Close relationships help us shape both our other social interactions as well as our internal physiology. Do these close relationships, also known as pair bonds, look and function similarly in species as diverse as titi monkeys, prairie voles, seahorses, and humans? How do negative experiences such as loss factor into, and perhaps strengthen, our close relationships? And what do we mean by luminance? This lecture will explore these topics while also touching on the underlying neurobiology of pair bonding. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 40380]

Dr. Theofanopoulou studies neural circuits behind sensory-motor behaviors like speech and dance, aiming to develop drug- and arts-based therapies for brain disorders. Her brain imaging research reveals overlapping motor cortex regions controlling muscles for speech and dance, while transcriptomic studies show upregulation of the oxytocin gene pathway in key areas like the motor cortex and brainstem. Using zebra finches, Bengalese finches, white-rumped munias, and humans, she demonstrates oxytocin's role in vocal production. She also developed genomic tools to apply these findings across vertebrates. Her future work explores oxytocin-based drugs and dance therapies to treat speech and motor deficits in brain disorders. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 40384]

Humans are an intensely social species. We experience social interactions as rewarding from infancy, and the social cognitive skills that we develop in the context of our earliest interpersonal attachments are critical for our survival and personal well being. Lack of social connection is common in many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. In some disorders, like autism spectrum disorder, social cognition and social interaction impairments are the defining, core feature. Yet, despite the importance of social functioning in humans, our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that regulate social behavior is limited. This lecture will describe the roles of two neuropeptides, oxytocin and vasopressin, in the regulation of social behavior in animals, and how findings from this research are providing fundamental insights into human social disorders, with a particular focus on vasopressin and autism spectrum disorder. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 40381]

Closing remarks for CARTA’s Evolutionary Origins of Art and Aesthetics symposium held in March 2009. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 16440]

Christopher Boehm is Professor of Biological Sciences & Anthropology and Director of the Goodall Research Center at the University of Southern California. He is a cultural anthropologist with a subspecialty in primatology, who researches conflict resolution, altruism, moral origins, and feuding and warfare.

Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21281]

Christophe Boesch is Director of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. His research takes an inclusive approach, addressing the biology of chimpanzees from many viewpoints and applying this knowledge to our understanding of the evolution of cognitive and cultural abilities in humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21282]

Patricia Smith Churchland is Professor of Philosophy at UC San Diego. The central focus of her research has been the exploration and development of the hypothesis that the mind is the brain. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21283]

Steve Frank is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. One of his current research projects is centered on microbial life history and sociality. The theory of virulence is an example of the broader problems of sociality and life history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21284]

Peter Hammerstein is a theoretical biologist at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Given his background in game theory and economics, he is interested in conflict and cooperation at the level of individuals and of genes. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21285]

Sarah Hrdy is currently professor emerita at the University of California, Davis. She is a renowned anthropologist and primate sociobiologist who seeks to understand, step by Darwinian step, how apes could have evolved to imagine and care about what the lives of others might be like. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21286]