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A systematic review of sex differences in rough and tumble play across non-human mammals (2022)
Journal Article
Marley, C. L., Pollard, T. M., Barton, R. A., & Street, S. E. (2022). A systematic review of sex differences in rough and tumble play across non-human mammals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 76(12), Article 158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-022-03260-z

It is widely believed that juvenile male mammals typically engage in higher rates of rough and tumble play (RTP) than do females, in preparation for adult roles involving intense physical competition between males. The consistency of this sex differe... Read More about A systematic review of sex differences in rough and tumble play across non-human mammals.

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.

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.

Maternal investment, life histories, and the evolution of brain structure in primates (2019)
Journal Article
Powell, L. E., Barton, R. A., & Street, S. E. (2019). Maternal investment, life histories, and the evolution of brain structure in primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1911), Article 20191608. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1608

Life history is a robust correlate of relative brain size: larger-brained mammals and birds have slower life histories and longer lifespans than smaller-brained species. The cognitive buffer hypothesis (CBH) proposes an adaptive explanation for this... Read More about Maternal investment, life histories, and the evolution of brain structure in primates.

Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis (2019)
Journal Article
Miller, I. F., Barton, R. A., & Nunn, C. L. (2019). Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis. eLife, 8, Article e41250. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.41250

While the human brain is clearly large relative to body size, less is known about the timing of brain and brain component expansion within primates and the relative magnitude of volumetric increases. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods an... Read More about Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis.

Re-evaluating the link between brain size and behavioural ecology in primates (2017)
Journal Article
Powell, L. E., Isler, K., & Barton, R. A. (2017). Re-evaluating the link between brain size and behavioural ecology in primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1865), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1765

Comparative studies have identified a wide range of behavioural and ecological correlates of relative brain size, with results differing between taxonomic groups, and even within them. In primates for example, recent studies contradict one another ov... Read More about Re-evaluating the link between brain size and behavioural ecology in primates.

Women’s emotional and sexual attraction to men across the menstrual cycle (2017)
Journal Article
Shimoda, R., Campbell, A., & Barton, R. (2018). Women’s emotional and sexual attraction to men across the menstrual cycle. Behavioral Ecology, 29(1), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx124

There is ongoing debate about how and why the menstrual cycle affects women’s attraction to men. According to the dual sexuality hypothesis, women form pair-bond relationships with men who provide care but also obtain genetic benefits by biasing mati... Read More about Women’s emotional and sexual attraction to men across the menstrual cycle.

Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media (2017)
Journal Article
Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Beierholm, U., Burt, D., Barton, R., Evans, E., …Boothroyd, L. (2017). Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media. Scientific Reports, 7(1), Article 8438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08653-z

Television consumption influences perceptions of attractive female body size. However, cross-cultural research examining media influence on body ideals is typically confounded by differences in the availability of reliable and diverse foodstuffs. 112... Read More about Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution (2017)
Journal Article
Shuker, D. M., Barrett, L., Dickins, T. E., Scott-Phillips, T. C., & Barton, R. A. (2017). General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, Article e218. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x16001771

Burkart et al. conflate the domain-specificity of cognitive processes with the statistical pattern of variance in behavioural measures that partly reflect those processes. General intelligence is a statistical abstraction, not a cognitive trait, and... Read More about General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution.

Transparency, Usability, and Reproducibility: Guiding Principles for Improving Comparative Databases Using Primates as Examples (2016)
Journal Article
Borries, C., Sandel, A., Koenig, A., Fernandez-Duque, E., Kamilar, J., Amoroso, C., …Nunn, C. (2016). Transparency, Usability, and Reproducibility: Guiding Principles for Improving Comparative Databases Using Primates as Examples. Evolutionary Anthropology, 25(5), 232-238. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21502

Recent decades have seen rapid development of new analytical methods to investigate patterns of interspecific variation. Yet these cutting-edge statistical analyses often rely on data of questionable origin, varying accuracy, and weak comparability,... Read More about Transparency, Usability, and Reproducibility: Guiding Principles for Improving Comparative Databases Using Primates as Examples.

Brain evolution and development: adaptation, allometry and constraint (2016)
Journal Article
Montgomery, S., Mundy, N., & Barton, R. (2016). Brain evolution and development: adaptation, allometry and constraint. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283(1838), Article 20160433. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0433

Phenotypic traits are products of two processes: evolution and development. But how do these processes combine to produce integrated phenotypes? Comparative studies identify consistent patterns of covariation, or allometries, between brain and body s... Read More about Brain evolution and development: adaptation, allometry and constraint.

Sleep, Evolution and Brains (2016)
Journal Article
Barton, R., & Cappellini, I. (2016). Sleep, Evolution and Brains. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 87(2), 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1159/000443716

Commentary on Herculano-Houzel S (2015): Decreasing Sleep Requirement with Increasing Numbers of Neurons as a Driver for Bigger Brains and Bodies in Mammalian Evolution. Proc Biol Sci 282:20151853

Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals (2015)
Journal Article
Capellini, I., Nunn, C. L., & Barton, R. A. (2015). Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals. PLoS ONE, 10(7), Article e0132563. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132563

Placental invasiveness—the number of maternal tissue layers separating fetal tissues from maternal blood—is variable across mammalian species. Although this diversity is likely to be functionally important, variation in placental invasiveness remains... Read More about Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals.

Red clothing increases perceived dominance, aggression and anger (2015)
Journal Article
Wiedemann, D., Burt, D., Hill, R., & Barton, R. (2015). Red clothing increases perceived dominance, aggression and anger. Biology Letters, 11(5), Article 20150166. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0166

The presence and intensity of red coloration correlate with male dominance and testosterone in a variety of animal species, and even artificial red stimuli can influence dominance interactions. In humans, red stimuli are perceived as more threatening... Read More about Red clothing increases perceived dominance, aggression and anger.

Primate comparative neuroscience using magnetic resonance imaging: promises and challenges (2014)
Journal Article
Mars, R., Neubert, F., Verhagen, L., Sallet, J., Miller, K., Dunbar, R., & Barton, R. (2014). Primate comparative neuroscience using magnetic resonance imaging: promises and challenges. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8, Article 298. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2014.00298

Primate comparative anatomy is an established field that has made rich and substantial contributions to neuroscience. However, the labor-intensive techniques employed mean that most comparisons are often based on a small number of species, which limi... Read More about Primate comparative neuroscience using magnetic resonance imaging: promises and challenges.

Rapid Evolution of the Cerebellum in Humans and Other Great Apes (2014)
Journal Article
Barton, R., & Venditti, C. (2014). Rapid Evolution of the Cerebellum in Humans and Other Great Apes. Current Biology, 24(20), 2440-2444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.08.056

Humans’ unique cognitive abilities are usually attributed to a greatly expanded neocortex, which has been described as ‘‘the crowning achievement of evolution and the biological substrate of human mental prowess’’ [1]. The human cerebellum, however,... Read More about Rapid Evolution of the Cerebellum in Humans and Other Great Apes.

The 2D:4D digit ratio and social behaviour in wild female chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in relation to dominance, aggression, interest in infants, affiliation and heritability (2014)
Journal Article
Howlett, C., Setchell, J., Hill, R., & Barton, R. (2015). The 2D:4D digit ratio and social behaviour in wild female chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in relation to dominance, aggression, interest in infants, affiliation and heritability. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 69(1), 61-74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1817-5

Prenatal androgens are responsible for sex differences in behaviour and morphology in many species, causing changes in neural structure and function that persist throughout life. Some variation in the expression of behaviour between individuals of th... Read More about The 2D:4D digit ratio and social behaviour in wild female chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in relation to dominance, aggression, interest in infants, affiliation and heritability.