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Journal Article 2016; 37(4): 253-264 PubMed PMID: 27857040 Citation  Keywords:  Amygdala:diagnostic imaging, Animals, Basal Forebrain:diagnostic imaging, Basal Ganglia:diagnostic imaging, Biological Evolution, Brain:diagnostic imaging, Diencephalon:diagnostic imaging, Functional Laterality, Glucocorticoids:metabolism, Hippocampus:dia.   

: There is a growing body of evidence that stressful events may affect the brain not only as a whole, but also in multiple laterality aspects. The present review is aimed at discussing the effect of stress and stress hormones on structural brain asymmetry. Differences and crossroads of functional and structural asymmetry are briefly mentioned throughout the document. The first part of this review summarizes major findings in the field of structural brain asymmetries in animals and humans from the evolutionary perspective. Additionally, effect of stress on animals is discussed generally. The second part then explores asymmetrical effects of stress on structural changes of principal brain areas - amygdala, hippocampus, neocortex, diencephalon, basal forebrain and basal ganglia from the point of normal lateralization, steroids, trauma and genetic factors. At the end we present hypothesis why stress appears to have asymmetrical effects on lateralized brain structures....

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Journal Article 2013; 34(3): 177-183 PubMed PMID: 23685415 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Biological Evolution, Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone:physiology, Hagfishes:anatomy & histology, Neuroanatomy, Neurosecretory Systems:anatomy & histology, Reproduction:physiology,.   

: The family Myxinidae embraces all hagfish species, and occupies an evolutionary niche intermediate between ancestral vertebrates and the gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates). Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) modulates neuroendocrine activity in vertebrates and works in the context of the hypothalamic-pituitary (H-P) axis. The appearance of this neuroendocrine axis marks one of the most crucial developmental achievements in vertebrate evolution, because it enabled further diversification in general growth, metabolism, osmoregulation and reproduction as jawed vertebrates evolved. GnRH studies in hagfish draw attention because such work may be considered as providing proxy data for similar investigations conducted upon long extinct species. Indeed, the fossil record reveals little anatomical difference between those hagfish living 300 million years ago and their modern descendants. Accordingly, the hagfish can offer important evolutionary lessons as they have some highly unusual characteristics not seen in any other vertebrate; they retain many representative features of an ancestral state from which all vertebrates originated. Indeed, because central control of reproduction is perhaps the most basic function of the vertebrate H-P axis, and given the importance of GnRH in this network, research on GnRH in hagfish can help elucidate the early evolution of the H-P system itself. Like all vertebrates, hagfish have a functional hypothalamic area and a pituitary gland, constituting a basic H-P axis. But what role does GnRH play in the reproductive system of this "living fossil"? How can understanding GnRH in hagfish help advance the knowledge of vertebrate neuroendocrinology? Here, information on neuroendocrine function and the role of GnRH specifically in this very basal vertebrate is reviewed....

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Journal Article 2012; 33(6): 636-642 PubMed PMID: 23160222 Citation  Keywords:  Adaptation, Psychological:physiology, Adolescent, Biological Evolution, Dominance-Subordination, Female, Hierarchy, Social, Humans, Male, Masochism:physiopathology, Sadism:physiopathology, Sexual Behavior:physiology, Social Behavior, Surveys and Questionn.   

OBJECTIVES: We theorize that sexual arousal by dominance and submission may be connected to a reproduction strategy respecting a reached social dominance rank (a common reproduction strategy in socially living mammals), while the preference for "bondage" may be derived from an opportunistic strategy when being unable to compete for hierarchic rank (an alternative reproductive strategy that co-occurs frequently with the above-named main strategy). The answers to questions dealing with hierarchy in character should correlate exclusively with sexual arousal connected to any kind of expression of a hierarchy, but not with bondage.

DESIGN AND SETTINGS: The data were obtained from young adults (157 males and 183 females aged 18-20, with mean 18.4 years) via questionnaires.

RESULTS: Seven out of eight questions dealing with hierarchy correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission in men (Spearman's r=0.169-0.313; p<0.05 - p<0.001), two questions correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission in women (Spearman's r=0.32-0.166, p<0.001, p<0.05). THE MAIN FINDINGS: The questions dealing with hierarchy correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission while no answers correlated with bondage, neither in men nor in women.

CONCLUSION: The preference for sexual arousal by dominance and submission may be connected to strategy respecting rank, while the preference for "bondage" may be derived from an opportunistic strategy that may be essential for possible partner problems solution. From the evolutionary biology point of view, these patterns of sadomasochistic sex appear as adaptive rather than as pathology....

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Journal Article 2006; 27(6): 711-718 PubMed PMID: 17187017 Citation  Keywords:  Biological Evolution, Choice Behavior, Dominance-Subordination, Female, Homosexuality:psychology, Humans, Internet, Male, Masochism:psychology, Power (Psychology), Psychological Theory, Sadism:psychology, Statistics, Nonparametric,.   

OBJECTIVES: Dominance and submissiveness represent strong sexual arousal stimuli for a considerable part of population. In contrast to men's sexual dominance and women's sexual submissiveness, the opposite preferences represent an evolutionary enigma. Here, we studied prevalence and strength of particular preferences in general population by Internet-trap-method.

DESIGN: The subjects who clicked the banner displayed in the web interface of e-mail boxes were allowed to choose icons with homosexual or heterosexual partner of different hierarchical position.

RESULTS: Dominant partner was chosen by 13.8% men and 20.5% women, and submissive partner by 36.6% men and 19.8% women. Homosexual partners were chosen by 7.3% men and 12.2% women. The response times for the submissive and dominant stimuli did not differ while for the equal-status stimuli were significantly longer, suggesting that part of subjects with equal-status preferences probably intentionally mask their natural interests.

CONCLUSIONS: Large number of people who chose unequal sexual partner suggests that hierarchical status plays important role in human mating system....

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Journal Article 2006; 27(5): 563-567 PubMed PMID: 17159825 Citation  Keywords:  Biological Evolution, Cultural Evolution, Forecasting, Humans, Selection, Genetic,.   

: Cultural evolution has predominated over biological evolution in modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens). Cultural evolution differs from biological evolution not only by inheritance of acquired characteristics but also, as is proposed in the present essay, by another kind of selection mechanism. Whereas selection in biological evolution is executed according to a criterion of reproductive success (the natural selection), selection in cultural evolution appears to be carried out according to human and humanistic criteria (success or fitness in meeting human needs, interests and humanistic values--"humanistic selection"). Many humanistic needs or values do not seem to be prerequisite for reproductive success, yet some of them (e.g. a need for freedom) seem to be inborn. Innateness, humanistic selection (decisive at a community level) and hierarchy of some human needs, interests and values appear to give cultural evolution a generally upward trend although long periods of stagnation or even regression may occur. Modern humans appear to be still at the early stage of their cultural evolution. A further cultural evolution of man appears to be, in contrast to biological evolution, predictable (with an optimistic outlook) and testable. The problem is that the hopeful result of this test will probably be known only in the fairly remote future provided that this species will not become extinct before that....

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Comment 2003; 24(3-4): 148-150 PubMed PMID: 14523348 Citation  Keywords:  Adaptation, Psychological:physiology, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity:diagnosis, Biological Evolution, Child, Child Behavior:physiology, Humans,.   

: The evolutionary approach to the issue of ADHD derives from the assumption that what is regarded as a pathological phenomenon today was once an adaptive response to the conditions of life in the ancestral stages of human development. The paper argues against this conception on the basis of the clinical picture of ADHD. The author believes that in the previous "natural" conditions the ADHD syndrome was even more of a maladaptation than in the "protective" conditions of present-day life....

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Comparative Study 2002; 23(Suppl 4): 105-115 PubMed PMID: 12496741 Citation  Keywords:  Adaptation, Psychological:physiology, Animals, Biological Evolution, Brain:drug effects, Central Nervous System Agents:pharmacology, Competitive Behavior, Depression:etiology, Ethology:methods, Humans, Molecular Biology:methods, Neurosciences:methods, Pep.   

: Evolutionary psychologists often overlook a wealth of information existing between the proximate genotypic level and the ultimate phenotypic level. This commonly ignored level of biological organization is the ongoing activity of neurobiological systems. In this paper, we extend our previous arguments concerning strategic weaknesses of evolutionary psychology by advocating a foundational view that focuses on similarities in brain, behavior, and various basic psychological features across mammalian species. Such an approach offers the potential to link the emerging discipline of evolutionary psychology to its parent scientific disciplines such as biochemistry, physiology, molecular genetics, developmental biology and the neuroscientific analysis of animal behavior. We detail an example of this through our impending work using gene microarray technology to characterize gene expression patterns in rats during aggressive and playful social interactions. Through a focus on functional homologies and the experimental analysis of conserved, subcortical emotional and motivational brain systems, neuroevolutionary psychobiology can reveal ancient features of the human mind that are still shared with other animals. Claims regarding evolved, uniquely human, psychological constructs should be constrained by the rigorous evidentiary standards that are routine in other sciences....

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Journal Article 2002; 23(Suppl 4): 98-104 PubMed PMID: 12496740 Citation  Keywords:  Algorithms, Biological Evolution, Humans, Mental Processes, Religion and Psychology, Religious Philosophies,.   

: How can the evolution of religiosity be explained? To answer this question, we attempt to develop an understanding of the psychological domains underlying religious behaviour. We see four evolved domains, the sum and interaction of which constitute religiosity, namely: mysticism, ethics, myths and rituals. Even if the individual content, accents and implementations differ in each specific religion, they nevertheless derive from evolved Darwinian algorithms that are species-specific adaptations of homo sapiens. Mysticism. Intuitive ontologies are the basis for mystical experiences. Usually they serve to classify reality into animate and inanimate objects, animals or plants, for example. For a variety of psychological reasons, supernatural experiences result from a mixture of different ontological categories. Ethics. The basis for ethics lies in the social competency of human beings. Ethics is founded on the concept of social exchange ("social-contract algorithm") with its ideas about reciprocity, fairness, justice, cheater detection, in-group/out-group differentiation, etc. Myths. The basis for myths is the "language instinct". We interpret myths as the verbal expression of the cognitive content of those individual modules that constitute the belief system. Above all, myths document the experience and processing of contingency and thus help social bonding. Rituals. Rituals are based on the handicap principle. By making certain symbols and acts more expensive, they signal commitment for a reliable in-group morale. In conclusion, we argue that human religiosity emerges from a cognitive interaction between these four domains. Religiosity processes contingencies and enhances co-operation through social bonding, norm setting and cheater detection. It fulfils those functions for which the mental modules of its four domains have evolved so that we feel it appears to be justified to attribute to religiosity the evolutionary status of an adaptation....

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