Examinando por Materia "Evolution"
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- PublicaciónSólo datosHow geography influences complex cognitive ability(Elsevier Inc., 2015-04-16) León Eyzaguirre, Federico R.; Burga-León, AndrésEvolutionary explanations for geography's influence on complex cognitive ability (CCA) imply virtually immutable components of between-nation IQ differences. Their weight vis-à-vis the weight of situational components was evaluated through an analysis of a 194-country data set. Additive effects of absolute latitude (AL) and longitudinal distance from Homo sapiens' cradle (LDC) explain Northeastern Asian higher, Sub-Saharan African lower CCAs. AL exerts cognitive influence directly and through socioeconomic development and evolutionary genetics whereas LDC does through evolutionary genetics; however, this occurs differently in Africa-Near East-Europe and elsewhere. The findings are understood assuming supremacy of contemporary UVB radiation → hormonal and climatic → socioeconomic mediators of the AL–CCA linkage whose effects are moderated by heterogeneous genetic and cultural adaptations to radiation and climate. Geography's cognitive effects are dynamic and public-policy actions may modify them.
- PublicaciónSólo datosWhy complex cognitive ability increases with absolute latitude(Elsevier Inc., 2014) León Eyzaguirre, Federico R.; Burga-León, AndrésEvolutionary psychologists attribute the superior IQs of light-skinned populations to genetic imprints left by millenary processes promoted by cold. But a novel theory that explains IQ gains observed across recent generations ascribes them to a latitude→UVB radiation→vitamin D3→parents' sexual hormones→family size→child's intellectual environment→IQ chain of effects. Analyses of 506,347 Peruvian children's math and reading scores from a national census confirmed that complex cognitive ability increases with absolute latitude even under tropical megathermal climates and decreases with high altitude above sea level, birth rate and social development mediate most of the effects, and reading is more strongly influenced than math. The findings weaken the evolutionary cold hypothesis and strengthen the view that contraception has the potential to reduce latitudinal IQ gaps.