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Revision as of 18:28, 28 April 2014 by Arthur E. Davis (talk | contribs) (→Bibliography: Deleted Bibliography and replaced with Select Books and Select journal articles)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Dean Falk | |
|---|---|
 Falk in June 2009 | |
| Born | June 25, 1944 (1944-06-25) (age 80) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Anthropologist |
| Organization | Florida State University |
Dean Falk (born June 25, 1944) is an American academic anthropologist who specializes in the evolution of the brain and cognition in higher primates. She is a Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University.
Career
Dean Falk is a writer, a physical anthropologist at Florida State University, and a Senior Scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, NM. As an undergraduate, she studied mathematics and anthropology. Since receiving her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1976, she has taught courses in anatomy, neuroanatomy, and anthropology. Falk is interested in the evolution of the brain and cognition. She formulated the “radiator theory” that cranial blood vessels were important for hominin brain evolution, and the “putting the baby down” hypothesis that prehistoric mothers and infants facilitated the emergence of language. She led a team that described the endocast of Homo floresiensis (“Hobbit”). In 2013, Falk and colleagues thoroughly described the cerebral cortex of Albert Einstein from recently emerged photographs of his whole brain.
Criticism
Falk's 2005 study of the endocast of Homo floresiensis was criticized by other experts. In 2007, with an international team of experts, Falk created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid's braincase (endocasts) and concluded that the Hobbit was actually a new species that may have shared an earlier ancestor with Homo erectus. Falk's team have repeatedly asserted that their findings confirm that the species cataloged as LB1, Homo floresiensis, is definitely not a human born with microcephalia — a somewhat rare pathological condition that still occurs today.
Select Books
- Falk, Dean (2011). The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26670-4.
- Falk, D., Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants and the Origin of Language, Basic Books, New York 2009 ISBN 978-0-465-00219-1
- Falk, D. Braindance Revised and Expanded. University Press of Florida, 2004
- Falk, D. and K. Gibson (eds) Evolutionary Anatomy of the Primate Cerebral Cortex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001
- Falk, D. Primate Diversity. New York: Norton, 2000
Select journal articles
- Falk, D. (2014). Interpreting sulci on hominin endocasts: Old hypotheses and new findings. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8:134. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00134.
- Weiwei, M., Falk, D., Sun, T., Chen, Wl, Li, J., Yin, D., Zang, L., & M. Fan. (2013). The corpus callosum of Albert Einstein’s brain: another clue to his high intelligence? Brain, doi : 10.1093/brain/awt252. http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/awt252?ijkey=pEjWKCBzsquryNc&keytype=ref
- Falk, D., Lepore, F., Noe, A. (2013). The cerebral cortex of Albert Einstein: A description and preliminary analysis of unpublished photographs, Brain 136(4): 1304-1327. http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/11/14/brain.aws295.full
- Falk, D. Happiness: An evolutionary perspective. (2012). In B. R. Johnston (Ed.), second Vital Topics Forum “On Happiness,” the American Anthropologist 114(1):8-9.
- Falk, D. (2009). The natural endocast of Taung (Australopithecus africanus): Insights from the unpublished papers of Raymond Arthur Dart, Yrbk. Phys. Anthropol. Series 52:49-65.
- Falk, D., Hildebolt,C., Smith, K., Morwood, M.J., Sutikna, T., Jatmiko, Saptomo, W.E., Imhof , H., Seidler, H. & F. Prior. (2007). Brain shape in human microcephalics and Homo floresiensis. PNAS 104:2513-2518.
- Falk, D., Hildebolt, C., Smith, K., Morwood, M.J., Sutikna, T., Brown, P., Jatmiko, Saptomo W. E., Brunsden, B. & F. Prior. (2005). The brain of LB1, Homo floresiensis. Science Express, March 3, 2005; Science 308:242-245.
- Falk, D. Prelinguistic evolution in early hominins: Whence motherese? (target article) (2004). Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27:491-503.
- Falk, D. Brain evolution in Homo: the "radiator" theory (target article). (1990). Behav. Brain Sci. 13:333-344.
See also
References
External links
- Dean Falk Florida State University faculty profile
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