Erin Hecht, PI of the Evolutionary Neuroscience Lab & Director of the Canine Brains Project. Dept of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. (she/her)
Cambridge, MA
Joined November 2018
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Using non-invasive MRI, we found a pathway in dog brains that predicts receptive vocabulary size. It’s left-lateralized & connects regions that produce and perceive vocal communication. A convergently evolved arcuate fasciculis? Read at @CurrentBiology: sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
ALT The image shows a white matter path in the dog brain connecting vocal premotor region XC to temporal auditory regions rESG and pESG. A bar graph shows that the tract is significantly larger in the left hemisphere. Scatterplots show that the tract predicts the receptive vocabulary size of individual dogs.
I emailed Dr. Trut as a no-name grad student asking if I could do MRI research with her foxes. She didn’t write me off & 15 years later I have a lab at Harvard continuing to study the amazing animals she helped create. She made an impact in science & my life. Thank you, Dr. Trut.
Lyudmila Trut devoted her life to studying the process of domestication by selectively breeding friendly foxes trib.al/RracGzx
Come see @Sophie_A_Barton’s talk if you’re at #sfn2024! Nature and nurture in the brain organization of domestic dogs!
Congratulations @Sophie_A_Barton on our new canine MRI paper!
Do extreme head shapes in dogs correspond with altered brain morphology? The answer is yes, according to my newly published paper on skull-brain covariation in dogs! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…
Interest in brain evolution, domestication, and social behavior? My lab in @HarvardHEB has openings for neurohistology postdoc and RA positions. Happy to chat to interested applicants at #SfN24!
Congrats, @Sophie_A_Barton!
Do extreme head shapes in dogs correspond with altered brain morphology? The answer is yes, according to my newly published paper on skull-brain covariation in dogs! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…
Just how similar is aggression across species? My lab is collecting brain & behavior data in other animals 🐶🦊🐵, but we need human data to enable a direct comparison. Fill out this 10-min survey for a chance at a $50 gift card & an MRI invite. Pls share! tinyurl.com/2j264whf
How do experiences & perspectives differ among scientists working with different species? We are collecting info about career trajectories, challenges, & research topics for a peer-reviewed journal article. Please share! tinyurl.com/bdcwtn5b
We’re hiring! Come join us in @HarvardHEB to investigate brain-behavior evolution in dogs, other canids, humans, & other primates. Seeking expertise in histology & microscopy. 🔬
Postdoc: academicpositions.harvard.ed…
Full-time staff: sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/…
We’re hiring! Come join us in @HarvardHEB to investigate brain-behavior evolution in dogs, other canids, humans, & other primates. Seeking expertise in histology & microscopy. 🔬
Postdoc: academicpositions.harvard.ed…
Full-time staff: sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/…
Seeking a postdoc with experience in histology, IHC, & microscopy to study brain-behavior relationships in dogs & foxes. Additional opportunities to learn MRI &/or animal behavior. Come join our multidisciplinary team at @HarvardHEB!😎🧠🔬 🦊🐶academicpositions.harvard.ed…
Our lab is looking for one or more therapy or service dogs who are good with kids to assist with a study on child-dog bonding at Harvard. We can provide compensation for the handler. Please email [email protected] 😊
It was such a pleasure to participate in this podcast! Thanks, @ManyMindsPod!
New episode!! 📣📣
A chat w/ Katherine Bryant & @LabHecht about human brain evolution.
Before our brains could grow, we needed to unlock more calories. But did those extra calories come from meat, tubers, cooking? Or somewhere funkier?
Listen: disi.org/fermentation-fire-a…
Thank you to the @harvabrainsci Initiative for organizing this!
Missed our last 101 talk? You can watch the recording of Erin Hecht's (@LabHecht) Dog Brains 101" talk on our @YouTube channel: youtube.com/watch?v=Ie7B1T5f… @Harvard @HarvardHEB
Why hasn’t this hypothesis received more attention earlier? 🤷♀️ Science moves forward by challenging old ideas and testing new ones. In our paper, we suggest several empirical tests! nature.com/articles/s42003-0… 17/end