[Paper Spotlight] Effects of a mixed‐subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children

A new paper by Trevor Pollom, Kristen Herlosky, Alyssa Crittenden and colleagues examines the effects of a mixed-subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children. Out now in the American Journal of Human Biology.

Effects of a mixed‐subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children

Trevor R. Pollom Chad L. Cross Kristen N. Herlosky Elle Ford Alyssa N. Crittenden

Abstract:

Introduction: We investigated the preliminary effects of dietary changes on the anthropometric measurements of child and adolescent Hadza foragers.

Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional study comparing height and weight of participants (aged 0‐17 years) at two time points, 2005 (n = 195) and 2017 (n = 52), from two locations: semi‐nomadic “bush camps” and sedentary “village camps”. World Health Organization (WHO) calculators were used to generate standardized z‐scores for weight‐for‐height (WHZ), weight‐for‐age (WAZ), height‐for‐age (HAZ), and BMI‐for‐age (BMIFAZ). Cross tabulations were constructed for each measurement variable as a function of z‐score categories and the variables year, location, and sex.

Results: Residency in a village, and associated mixed‐subsistence diet, was associated with favorable growth, including greater WAZ (P  < .001), HAZ (P  < .001), and BMIFAZ (P = .004), but not WHZ (P = .717). Regardless of residency location, participants showed an improved WAZ (P = .021) and HAZ (P  < .001) in the 2017 study year. We found no sex differences.

Discussion and Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that a mixed‐subsistence diet may confer advantages over an exclusive wild food diet, a trend also reported among other transitioning foragers.

[Paper Spotlight] Two new papers by Clark Barrett

Clark's on a roll with two terrific new papers.

Towards a Cognitive Science of the Human: Cross-Cultural Approaches and Their Urgency. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Link.

Abstract: While a major aim of cognitive science is to understand human cognition, our conclusions are based on unrepresentative samples of the world’s population. A new wave of cross-cultural cognitive science has sought to remedy this with studies that are increasing in scope, scale, and visibility. Here, I review the state of this new wave of research. The portrait of human cognition that emerges is one of variations on a theme, with species-typical capacities shaped by culture and individual experience. The new wave has expanded our understanding of processes underlying human variation and cumulative cultural change, including mechanisms of social learning and cultural transmission. Less consensus has been reached, however, on the cognitive foundations of human nature. The promise of cross-cultural cognitive science will not be fully realized unless we continue to be more inclusive of the world’s populations and strive for a more complete cognitive portrait of our species.

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Deciding what to observe: Thoughts for a post-WEIRD generation.

Evolution and Human Behavior. Link.

Abstract: The evolutionary social sciences (ESSs) are thriving, and seem to have entered a period of normal science. This is a good time to examine our own practices, theoretical and empirical, and to ask how we might improve. Here I review papers published in the past five years in EHB to explore major trends in the field. Theoretically, the popularity of certain topics (cooperation, mating, life history) has led to great progress, but might have narrowed our theoretical vision. Empirically, most research is still conducted in WEIRD populations, with a smaller mode of research in small-scale societies, and very little in the middle. I offer suggestions for broadening our theoretical and empirical scope, centered around the project of constructing a representative map of the human psychological and behavioral phenome.

[Paper Spotlight] The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

A long-anticipated new paper, out today in Science Advances, pools together a remarkable dataset of 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. Very cool work.

The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

Jeremy Koster et al.

Abstract:

Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.