Erin Hecht
Harvard University, MA·Neuroscience·Early-career
How does evolution reshape the brain to produce new behaviors? Some species, and some breeds within a species, seem built to learn particular skills or to behave in particular ways.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Ecology & Evolution
Psychology
- Topics
comparative neuroscience
brain evolution
reactive aggression
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Relate reactive aggression to gray matter shape, white matter microstructure and connectivity in chimpanzees, using existing MRI and DTI scans paired with behavioral measures from the same animals.
- Collect validated reactive and proactive aggression measures and matching brain scans in humans, then compare human, chimpanzee and bonobo brains to test for evolved changes in aggression circuits.
- Compare ape and human brain organization with patterns found in tame foxes to independently test whether humans and bonobos were selected for reduced reactive aggression.
- Identify brain features linked to breed-specific predispositions for learned skills, such as herding or scent detection, using MRI, diffusion and resting-state imaging of 220 dogs from 4 breeds.
- Separate brain plasticity from learning skills in a dog's lifetime from inherited breed differences, and find brain markers that predict working-dog performance ratings.
More about the research
A leading theory also proposes that humans, like bonobos, were selected for reduced impulsive aggression. The lab tests these ideas by comparing brain scans with behavior, both within species and across them, using structural brain imaging of apes, humans and dogs.
Why it matters
Understanding whether humans evolved reduced reactive aggression, and which brain circuits support it, adds to knowledge of what makes our species distinct. Brain markers of real-world working skill in dogs could help organizations that breed and train guide, service and scent-detection dogs. The open datasets and analysis tools will be available to other researchers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Theodorus Van Erp
University of California-Irvine, CA·Neuroscience
Establish replicated functional and structural connectivity signatures of schizophrenia and of schizotypy (subclinical psychosis-like traits in healthy people) by harmonizing resting-state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging across dozens of ENIGMA consortium cohorts.
Yasmin Zakiniaeiz
Yale University, CT·Neuroscience·Early-career
Measure baseline dopamine D2/3 receptor levels in the prefrontal cortex of men and women with alcohol use disorder and sex-matched controls, using PET imaging with the radiotracer [11C]FLB457.
Ying-Hui Chou
University of Arizona, AZ·Neuroscience
Determine whether excitatory or inhibitory rTMS, magnetic pulses delivered through the scalp and aimed at the hippocampus, improves memory more than sham stimulation, in a randomized crossover trial of 60 adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
The school
Harvard University: 42 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 712 research doctorates a year.
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