Terrence Deacon, Anthro. Dept. Chair, Professor

Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Biology Lab

Biological anthropology, neuroanatomy, human communication, behavioral evolution.

Profile

My research combines human evolutionary biology and neuroscience, with the aim of investigating the evolution of human cognition. My work extends from laboratory-based cellular-molecular neurobiology to the study of semiotic processes underlying animal and human communication, especially language. Many of these interests are explored in my 1997 book, The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain.

My neurobiological research is focused on determining the nature of the human divergence from typical primate brain anatomy, the cellular-molecular mechanisms producing this difference, and the correlations between these anatomical differences and special human cognitive abilities, particularly language. In pursuit of these questions I have used a variety of laboratory approaches including the tracing of axonal connections, quantitative analysis of regions of different species brains, and cross-species fetal neural transplantation. Future research plans will focus on isolating elements of the developmental genetic mechanisms that distinguish human brains from other ape brains, and attempting to study the cognitive consequences of human brain differences using in vivo brain imaging.  

My theoretical interests include the study of evolution-like processes at many levels, including their role in embryonic development, neural signal processing, language change, and social processes, and focusing especially on how these different processes interact and depend on each other. In addition, I have a long-standing interest in developing a scientific semiotics that could contribute to both linguistic theory and cognitive neuroscience. This is fueled by a career-long interest in the ideas of the late 19th-century American philosopher, Charles Sanders Peirce. I am just completing a new book, Homunculus, which explores the relationship between evolutionary and semiotic processes.