparative Perspectives of Empathy Development: Insights from chimpanzees and bonobos. In D. Dukes, E. Walle, & A. Samson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development (277-290). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198855903.013.30

Empathy - the sharing and understanding of others’ emotions and thoughts - is considered a defining feature of what it means to be human. Although empathy underpins many of our social interactions and is thought to be evolutionarily ancient, its orig... Read More about Comparative Perspectives of Empathy Development: Insights from chimpanzees and bonobos.

Behavioral responses to spatial variation in perceived predation risk and resource availability in an arboreal primate (2022)
Journal Article
Parker, E. J., Hill, R. A., & Koyama, N. F. (2022). Behavioral responses to spatial variation in perceived predation risk and resource availability in an arboreal primate. Ecosphere, 13(2), Article e3945. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3945

Prey species must often face a trade-off between acquiring resources and minimizing predation risk. The spatial variation in predation risk across a landscape, as perceived by prey across their foraging or home range, creates a “landscape of fear” by... Read More about Behavioral responses to spatial variation in perceived predation risk and resource availability in an arboreal primate.

Testing the Short-Term Effectiveness of Various Deterrents for Reducing Crop Foraging by Primates (2022)
Journal Article
Findlay, L., Lucas, C., Walker, E., Evers, S., & Hill, R. (2022). Testing the Short-Term Effectiveness of Various Deterrents for Reducing Crop Foraging by Primates. African journal of wildlife research, 52(1), 29-43. https://doi.org/10.3957/056.052.0029

Crop foraging by wildlife is a major driver of negative interactions between farmers and wildlife, and yet there are few published examples of effective solutions to deter wildlife from crops. Here we investigate the effectiveness of six different me... Read More about Testing the Short-Term Effectiveness of Various Deterrents for Reducing Crop Foraging by Primates.

Examining relations between performance on non‐verbal executive function and verbal self‐regulation tasks in demographically‐diverse populations (2022)
Journal Article
Dutra, N. B., Chen, L., Anum, A., Burger, O., Davis, H. E., Dzokoto, V. A., …Legare, C. H. (2022). Examining relations between performance on non‐verbal executive function and verbal self‐regulation tasks in demographically‐diverse populations. Developmental Science, 25(5), https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13228

Self-regulation is a widely studied construct, generally assumed to be cognitively supported by executive functions (EFs). There is a lack of clarity and consensus over the roles of specific components of EFs in self-regulation. The current study exa... Read More about Examining relations between performance on non‐verbal executive function and verbal self‐regulation tasks in demographically‐diverse populations.

Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task (2021)
Journal Article
Vale, G. L., McGuigan, N., Burdett, E., Lambeth, S. P., Lucas, A., Rawlings, B., …Whiten, A. (2021). Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(3), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.11.003

Experts in action: why we need an embodied social brain hypothesis (2021)
Journal Article
Barrett, L., Henzi, S. P., & Barton, R. A. (2022). Experts in action: why we need an embodied social brain hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1844), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0533

The anthropoid primates are known for their intense sociality and large brain size. The idea that these might be causally related has given rise to a large body of work testing the ‘social brain hypothesis'. Here, the emphasis has been placed on the... Read More about Experts in action: why we need an embodied social brain hypothesis.

Social learning strategies and cooperative behaviour: Evidence of payoff bias, but not prestige or conformity, in a social dilemma game (2021)
Journal Article
Watson, R., Morgan, T. J., Kendal, R. L., Van de Vyver, J., & Kendal, J. (2021). Social learning strategies and cooperative behaviour: Evidence of payoff bias, but not prestige or conformity, in a social dilemma game. Games, 12(4), Article 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/g12040089

Human cooperation, occurring without reciprocation and between unrelated individuals in large populations, represents an evolutionary puzzle. One potential explanation is that cooperative behaviour may be transmitted between individuals via social le... Read More about Social learning strategies and cooperative behaviour: Evidence of payoff bias, but not prestige or conformity, in a social dilemma game.

Consistency in the flight and visual orientation distances of habituated chacma baboons after an observed leopard predation. Do flight initiation distance methods always measure perceived predation risk? (2021)
Journal Article
Allan, A. T. L., Bailey, A. L., & Hill, R. A. (2021). Consistency in the flight and visual orientation distances of habituated chacma baboons after an observed leopard predation. Do flight initiation distance methods always measure perceived predation risk?. Ecology and Evolution, 11(21), 15404-15416. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8237

Flight initiation distance (FID) procedures are used to assess the risk perception animals have for threats (e.g., natural predators, hunters), but it is unclear whether these assessments remain meaningful if animals have habituated to certain human... Read More about Consistency in the flight and visual orientation distances of habituated chacma baboons after an observed leopard predation. Do flight initiation distance methods always measure perceived predation risk?.

The role of population size in folk tune complexity (preprint) (2021)
Journal Article
Street, S., Eerola, T., & Kendal, J. The role of population size in folk tune complexity (preprint). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2he8k. Manuscript submitted for publication

A positive correlation between population size and cultural complexity is perhaps one of the most consistent findings in the field of cultural evolution. However, previous findings are largely based on studies of technology and are not necessarily ge... Read More about The role of population size in folk tune complexity (preprint).