"Traditionally, studies and textbooks in Neurology or Psychiatry, as well as allied disciplines, deal with proximate causes of diseases and therapies, but remain mute or minimally interested in their ultimate causes including the phylogeny and adaptive significance of disease manifestations. Yet, as clinicians or basic researchers, we are conscious of potential evolutionary roots of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, often offering a rudimentary explanation but never delving deeply into the current role of evolutionary science as it relates to health and disease. We may miss appreciation of the role of adaptive properties, evolutionarily based neuronal circuitries, unbalanced cellular energy demands, and the potential health consequences of residual syndromic behaviors that were possibly useful in early times of human development, but presently are obsolete and pathological. The problem is amplified, because there is often no interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and evolutionary biology on one side and clinical sciences on the other side. However, the evolutionary tracing back of disease pathways may disclose unexpected insights and trigger the design of innovative research as well as propel the development of new therapeutic interventions. There could also be a better apprehension of compensatory behaviors, both at the cellular level as well as the systemic the behavioural levels, that could be the expected fruits of such collaborations. So far scientists fall short in modeling the complexity of human (social) life, human language, or manual dexterity, and mental or emotional behaviors that typify human neurological or psychological function and dysfunction. Finally, there remain obstacles in the form of poor animal modeling for human brain diseases and for human longevity. The present book aims to fill these gaps by presenting an evolutionary view of neurological and psychiatric conditions that is meant to complement and enrich existing medical perspectives"--

This timely volume explores the range of personality traits and psychosocial deficits which are associated with the broadly defined construct of schizotypy. Describing schizotypy as a phenomenon that can be located on a continuum ranging from sub-clinical states to severe disorders, the editors have brought together experts in this field to discuss approaches to assessment, conceptualization, and treatment. This volume aims to provide a unique and clinically oriented perspective on schizotypy as a feature of personality and psychopathology. An essential resource for professionals, researchers, and academics the reader will gain knowledge of: Underlying maladaptive traits that can emerge as schizotypy Dimensional and transdiagnostic approaches to psychopathology Relationship to metacognition, mentalizing, attachment, self-criticism and interpersonal criticism

Other animals are driven to spend essentially their whole lives just trying to get fed, stay alive, and get laid. That’s about it. The same was true for our proto-human ancestors. And modern humans of course also require a Survival Drive and a Sex Drive in order to leave descendants. But today we spend most of our lives mainly just trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd. In What We Are, Queen’s University biologist, Lonnie Aarssen, traces how our biocultural evolution has shaped Homo sapiens into the only creature that refuses to be what it is — the only creature preoccupied with a deeply ingrained, and absurd sentiment: I have a distinct ‘mental life’—an ‘inner self’—that exists separately and apart from ‘material life’, and so, unlike the latter, need not come to an end. This delusion conceivably gave our distant ancestors some wishful thinking for finding some measure of relief from the terrifying, uniquely human knowledge of the eventual loss of corporeal survival. But this came with an impulsive, nagging doubt — an obsessive underlying uncertainty: ‘self-impermanence anxiety’. Biocultural evolution, however, was not finished. It also gave us two additional, uniquely human, primal drives, both serving to help quell the burden of this anxiety. Legacy Drive generates delusional cultural domains for ‘extension’ of self; and Leisure Drive generates pleasurable cultural domains for distraction – ‘escape’ – from self. Legacy Drive and Leisure Drive, Aarssen argues, represent two of the most profound consequences of human cognitive and cultural evolution. What We Are advances propositions regarding how a visceral susceptibility to self-impermanence anxiety has — paradoxically — played a pivotal role in rewarding the reproductive success of our ancestors, and has thus been a driving force in shaping fundamental motivations and cultural norms of modern humans. More than any other milestone in the evolution of human minds, self-impermanence anxiety, and its mitigating Drives for Legacy and Leisure, account for not just the advance of civilization over the past many thousands of years, but also now, its impending collapse. Effective management of this crisis, Aarssen insists, will require a deeper and more broadly public understanding of its Darwinian evolutionary roots — as laid out in What We Are.

In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.

"Steven Lesk, though, after a medical career dedicated to those affected by schizophrenia and a determination to find the answer to its existence, presents a groundbreaking theory that will forever change the lives of the mentally ill. In Footprints of Schizophrenia: The Evolutionary Roots of Madness, Lesk threads evolutionary evidence with neurological evidence, turning the mysteries of our minds into a tapestry of logic. With his breakthrough theory and this unprecedented book, Lesk will invite necessary cultural dialogue about this stigmatized illness, provoke new psychiatric and pharmacological research, and provide unequivocal comfort to those afflicted and affected by schizophrenia"--

The evolution of the human brain and cognitive ability is one of the central themes of physical/biological anthropology. This book discusses the emergence of human cognition at a conceptual level, describing it as a process of long adaptive stasis interrupted by short periods of cognitive advance. These advances were not linear and directed, but were acquired indirectly as part of changing human behaviors, in other words through the process of exaptation (acquisition of a function for which it was not originally selected). Based on studies of the modem human brain, certain prerequisites were needed for the development of the early brain and associated cognitive advances. This book documents the energy and nutrient constraints of the modern brain, highlighting the significant role of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in brain development and maintenance. Crawford provides further emphasis for the role of essential fatty acids, in particular DHA, in brain development, by discussing the evolution of the eye and neural systems. This is an ideal book for Graduate students, post docs, research scientists in Physical/Biological Anthropology, Human Biology, Archaeology, Nutrition, Cognitive Science, Neurosciences. It is also an excellent selection for a grad student discussion seminar.

This book aims to present, educate and inform individuals about Alzheimer's disease in a comprehensive manner. Its scope ranges from the discovery of the disease, epidemiology and basic biological principles underlying it, to advanced stem cell therapies used in the treatment of Alzheimer's. It adopts a 'global' perspective on Alzheimer's disease, and include epidemiological data and science from countries around the world.Alzheimer's disease is a rapidly growing problem seen in every country around the world. This is the first and only comprehensive book to cover Alzheimer's disease, and includes the most updated literature and scientific progress in the field of dementia and Alzheimer's disease research.Most books on the market that focus on Alzheimer's disease are targeted at caregivers as practical advice on how to deal with loved ones with the disease. This book instead is a comprehensive and popular science book that can be read by anyone with an interest in learning more about the disease.Dr Jefferson Chen MD, PhD, co-author, participated in the world's first surgical clinical trial using shunts to treat Alzheimer's disease. His first-hand involvement in a clinical trial for patients with Alzheimer's disease and experience treating Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) which is commonly misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease lends a unique perspective.This book with appeal to a wide audience, regardless of their scientific or educational background.

Sports Neurology is designed to be a comprehensive overview of neurology within the context of sports medicine. This definitive text addresses the history of sports neurology, including its unique role within sports medicine, and provides a detailed assessment of central and peripheral nervous system injuries and illnesses in athletes. Sports Neurology is a critical companion for all sports medicine clinicians and for neurologists who manage athletes. - Provides an introduction and overview of concussion in sport, discussing the epidemiology, biomechanics and pathophysiology of concussion, as well as considerations for sideline evaluation and emergency room diagnosis and management - Explores the long-term consequences of concussion and repetitive head impacts and the relationship with neurodegeneration - Offers an overview of mild, moderate and severe brain injury classification; compares moderate and severe traumatic brain injury within the context of civilian, military and sports circumstances - Describes key issues for the evaluation and treatment of cervical spinal cord injuries, peripheral nerve injuries, and sports-related pain - Provides an overview of neuroepidemiology and the importance of obtaining meaningful sport-related neuroepidemiologic data that will ultimately provide the foundation for making data-driven decisions for central and peripheral nervous system injuries in sport

A sense of belonging is basic to the human experience. But in this, humans are not unique. Essentially all life, from bacteria to humans, have ways by which it determines which members belong and which do not. This is a basic cooperative nature of life I call group membership which is examined in this book. However, cooperation of living things is not easily accounted for by current theory of evolutionary biology and yet even viruses display group membership. That viruses have this feature would likely seem coincidental or irrelevant to most scientist as having any possible relationship to human group identity. Surely such simple molecular-based relationships between viruses are unrelated to the complex cognitive and emotional nature of human group membership. Yet viruses clearly affect bacterial group membership, which are the most diverse and abundant cellular life form on Earth and from which all life has evolved. Viruses are the most ancient, numerous and adaptable biological entities we know. And we have long recognized them for the harm and disease they can cause, and they have been responsible for the greatest numbers of human deaths. However, with the sequencing of entire genomes and more recently with the shotgun sequencings of habitats, we have come to realize viruses are the black hole of biology; a giant force that has until recently been largely unseen and historically ignored by evolutionary biology. Viruses not only can cause acute disease, but also persist as stable unseen agents in their host.