Of breeds and brains - Many Minds
- Rating
-
- Fav.
- Waveform
-
- Action
-
- Link
- Title
- Of breeds and brains
- Description
- <p class="p1"><span class="s1">It's hard to say exactly when, but some tens of thousands of years ago, our best friends were born. I'm referring, of course, to dogs. This didn't happen overnight—it was a long process. And it not only changed how those canids behaved and what they looked like, it also changed their brains. As wolves gave way to proto-dogs, and proto-dogs gave way to dingoes and dalmatians and Dobermanns and all the rest, their brains have continued to change. What can we learn from this singular saga? What does it tell us about dogs, about domestication, and about brains? </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">My guest today is <a href= "https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/erin-hecht"><span class= "s2">Dr. Erin Hecht</span></a>. Erin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, where she directs the <a href= "https://sites.harvard.edu/caninebrainsproject/"><span class= "s2">Canine Brains Project</span></a>. </span><span class= "s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Here Erin and I talk about how dogs are the most anatomically diverse species on the planet—and how their brains are no exception. We sketch the different waves in the dog domestication saga and discuss scenarios for how that saga got underway. We talk about how brains change as they get bigger and about how they change during domestication. We discuss a recent study by Erin and colleagues comparing the brains of modern dogs with the brains of pre-modern dogs like village dogs and New Guinea singing dogs. We also talk about a new study from Erin's lab finding that domestic dogs share with humans a key language-related structure. Along the way we talk about the Russian Farm Fox experiment, the stereotype of the gentle giant, the left lateralization of language, the respiratory condition known as BOAS, the dog personality inventory known as C-BARQ, the limitations of the idea of a "domestication syndrome," and the puppy kidnapping hypothesis. </span><span class= "s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Longtime listeners will recall that we had Erin on the show to talk about her work on <a href= "https://disi.org/fermentation-fire-and-our-big-brains/"><span class="s2"> fermentation and brain evolution</span></a>. Given how much fun we had with that one, it was only a matter of time before we had her back to talk about her main line of research on dog brains. So here you go friends—hope you enjoy it!</span></p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2"> </span><span class= "s2"><em>Notes</em></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">4:30 – For one recent study of the early domestication of dogs, see <a href= "https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2010083118"><span class= "s2">here</span></a>. For a review of leading hypotheses about what drove the wolf-to-dog transition, see <a href= "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.662370/full"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>.</span> <span class= "s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">13:00 – For Dr. Hecht's initial 2019 study of brain variation across domestic dog breeds, see <a href= "https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/39/7748?fbclid=IwAR0QExyRS2j41Iv300P0TfJSDsWwoXTK3TKmOtLEOrglPDHbjQUZ_3DY6V0&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=JNeurosci_TrendMD_0"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">20:00 – For a classic paper on the neurodevelopmental scaling by Dr. Barbara Finlay and colleagues, see <a href= "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/developmental-structure-in-brain-evolution/5371B0812B4F0567F51014B607EF48C1"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">23:00 – For more of Dr. Hecht's work on neurodevelopmental scaling laws as they apply to dogs, see <a href= "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-021-02368-8"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>. For a study reporting correlations between body size and personality i
- Publication Date
- 2025-11-06T00:41:00+00:00
- Status
- completed
- Website
- https://manyminds.libsyn.com/of-breeds-and-brains
- Length
- 67:43
- File
- /podcasts/Many Minds/1762389660-5181.mp3
- Size
- 93 MB
- Bitrate
- 187-CBR
- Channels
- 1
Queries: 30 | Cache Hits: 0 | Load Time: 0.0990 | 2 MB