Abstract
This paper presents a theory of brain and life span evolution and applies it to both the primate order, in general, and to the hominid line, in particular. To address the simultaneous effects of natural selection on the brain and on the life span, it extends standard life history theory (LHT) in biology, which organizes research into the evolutionary forces shaping age-schedules of fertility and mortality (Cole 1954; Gadgil and Bossert 1970; Partridge and Harvey 1985). This extension, the embodied capital theory (Kaplan and Robson 2001 b; Kaplan 1997; Kaplan et al. 2000), integrates existing models with an economic analysis of capital investments and the value of life.
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Kaplan, H.S., Mueller, T., Gangestad, S., Lancaster, J.B. (2003). Neural Capital and Life span Evolution among Primates and Humans. In: Finch, C.E., Robine, JM., Christen, Y. (eds) Brain and Longevity. Research and Perspectives in Longevity. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59356-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59356-7_4
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