Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social
Associate Professor at @durhampsych.bsky.social. I look at how culture influences children's learning, and how learning makes us human.
Such a cool paper! Congrats @mandolinguist.bsky.social!!!
⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure.
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The lexicon adapts to competing communicative pressures: Explaining patterns of word similarity
Cross-linguistically, lexicons tend to be more phonetically clustered than required by the phonotactics of the language; that is, words within a langu…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Such a cool paper! Congrats @mandolinguist.bsky.social!!!
Some very clever colleagues have written this toolkit paper, offering "a set of recommendations for evaluating development across middle childhood, with attention to the eco-cultural context of maturation" Highly recommend!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Field Methods for Investigating Onset and Progression of Middle Childhood Physical, Hormonal, Cognitive and Social Development
Child development is biocultural, meaning both genetics and experience with the ecocultural context shape ontogeny. Developmental systems—physical, hormonal, cognitive, social, among others—are dynam....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Some very clever colleagues have written this toolkit paper, offering "a set of recommendations for evaluating development across middle childhood, with attention to the eco-cultural context of maturation" Highly recommend!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Evolutionary psychology makes a big to-do about their finding that sexual selection favors a "feminine body type" that "signals fertility/reproductive potential", including some rather... silly research. Turns out, those traits don't seem to signal reproductive success. Oops! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Evolutionary psychology makes a big to-do about their finding that sexual selection favors a "feminine body type" that "signals fertility/reproductive potential", including some rather... silly research. Turns out, those traits don't seem to signal reproductive success. Oops! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
November 7, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
New research on wild chimpanzees shows juvenile innovation is not play but a cultural engine. Young chimps invent tools, refine adult techniques, and introduce novelty. What if childhood experimentation drove early human cultural evolution too? #Primatology #Anthropology #Archaeology #HumanOrigins
Young chimpanzees invent tools, modify adult techniques, and explore in ways that spark cultural change. New research suggests childhood curiosity may have fueled innovation long before Homo sapiens shaped history. #Anthropology #Primates #Evolution #Science www.primatology.net/p/the-little...
The Little Inventors of the Forest
Young chimpanzees build tools, break rules, and may hold clues to how culture first evolved
www.primatology.net
October 31, 2025 at 2:44 AM
New research on wild chimpanzees shows juvenile innovation is not play but a cultural engine. Young chimps invent tools, refine adult techniques, and introduce novelty. What if childhood experimentation drove early human cultural evolution too? #Primatology #Anthropology #Archaeology #HumanOrigins
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher‐farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo
A substantial body of anthropological research has investigated how subsistence communities engage with market-based economies. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by examining adolesce...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:21 AM
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Karen's work on how children's contributions to the family are essential in underwriting high fertility is really excellent, and described nicely in this podcast. Also something that doesn't get enough attention in current debates about low fertility
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
November 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Karen's work on how children's contributions to the family are essential in underwriting high fertility is really excellent, and described nicely in this podcast. Also something that doesn't get enough attention in current debates about low fertility
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
I’ll be considering graduate school applications for Fall 2026 – positions are fully funded, typically for 5 years. Deadline to apply to the Cognition program is December 1. Come do science with me in beautiful Amherst, Massachusetts! www.umass.edu/natural-scie...
PhD in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience : College of Natural Sciences : UMass Amherst
Engage in research centered on fundamental theoretical questions about cognitive function using multiple experimental methods and data analysis.
www.umass.edu
October 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I’ll be considering graduate school applications for Fall 2026 – positions are fully funded, typically for 5 years. Deadline to apply to the Cognition program is December 1. Come do science with me in beautiful Amherst, Massachusetts! www.umass.edu/natural-scie...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be joining the faculty at @umassamherst.bsky.social next year as an assistant professor in Psychological & Brain Sciences! 🥳
a cartoon of homer simpson says whoo-hoo in front of a stone wall
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson says whoo-hoo in front of a stone wall
media.tenor.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be joining the faculty at @umassamherst.bsky.social next year as an assistant professor in Psychological & Brain Sciences! 🥳
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
👋 Meet Sarah, our Secretary!
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
October 23, 2025 at 4:32 PM
👋 Meet Sarah, our Secretary!
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge - Nature Human Behaviour
Formal education systems rarely include the knowledge and skills of hunter-gatherer societies. This can lead to cultural erosion and knowledge decline. For education to be both high quality and sustai...
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Social learning is critical to breastfeeding success: evidence from rural Namibian pastoralists
AbstractBackground and objectives. Lactation is one of the defining features of mammals, yet many humans struggle with breastfeeding. One reason for this i
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
posted on October 16, 2025
We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...
hmc-lab.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
👋 Meet Abbey, our Chair!
@abbeyepage.bsky.social is a lecturer in Psych at @brunelcce.bsky.social ! As chair, she sets the agenda and overall direction of W+EBS to best support our members. She arranges and chairs meetings and hosts W+EBS events at HBES and other conferences. 1/2
#WplusEBS
@abbeyepage.bsky.social is a lecturer in Psych at @brunelcce.bsky.social ! As chair, she sets the agenda and overall direction of W+EBS to best support our members. She arranges and chairs meetings and hosts W+EBS events at HBES and other conferences. 1/2
#WplusEBS
October 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
👋 Meet Abbey, our Chair!
@abbeyepage.bsky.social is a lecturer in Psych at @brunelcce.bsky.social ! As chair, she sets the agenda and overall direction of W+EBS to best support our members. She arranges and chairs meetings and hosts W+EBS events at HBES and other conferences. 1/2
#WplusEBS
@abbeyepage.bsky.social is a lecturer in Psych at @brunelcce.bsky.social ! As chair, she sets the agenda and overall direction of W+EBS to best support our members. She arranges and chairs meetings and hosts W+EBS events at HBES and other conferences. 1/2
#WplusEBS
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
I am happy to announce that our project on risk and social learning is now in press at Psychological Review. Several new additions and revisions thanks to detailed feedback from colleagues and anonymous reviewers. osf.io/preprints/so...
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
September 27, 2025 at 12:14 AM
I am happy to announce that our project on risk and social learning is now in press at Psychological Review. Several new additions and revisions thanks to detailed feedback from colleagues and anonymous reviewers. osf.io/preprints/so...
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Cover reveal for my forthcoming book, WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN which tells the history of Cold War Britain (c.1956-89) through the eyes of children & young people! Out with @yalebooks.bsky.social 28 April 2026 #booksky #skystorians yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
September 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Cover reveal for my forthcoming book, WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN which tells the history of Cold War Britain (c.1956-89) through the eyes of children & young people! Out with @yalebooks.bsky.social 28 April 2026 #booksky #skystorians yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
It’s really funny that you can amass hundreds of billions of dollars, and still
Be desperately uncool and dull. I know that’s gotta hurt.
Be desperately uncool and dull. I know that’s gotta hurt.
September 15, 2025 at 3:10 PM
It’s really funny that you can amass hundreds of billions of dollars, and still
Be desperately uncool and dull. I know that’s gotta hurt.
Be desperately uncool and dull. I know that’s gotta hurt.
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
💙New paper!💙
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 14, 2025 at 7:52 AM
💙New paper!💙
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
“individuals tend to report more accurately about the partners with whom they shared knowledge than about those from whom they received knowledge….findings provide important empirical evidence on how community-wide cultural transmission is structured by demography and perception”
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 14, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“individuals tend to report more accurately about the partners with whom they shared knowledge than about those from whom they received knowledge….findings provide important empirical evidence on how community-wide cultural transmission is structured by demography and perception”
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Can't recommend these two enough. Fantastic women, amazing projects 👏👏👏
@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Fees and Funding - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
September 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Can't recommend these two enough. Fantastic women, amazing projects 👏👏👏
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Durham's Dunagree Lab continues to be the most wonderful workplace. Thank you to @sheinalew.bsky.social, @chimpanzeve.bsky.social, @fhillemann.bsky.social, @amandinevisine.bsky.social and others not on Bluesky for the surprise baby shower today 🥹
September 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Durham's Dunagree Lab continues to be the most wonderful workplace. Thank you to @sheinalew.bsky.social, @chimpanzeve.bsky.social, @fhillemann.bsky.social, @amandinevisine.bsky.social and others not on Bluesky for the surprise baby shower today 🥹
@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Fees and Funding - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 9:12 AM
@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏
Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social.
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
www.mpi.nl/publications...
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
www.mpi.nl/publications...
September 9, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏