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schoenemann

Tom Schoenemann

Associate Professor of Anthropology
Research Scientist, The Stone Age Institute
Director, Human Brain Evolution Laboratory
Co-director Open Research Scan Archive at Penn
Faculty Member: Cognitive Science Program

(812) 855-8800 | Email | Office Hours
  • Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley (1997)
  • M.A. in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley (1993)
  • B.A. in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley (1986)

Geographical Areas of Specialization: The World

Topical Interests: Coevolution of brain and behavior, evolution of language, functional morphology of the brain, human variation, modeling evolutionary hypotheses, mathematical image analysis

Profile:

Tom Schoenemann’s research focus is on the evolution of the brain, along with the presumed coevolution of cognitive abilities responsible for these changes.  He has done work on the functional morphology of brain anatomy from an evolutionary perspective, assessed differences in brain anatomy between humans and other primates, and explored models of cognitive evolution, particularly the evolution of language.  He has applied mathematical image analysis tools - derived originally for medical research - to questions of the evolution of brain and other aspect of morphology.  For many years now he has co-directed the Open Research Scan Archive project at Penn, which has obtained and made freely available over 2500 high-resolution CT scans of osteological specimens for research by scholars worldwide. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1997, and has worked at the Center for Functional Imaging at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and James Madison University, before coming to Indiana University.

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Selected Publications


NP Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “Evolution of Brain and Language,” Language Learning
NP Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “The meaning of brain size: the evolution of conceptual complexity” in Human Brain Evolving: Papers in Honor of Ralph Holloway, Stone Age Institute Press, Bloomington, Indiana
2009 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “Brain evolution relevant to language” In: Minett, James W. & Wang, William S-Y., eds. Language, Evolution, and the Brain, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 191-223
2007 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, James Gee, Brian Avants, Ralph L. Holloway, Janet Monge, and Jason Lewis, “Validation of Plaster Endocast Morphology Through 3D CT Image Analysis” American Journal of Physical Anthropology v. 132:183-192
2006 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “Evolution of the Size and Functional Areas of the Human Brain” Annual Review of Anthropology v. 35:379-406
2006 Avants, Brian B., P. T. Schoenemann, and J. C. Gee, “Landmark and Intensity Driven Lagrangian Frame Diffeomorphic Image Registration: Application to Functionally and Structurally-based Inter-Species Comparison” Medical Image Analysis v. 10(3):397-412
2005 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, Michael Sheehan, and L. Daniel Glotzer, “Prefrontal white matter volume is disproportionately larger in humans than in other primates” Nature Neuroscience v. 8(2):242-252
2005 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, 2005, “Conceptual complexity and the brain: Understanding language origins” in Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence: Essays in Evolutionary Linguistics. Edited by William S.-Y. Wang and James W. Minett.  Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 47-94
2004 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “Brain size and body composition in mammals,” Brain Behavior and Evolution v. 63(1):47-60
2000 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, F. Budinger, Vincent M. Sarich, William S.-Y. Wang, “Brain size does not predict general cognitive ability within families,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. v. 97(9):4932-4937
1999 Schoenemann, P. Thomas, “Syntax as an emergent characteristic of the evolution of semantic complexity,” Minds and Machines, v. 9:309-346.
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