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John S Allen Ph.D.

About

John Allen is a neuroanthropologist working at the Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center and Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California. Originally trained in biological anthropology, he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He has conducted fieldwork on the psychophysiology and evolution of schizophrenia in Japan, Papua New Guinea, Palau, and New Zealand, where for several years he was a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland. Since 1998, he has conducted human neuroanatomical research as a member of the cognitive science research group headed by Hanna and Antonio Damasio, first at the University of Iowa and more recently at USC. In addition to The Lives of the Brain: Human Evolution and the Organ of Mind (Harvard University Press, 2009), he is the coauthor of two popular anthropology textbooks, Biological Anthropology: The Natural History of Humankind (with Craig Stanford and Susan Antón, Pearson) and Medical Anthropology: A Biocultural Perspective (with Andrea Wiley, Oxford University Press). His most recent book is The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food (Harvard University Press, 2012).

Books by John S Allen Ph.D.
Recent Posts
Growing a "Theory of Food"
Recent studies highlight the importance of the food environments for children, even those less than one-year-old, in shaping dietary habits and health later in childhood. These studies point to early childhood as a critical period for the development of a "theory of food" that shapes how adults both eat and "think" the food they eat.
A Recipe for Working Memory and Brain Health
Food preparation, especially cooking, is a multi-step process involving multiple tools, materials, and senses. The evolution of a human way of food preparation may have been a critical factor in human cognitive evolution. Regularly participating in food preparation, along with maintaining an active intellectual and social life, may help preserve brain health in aging.
Haggis on My Mind

The human mind makes sense of the world in part by classifying its contents, and food is one of the most important things people classify. Although some people might be reluctant to eat it, haggis is a food.

The human mind makes sense of the world in part by classifying its contents, and food is one of the most important things people classify. Although some people might be reluctant to eat it, haggis is a food.

Creativity, the Brain, and Evolution

Psychologists have studied creativity for decades, developing a variety of tests to assess creativity and creative potential in individuals. Using these tests to guide them, cognitive neuroscientists are now using sophisticated neuroimaging tools to assess the neuroanatomical differences between more-creative and less-creative individuals, with the hopes of developing an understanding of creativity from the bottom-up, so to speak.

Psychologists have studied creativity for decades, developing a variety of tests to assess creativity and creative potential in individuals. Using these tests to guide them, cognitive neuroscientists are now using sophisticated neuroimaging tools to assess the neuroanatomical differences between more-creative and less-creative individuals, with the hopes of developing an understanding of creativity from the bottom-up, so to speak.

Was Seafood Brain Food in Human Evolution?

Aquatic foods were probably not necessary to make a bigger brain, but our evolution was undoubtedly abetted by our ancestors' willingness to try new foods, including those found near and under water. 

Aquatic foods were probably not necessary to make a bigger brain, but our evolution was undoubtedly abetted by our ancestors' willingness to try new foods, including those found near and under water. 

The Latest on the Littlest Brains in Human Evolution

Last month (October 2009), Science magazine devoted an entire extraordinary issue to what may be our oldest ancestor: Ardipithecus ramidus. Ardipithecus ramidus, with its small cranial capacity and mix of primitive and derived traits, sits about where it should on the hominid family tree, in both time and space. The same cannot be said for the fossil known as the "Hobbit" (LB1), representing a putative new species, Homo floresiensis. Separated by almost 4 million years and thousands of miles, what do these species tell us about human brain evolution?

Last month (October 2009), Science magazine devoted an entire extraordinary issue to what may be our oldest ancestor: Ardipithecus ramidus. Ardipithecus ramidus, with its small cranial capacity and mix of primitive and derived traits, sits about where it should on the hominid family tree, in both time and space. The same cannot be said for the fossil known as the "Hobbit" (LB1), representing a putative new species, Homo floresiensis. Separated by almost 4 million years and thousands of miles, what do these species tell us about human brain evolution?

A Tooth's Eye View of Brain Evolution

Like other soft tissues of the body, brains don't generally fossilize. In contrast to brains, teeth are the part (or parts) of the body that are most likely to become fossils. They are very hard, and not particularly appetizing to predators or scavengers. Is it possible that fossilized teeth can tell us something about brain evolution? Strangely enough, the answer to that question appears to be "yes." 

Like other soft tissues of the body, brains don't generally fossilize. In contrast to brains, teeth are the part (or parts) of the body that are most likely to become fossils. They are very hard, and not particularly appetizing to predators or scavengers. Is it possible that fossilized teeth can tell us something about brain evolution? Strangely enough, the answer to that question appears to be "yes." 

To Map Is Human

Scientists employ extraordinary imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, combined with the most sophisticated kinds of analytical software, run on ever-more-powerful computers, to map just how thoughts, feelings, and other aspects of human cognition are produced and rendered in the human brain. But when did the map-making urge begin? Certainly, there is quite literally hard evidence of map-making dating back to the Upper Paleolithic of Europe.

Scientists employ extraordinary imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, combined with the most sophisticated kinds of analytical software, run on ever-more-powerful computers, to map just how thoughts, feelings, and other aspects of human cognition are produced and rendered in the human brain. But when did the map-making urge begin? Certainly, there is quite literally hard evidence of map-making dating back to the Upper Paleolithic of Europe.