Daniel Aslan: Evolutionary Interactions Between Human Cognition and Locomotion

Daniel H. Aslan
Ph.D. Candidate
Integrative & Evolutionary Biology

The overarching question that guided my dissertation was: how did evolutionary transitions in human movement influence the relationship between human locomotion and the brain? Cognitive abilities were likely essential to hominin foraging strategies. However, it is often-overlooked that these cognitive processes occur in  combination with locomotion. Moreover, human locomotion has undergone two major evolutionary transitions – first, the shift to bipedalism, and later, the adoption of a hunting and gathering lifestyle (i.e., endurance-based foraging), both of which may have influenced how the brain and body interact during movement. The cognitive demands of locomotion may also have implications for aging, as age-related changes in walking speed may serve as an early indicator of brain health, potentially reflecting a diminished cognitive capacity to manage cognitive-locomotor demands. To address these questions, I used three complementary approaches: laboratory-based experiments, ecological observations of hunter-gatherers, and an epidemiological analysis of large-scale cohort data. In one study, my findings reveal that engaging in cognitive tasks while walking negatively impacts endurance by increasing the perception of physical fatigue, but improved performance in specific cognitive domains can reduce the constraints that cognitive engagement may place on endurance. These results are some of the first to suggest that improvements in cognition across our evolutionary history may have enhanced foraging performance. By highlighting the often-overlooked impact of locomotor demands on cognition throughout human evolution, this dissertation take a critical step toward understanding why movement and brain function are fundamentally interconnected. Join my dissertation defense to hear additional finding from this research.