Elements of Neuroanthropology.

Neuroanthropology is the integration of neuroscience into anthropology and aims to understand "brains in the wild." This interdisciplinary field examines patterns of human variation in field settings and provides empirical research that complements work done in clinical and laboratory settings. Neuroanthropology often uses ethnography in combination with theories and methods from cognitive science as a way to capture how culture, mind, and brain interact. This article describes nine elements that outline how to do neuroanthropology research: (1) integrating biology and culture through neuroscience and biocultural anthropology; (2) extending focus of anthropology on what people say and do to include what people process; (3) sizing culture appropriately, from broad patterns of culture to culture in small-scale settings; (4) understanding patterns of cultural variation, in particular how culture produces patterns of shared variation; (5) considering individuals in interaction with culture, with levels of analysis that can go from biology to social structures; (6) focusing on interactive elements that bring together biological and cultural processes; (7) conceptual triangulation, which draws on anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience in conjunction with field, clinic, and laboratory; (8) critical complementarity as a way to integrate the strengths of critical scholarship with interdisciplinary work; and (9) using methodological triangulation as a way to advance interdisciplinary research. These elements are illustrated through three case studies: research on US combat veterans and how they use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a way to manage the transition to becoming civilians, work on human-raptor interactions to understand how and why these interactions can prove beneficial for human handlers, and adapting cue reactivity research on addiction to a field-based approach to understand how people interact with cues in naturalistic settings.

Language readiness and learning among deaf children.

We applaud Goldin-Meadow & Brentari's (G-M&B's) significant efforts to consider the linkages between sign, gesture, and language. Research on deaf children and sign language acquisition can broaden the G-M&B approach by considering how language readiness is also a social phenomenon and that distinctions between imagistic and categorical formats rely on language practices and contexts.

Impact of high-intensity interval duration on perceived exertion.

PURPOSE: RPE is increasingly being considered as a viable tool beyond its original use for monitoring in-task exercise intensity. Research indicates that anticipated, in-task, and postexercise RPE values are often notably different from one another. An important new consideration is how perceptions are impacted by high-intensity interval training (HIT). This study aims to compare RPE responses before, during, and after continuous and HIT exercise trials. METHODS: Twenty (11 females and 9 males; mean ± SD age, 22 ± 4 yr) overweight (mean ± SD body mass index, 29 ± 3 kg·m(-2)) and unfit (mean ± SD V˙O2peak, 28 ± 5 mL·kg·min(-1)) participants completed a 20-min heavy continuous (HC) trial and three 24-min severe-intensity interval trials that utilized 1:1 work-to-recovery ratios: 30 s (Severe Interval-30), 60 s (Severe Interval-60), and 120 s (Severe Interval-120). Exertion was assessed using the Borg CR10 Scale. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: Anticipated exertion was highest in the Severe Interval-120 trial (5.8 ± 2.0; P < 0.05) compared with other trials. Exertion increased from beginning to end in all trials (P < 0.05), with the greatest increases observed within the HC trial. Session RPE for the Severe Interval-120 trial (6.4 ± 2.3) was higher than those for all other trials (P < 0.05), and session RPE for the Severe Interval-30 trial (3.7 ± 1.8) was lower than that for the HC trial (4.9 ± 1.6; P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that 30-s HIT protocols limit the perceptual drift that occurs during exercise, in comparison to HC exercise. Moreover, performing more intervals of shorter durations appears to produce lower postexercise RPE values than performing fewer intervals of longer duration and equal intensity. Because effort perception may influence behavior, these results could have implications for the prescription of interval training in overweight sedentary adults.

Drug instrumentalization and evolution: Going even further.

Müller & Schumann (M&S) deserve applause for their interdisciplinary examination of drug use, evolution, and learning. Further steps can deepen their evolutionary analysis: a focus on adaptive benefits, a distinction between approach and consummatory behaviors, an examination of how drugs can create adaptive lag through changing human niche construction, the importance of other neurobehavioral mechanisms in drug use besides instrumentalization, and the importance of sociocultural dynamics and neural plasticity in both human evolution and drug use.

Embodiment and breast cancer among African American women.

African American women have historically been screened for breast cancer less than other women, contributing to higher mortality rates. Previous research has focused on social and cultural factors, such as discrimination and religiosity, as shaping African American women's screening practices. This article extends this research by (a) examining the decisions and justifications of African American women with regard to screening practices, and (b) using a theoretical focus on embodiment to better understand women in relation to their own bodies. Ethnographic research consisted of 5 months of participant observation at an Indiana (USA) breast cancer care center, and 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews along the continuum of screening practices. The results showed that embodied understandings of the body, personal (rather than biomedical) considerations of screening and treatment, and the quality of doctor/patient interactions all play a significant role in women's decisions about whether to screen for breast cancer or not. Based on these results and a review of the literature, six ways to include embodiment in public health initiatives are outlined.

Community approaches to preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission: perspectives from rural Lesotho.

This paper examines the cultural and structural difficulties surrounding effective prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) in rural Lesotho. We argue for three strategies to improve PMTCT interventions: community-based research and outreach, addressing cultural and structural dynamics, and working with the relevant social groups that impact HIV prevention. These conclusions are based on interviews and participant observation conducted within the rural Mokhotlong district and capital city of Maseru, involving women and men of reproductive age, grandmothers serving as primary caretakers, HIV/AIDS programme staff, and medical professionals. Qualitative analysis focused on rural women's socio-medical experience with the four measures of PMTCT (educational outreach, voluntary counselling and testing, antiretroviral interventions, and safe infant feeding). Based on these results, we conclude that intervention models must move beyond a myopic biomedical 'best-practices' approach to address the social groups and contextual determinants impacting vertical HIV transmission. Given the complexities of effective PMTCT, our results show that it is necessary to consider the biomedical system, women and children, and the community as valuable partners in achieving positive health outcomes.

Craving and control: methamphetamine users' narratives.

In this article the authors explore the experience of craving of methamphetamine users and seek to illuminate how differences in craving contribute to use patterns. Using in-depth interviewing, data were collected from 82 active methamphetamine users in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The constant comparison method common in grounded theory guided the data analysis. Narrative responses corresponded with three types of craving described in the literature: cue-, drug- and withdrawal-induced. However, the narratives also problematize this typological view as well as the characterization of craving as invariably leading to drug use. Types of craving cues were sometimes inseparable, and users indicated that the different types of craving could occur in the same situation. Further, many users described being able to overcome craving through personalized methods of control. This study complements the largely quantitative work on craving and highlights the importance of improving drug abuse treatment and harm reduction programs.

Evolution meets biopsychosociality: an analysis of addictive behavior.

Evolutionary theory can inform the biopsychosocial approach to addictive behavior through the use of adaptationist thinking, or how natural selection has shaped the mechanisms and processes underlying addiction. Covering how evolutionary theory relates to biology, psychology and sociality, this paper examines three components to drug use and abuse: a biological mechanism (mesolimbic dopamine), a developmental trajectory (attachment) and a social phylogeny (dominance, submission, social dependence). The paper argues for a salience (or wanting) view of the function of dopamine; outlines how attachment affects time perspective, closure of internal models and self-regulation; and examines how inequality affects drug abuse and how social dependence and manipulative behaviors can play a role in relationships with drugs. The article concludes with an analysis of how the adaptive approach applies to interventions against addictive behavior.