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Cor - Current State (v2)
Snapshot
What Cor is
A mechanism-level specification of the human organism: what it
is
before what it prefers
Derivation: frame -> premises -> properties -> consequences -> convergences -> mechanisms
Built to ground AI alignment, clinical practice, environment design, policy
Canonical counts (live from the snapshot)
18 Foundations
15 Convergences
15 Mechanisms
84 Researchers
159 Works / corpus
659 Extractions
997 Mechanism-evidence links
9 Empirical demonstrations
8 Applications
23 Research domains
1 Bridge theses
16 Open questions
32 EEA baseline parameters (The Gap)
Foundations (18)
L0 - Frame (2)
OF1 - Fitness Interface
Access to the world is mediated by evolved fitness interfaces, not guaranteed veridicality.
evidence: 8
OF2 - Signal-Default Epistemology
Motivational-emotional outputs are treated as prima facie informative about the organism's regulated conditions, by default.
evidence: 18
L1 - Premises (3)
P2 - Domain-Sensitive Interacting Adaptations
The organism contains evolved, domain-sensitive, interacting functional adaptations.
evidence: 197
P3 - Systematic Mismatch
Modern environments often push these adaptations outside their expected or regulatable operating ranges.
evidence: 159
P1 - Inclusive Fitness
Inclusive fitness - survival and reproduction - is the loss function of selection, not of the organism's runtime computation.
evidence: 56
L2 - Properties (10)
DA2 - Socially Scaffolded Regulation
Human regulation is constitutively socially scaffolded;
evidence: 136
DA3 - Recurrent Coupling and Cascading
Systems are recurrently coupled;
evidence: 48
DA4 - Proxy Hijacking via Open Loops
Proxy cues can activate systems without meeting the conditions that normally regulate or terminate them.
evidence: 35
DA5 - Defensive Over-Activation Bias
Defensive systems err toward over-activation under asymmetric error costs.
evidence: 35
DA6 - Competing Motivational Programs
The architecture contains partially competing motivational programs and tradeoff structures.
evidence: 20
DA7 - Developmental Calibration
The architecture calibrates to developmental and ongoing environmental input within evolved ranges.
evidence: 66
DA8 - Phylogenetic Priority
Motivational programs have phylogenetically determined priority relations.
evidence: 80
DA1 - Defensive Signals Under Mismatch
Many aversive outputs are intelligible defensive signals under mismatch, not evidence of defective design.
evidence: 102
DA9 - Non-Substitutability of Mechanism Resolution
Mechanism resolution conditions are not fully interchangeable.
evidence: 2
DA10 - Heritable Parameter Variation
Architecture parameters (drive gains, thresholds, calibration setpoints) vary between individuals within heritable ranges.
evidence: 5
L3 - Consequences (3)
DC1 - Allostatic Load Accumulation
Chronic unresolved activation accumulates as allostatic load.
evidence: 67
DC2 - Market Proxy Exploitation
Markets can industrialize proxy exploitation of unmet regulatory needs.
evidence: 22
DC3 - Environment as Primary Intervention Layer
Cortical override of subcortical activation is metabolically expensive, and chronic defensive activation downregulates the cortical override machinery itself.
evidence: 2
Convergences (15)
Forcing a mechanism (5)
C6 - Wanting-Liking Dissociation as Proxy Hijack
->
M2
grade: forced
independent literatures
Berridge & Robinson incentive salience / mesolimbic dopamine
Tinbergen ethology and supernormal stimuli
Panksepp SEEKING circuit affective neuroscience
C10 - Threat-Detection via Ancient Subcortical Circuits
->
M1
grade: forced
independent literatures
Panksepp FEAR/RAGE circuit neuroanatomy
Öhman & Mineka fear module visual attention / backward masking
Nesse evolutionary psychiatry of panic and anxiety
C11 - Reciprocity, Norm Enforcement, and Coalition Architecture
->
M11
grade: strongly_supported
independent literatures
Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of cooperation
Boehm political anthropology of egalitarianism
Tomasello comparative cognition and shared intentionality
C14 - Reproductive Motivation as Distinct Architecture
->
M14
grade: forced
independent literatures
Panksepp LUST circuit affective neuroscience
Buss sexual strategies theory
Haselton & Buss error management in cross-sex mind reading
C5 - Socially Scaffolded Regulation via Attachment
->
M3
grade: forced
independent literatures
Coan social baseline theory affective neuroscience
Bowlby attachment theory
Hrdy cooperative-breeding primatology
Dunbar social brain hypothesis
Holt-Lunstad social-relationships epidemiology
Cross-cutting support (10)
C2 - Domain-Sensitive Organism Architecture
grade: forced
independent literatures
Tooby & Cosmides evolutionary psychology design principle
Panksepp affective neuroscience seven-systems taxonomy
Bowlby attachment theory
C3 - Systematic EEA-Modern Environment Mismatch
grade: forced
independent literatures
Eaton & Konner evolutionary medicine / discordance hypothesis
Li van Vugt Colarelli mismatch hypothesis review
Boyd & Richerson gene-culture coevolution
Henrich WEIRD cross-cultural psychology
C4 - Phylogenetic Conservation of Subcortical Affective Systems
grade: forced
independent literatures
Panksepp affective neuroscience cross-species
Bowlby attachment cross-mammalian
Hrdy primatology and cooperative breeding
C7 - Adverse Experience Cascading Dose-Response
grade: forced
independent literatures
Felitti ACE Study clinical epidemiology
McEwen allostatic load neuroendocrinology
Panksepp cross-system inhibition affective neuroscience
C8 - Error Management Asymmetry in Defensive Systems
grade: forced
independent literatures
Nesse smoke detector principle evolutionary psychiatry
Haselton & Buss Error Management Theory
Öhman & Mineka fear module cognitive neuroscience
C9 - Allostatic Load Accumulation
grade: forced
independent literatures
McEwen allostasis and allostatic load neuroendocrinology
Felitti ACE clinical epidemiology
Sapolsky primate stress physiology
C1 - Inclusive Fitness as Loss Function
grade: forced
independent literatures
Darwin natural selection theory
Hamilton inclusive fitness formalism
Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of altruistic punishment
C12 - Developmental Calibration within Evolved Ranges
grade: forced
independent literatures
Bowlby attachment developmental calibration
McEwen HPA-axis neuroendocrinology
Felitti ACE Study clinical developmental epidemiology
C13 - Aversive Outputs as Intelligible Defensive Signals
grade: forced
independent literatures
Nesse evolutionary psychiatry of defensive signals
Panksepp affective neuroscience of aversive systems
Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of moralistic outrage
C15 - Heritable Individual Variation in Behavioral Traits
grade: forced
independent literatures
Polderman twin-study meta-analysis (behavior genetics)
Plomin adoption and family designs (behavior genetics)
Yang GCTA molecular SNP-heritability (statistical genetics)
Turkheimer three laws (framing)
Mechanisms (15)
Tier 1 - strongest evidence (10)
M14 - Reproductive Motivation
evidence: 62 - grade: established
M3 - Social Bonding
evidence: 212 - grade: established
M5 - Status Monitoring
evidence: 97 - grade: established
M1 - Threat Management
evidence: 116 - grade: established
M7 - Circadian Regulation
evidence: 35 - grade: established
M4 - Social Calibration / Play
evidence: 57 - grade: established
M8 - Immune Regulation
evidence: 44 - grade: established
M6 - Controllability / Agency
evidence: 38 - grade: established
M2 - Pursuit / Exploration
evidence: 69 - grade: established
M9 - Care / Alloparenting
evidence: 70 - grade: established
Tier 2 - strongly supported (4)
M11 - Cooperation / Alliance
evidence: 83 - grade: strongly_supported
M10 - Movement / Regulatory
evidence: 35 - grade: strongly_supported
M13 - Energy Regulation
evidence: 44 - grade: strongly_supported
M12 - Contamination Avoidance
evidence: 12 - grade: strongly_supported
Tier 3 - regulatory input (1)
R1 - Touch
evidence: 23 - grade: moderate
The Gap (32)
Each mechanism's matched environment vs the modern default
Contested measured numbers held
next to
the spec, not inside it; grades foregrounded; figures illustrative, not constants
9 carry a contested flag
Social structure (9)
EEA-SOC-01 - Social network layers (~5/15/50/150)
grade: replicated - contested - serves
M11
,
M3
,
M5
The mismatch is not in the inner-layer capacities themselves (still ~5/15/50/150, not technologically expandable) but between the number of ties the modern environment presents...
EEA-SOC-02 - Lifetime known-individual ceiling (~1,000)
grade: theoretical - contested - serves
M11
,
M3
EEA delivered a finite, slowly-accreting lifetime roster (~1,000+) in which virtually every encountered person was known or one reciprocal link away and carried trackable...
EEA-SOC-03 - Band / camp size (a few dozen adults; ~25-50)
grade: thin - contested - serves
M11
,
M3
The ancestral social field was a small set of a few dozen (~25-50) personally-known adults sharing a camp, sitting within the band/overnight-camp Dunbar layer.
EEA-SOC-04 - Within-camp kin fraction (low; campmates mostly unrelated)
grade: thin - serves
M11
,
M3
The ancestral signal was: 'the group around me is mostly unrelated people I (or my band) actively chose and continuously vetted through reciprocity and reputation;
EEA-SOC-05 - Membership turnover (camp dissolves and reconstitutes; ~12% repeated campmates year-over-year, ~88% annual turnover)
grade: thin - serves
M11
,
M3
The ancestral and modern environments are inverted on which layer is stable.
EEA-SOC-06 - Selection rule / "shuffle algorithm" (choice-driven; homophily + cooperation + reciprocity; kinship not main glue)
grade: thin - serves
M11
,
M3
The EEA delivered a continuous, agency-rich sorting process that filtered one's immediate social world toward reciprocating, cooperative, vouched-for partners - kinship was...
EEA-SOC-07 - Relationship longevity & maintenance (decades-long durable dyads; ~27-yr co-survival ceiling; maintenance institutions like hxaro conserve bonds across distance)
grade: thin - serves
M11
,
M3
The ancestral environment conserved the relationship across changing groups; the modern environment conserves the group label and lets the relationships churn.
EEA-SOC-08 - Novel-stranger frequency (rare, salient, often a threat)
grade: theoretical - serves
M1
,
M3
The delta is one of base rate and resolvability.
EEA-SOC-09 - Behavioral observability / reputation visibility
grade: theoretical - serves
M11
,
M5
The ancestral environment delivered near-total, embodied, hard-to-fake, single-identity behavioral observability inside a ~150-person reference group whose members knew one's...
Care & development (4)
EEA-CARE-01 - Alloparental care supply (a village, not a dyad)
grade: theoretical - serves
M3
,
M9
The mismatch is between the reliable, present, multi-caregiver surround the infant's attachment and the mother's reproductive psychology evolved to expect, and the thin one- or...
EEA-CARE-02 - Caregiver continuity and reliability (present, not merely countable)
grade: theoretical - serves
M9
,
R1
The mismatch is between caregiver reliability/continuity as an experienced, present regulatory input and a modern environment that often supplies caregivers who are countable but...
EEA-CARE-03 - Mixed-age child playgroups as developmental input
grade: theoretical - serves
M4
,
M9
The mismatch is between mixed-age, self-organized, physically-active play as the evolved calibrating input for the juvenile prefrontal cortex (M4, embedded in the alloparental...
EEA-CARE-04 - Multigenerational presence (grandmothers as provisioning kin)
grade: theoretical - serves
M3
,
M9
The mismatch is between the present, active, provisioning grandparental generation the cooperative-breeding system expects as part of allomaternal supply (M9, M3) and the modern...
Touch & contact (3)
EEA-TOUCH-01 - Affective (C-tactile) contact frequency and skin-to-skin time
grade: clinical - serves
M3
,
R1
Modern environments routinely fall below the ancestral affective-touch floor.
EEA-TOUCH-02 - Co-sleeping / nighttime body contact
grade: contested - contested - serves
M3
,
M7
,
R1
Solitary infant and child sleep removes the nighttime half of the ancestral continuous-contact regime, eliminating touch-based physiological co-regulation during sleep.
EEA-TOUCH-03 - Affective grooming/touch from trusted others (adult social touch)
grade: clinical - serves
M3
,
R1
Loss of routine affiliative touch from trusted others removes a direct endorphin-bonding and cortisol/cardiovascular stress-buffering input that operated continuously in ancestral...
Circadian & sensory (3)
EEA-CIRC-01 - Dawn/dusk light gradient with genuine nocturnal darkness as circadian entrainment signal
grade: theoretical - serves
M7
The modern light environment inverts the ancestral pattern on both ends: too little bright light by day, too much blue-enriched light at night, with no real darkness.
EEA-CIRC-02 - Sleep timing/phase alignment to the biological night (not a fixed duration target)
grade: longitudinal - serves
M7
The mismatch is primarily one of phase, not amount.
EEA-CIRC-03 - Falling evening ambient temperature as a co-primary sleep-onset cue
grade: theoretical - serves
M7
By flattening the daily thermal cycle, modern housing removes a candidate onset cue that historically co-occurred with dusk and reinforced circadian timing, potentially leaving...
Subsistence & time-use (4)
EEA-SUBS-01 - Daily incidental movement load
grade: theoretical - serves
M10
The gap is not a calorie or PAL gap (these are surprisingly close) but a distributional one: ancestral movement was low-intensity, continuous, and obligatory;
EEA-SUBS-02 - Effort-to-outcome contingency (closed-loop, self-attributable)
grade: longitudinal - serves
M2
,
M6
Because passivity is the unlearned default that only switches OFF when controllability is detected, environments that obscure the effort-outcome link don't feel neutral - they...
EEA-SUBS-03 - Task diversity within the subsistence day
grade: theoretical - serves
M2
The gap is the collapse from a high-variety, skill-diverse subsistence portfolio to narrow repetitive specialization, under-engaging the exploratory-pursuit system whose canonical...
EEA-SUBS-04 - Daily subsistence work-hours (contested)
grade: contested - contested - serves
M10
,
M2
,
M6
The defensible mismatch is in the STRUCTURE of work-time (externally clocked, continuous, boundary-less vs.
Diet & metabolic (4)
EEA-DIET-01 - Food diversity and seasonality (whole-food, micronutrient-dense, omnivorous variety)
grade: theoretical - contested - serves
M13
The modern food environment collapses a seasonally varied, micronutrient-dense, whole-food omnivory into a year-round monotony of refined, energy-dense, nutrient-diluted products,...
EEA-DIET-02 - Satiety-honest fiber and whole-food matrix (food that signals fullness truthfully)
grade: theoretical - contested - serves
M13
Industrial formulation deliberately separates the reward cues (sweet/fat/salt) from the satiety cues (fiber, bulk, slow digestion) the two were ancestrally bundled together, so...
EEA-DIET-03 - Acquisition effort (calories are physically worked for)
grade: clinical - serves
M10
,
M13
Removing the work between hunger and food eliminates a natural brake on consumption and decouples eating from the obligate daily movement it was bundled with - calories are now...
EEA-DIET-04 - Energy regulation is intake-bounded (total expenditure is homeostatically buffered, not behavior-throttled)
grade: replicated - serves
M13
Modern environments leave intake unbounded (cheap, hyperpalatable, effortless calories) while the body's expenditure stays homeostatically capped - so the one variable the system...
Threat & safety (3)
EEA-THREAT-01 - Threat temporality (acute, episodic, escapable-by-action)
grade: theoretical - serves
M1
,
M8
The mismatch is in the time-course, not the threat machinery itself.
EEA-THREAT-02 - Threat controllability and predictability (resolvable by own action)
grade: theoretical - serves
M1
,
M6
What is pathogenic is not threat per se but uncontrollability/unpredictability: the absence of an action that resolves the danger.
EEA-THREAT-03 - Real-vs-perceived threat ratio and all-clear resolution
grade: theoretical - serves
M1
,
M8
The pathogenic feature is the broken resolution loop: ancestrally, alarms (real or false) closed with an all-clear; modern abstract threats supply alarms that never close.
Information environment (2)
EEA-INFO-01 - Signal provenance and accountability (information from known, reputation-bearing, face-to-face sources)
grade: contested - contested - serves
M11
,
M3
,
M5
The evolved machinery for weighing information by source reputation and face-to-face accountability is deprived of the provenance cues it was calibrated to use.
EEA-INFO-02 - Gossip and narrative flow as reputation and norm transmission
grade: contested - contested - serves
M11
,
M5
The gossip/narrative channel that ancestrally fused information transmission with reputation tracking and norm enforcement is decoupled.
Applications (8)
A2 - Clinical Practice
Current psychiatry classifies many aversive presentations as disorders and treats them with suppression (pharmacotherapy, CBT targeting the experience).
mechanisms:
M1
,
M2
,
M3
,
M6
,
M7
,
M8
,
M10
,
M13
A5 - Education and Child Development
Current education treats children as cognitive agents to fill with information, organized around the economic value of the adult they will become.
mechanisms:
M3
,
M4
,
M6
,
M7
,
M9
,
M10
,
R1
A1 - AI Alignment
Cor is the missing specification under AI alignment.
mechanisms:
M3
,
M5
,
M14
,
M2
A3 - Environment Design
Architecture, urban planning, office design, product design, school design, and healthcare facility design currently proceed without a clear account of what the human organism...
mechanisms:
M3
,
M4
,
M5
,
M7
,
M9
,
M10
,
M13
,
R1
A6 - Policy and Governance
Governance currently evaluates policy by economic metrics and preference aggregation.
mechanisms:
M3
,
M5
,
M6
,
M7
,
M10
,
M13
,
M14
A4 - Personal Assessment and Self-Understanding
Individuals currently diagnose themselves through the cultural filter of psychiatric categories, productivity culture, wellness trends, or self-help frameworks.
mechanisms:
M1
,
M2
,
M3
,
M4
,
M5
,
M6
,
M7
,
M8
,
M9
,
M10
,
M11
,
M12
,
M13
,
M14
,
R1
A7 - AI Training Data Curation
Pretraining data is AI environment.
mechanisms:
M1
,
M2
,
M3
,
M5
A8 - Augmentation Ethics
Neural interfaces, pharmacological modulators, and closed-loop implants reach inside the evolved architecture.
mechanisms:
M1
,
M2
,
M3
,
M6
Empirical Demonstrations (9)
ED4 - Roseto Effect
Roseto is the candidate case for intense social cohesion suppressing cardiovascular mortality, with the reported advantage over the neighbouring town eroding within a generation...
metric: No open-access effect size; observational, single town
grounds:
M3
,
M5
ED2 - Captive vs Wild Chimpanzee Abnormality
Aversive behavioural outputs in captive primates track environmental mismatch rather than defective design.
metric: Abnormal behaviour in all 40 captive chimpanzees sampled
grounds:
M1
,
M4
ED6 - SMILES Trial: Diet and Depression
A Mediterranean-style dietary intervention produced remission from moderate-to-severe depression in 32.3% of the dietary arm against 8.0% of a social-support control over 12...
metric: 32.3% vs 8.0% remission at 12 weeks (NNT 4.1, 95% CI 2.3 to 27.8)
grounds:
M13
,
M8
ED7 - Exercise as Depression Treatment
Exercise is an effective treatment for major depression in its own right rather than a general-health adjunct, with modality-specific effect sizes that are moderate rather than...
metric: Hedges' g -0.62 for walking or jogging vs active control (low certainty)
grounds:
M10
,
M7
,
M8
ED8 - Chronotherapy in Depression
Directly re-timing the circadian and sleep system produces a rapid antidepressant response that is still present six months later, which makes M7 a cascade entry point rather than...
metric: 33.3% vs 16.2% response at 1 week (pilot RCT, n=82)
grounds:
M7
,
M8
ED1 - Forest Troop Culture Change
Hierarchy type (not the mere existence of hierarchy) determines pathology, and a troop's social culture is transmissible and reversible within a single generation without genetic...
metric: Rank-linked stress physiology absent in Forest Troop subordinates
grounds:
M5
,
M1
ED3 - Bucharest Early Intervention Project
Early developmental calibration (DA7) depends on the presence of specific social input;
metric: Foster care worth 9 IQ points (0.6 SD) at age 18 vs care as usual
grounds:
M3
,
M9
ED5 - Ilardi TLC Protocol for Depression
Ilardi's Therapeutic Lifestyle Change protocol restores resolution conditions across several mechanisms at once (movement, light and sleep, social connection, omega-3,...
metric: Author-reported only; no peer-reviewed trial
grounds:
M3
,
M7
,
M10
,
M8
ED9 - Kangaroo Mother Care
Skin-to-skin contact between preterm infants and caregivers lowers neonatal mortality, which makes R1 (C-tactile touch as regulatory input to M3) architecture rather than a...
metric: 51% lower neonatal mortality (RR 0.49) in infants under 2000 g
grounds:
R1
,
M3
,
M9
Research Domains (23)
Mechanism-aligned (15)
Threat Management
->
M1
Pursuit and Exploration
->
M2
Attachment and Social Bonding
->
M3
Play and Social Calibration
->
M4
Status and Rank Regulation
->
M5
Agency and Controllability
->
M6
Sleep and Circadian Regulation
->
M7
Inflammation and Immune Regulation
->
M8
Alloparenting and Distributed Care
->
M9
Movement and Regulatory Physiology
->
M10
Cooperation and Alliance
->
M11
Contamination and Behavioral Immunity
->
M12
Energy Regulation and Diet
->
M13
Reproductive Motivation
->
M14
Touch and C-Tactile Input
->
R1
Cross-cutting (8)
Cascade Dynamics
Proxy Exploitation
Developmental Calibration
Allostatic Load
Defensive Signals and Symptom Reframing
Mismatch Architecture
Bridge Thesis Research
Restorative Environments
Researchers (84)
Foundational (36)
Hoffman - OF1 (Fitness Interface)
Darwin - P1 (Inclusive Fitness)
Hamilton - P1 (Inclusive Fitness)
Tooby - P2, DA6 (Domain-Sensitive Interacting Adaptations)
Eaton - P3 (Systematic Mismatch)
Konner - P3 (Systematic Mismatch)
Li (Norman) - P3 (Systematic Mismatch)
van Vugt - P3 (Systematic Mismatch)
Henrich - P3 (Systematic Mismatch)
Nesse - DA1 (Defensive Signals Under Mismatch)
Coan (James) - DA2 (Socially Scaffolded Regulation)
Felitti - DA3 (Recurrent Coupling and Cascading)
Berridge (Kent) - DA4 (Proxy Hijacking via Open Loops)
Tinbergen - DA4 (Proxy Hijacking via Open Loops)
Haselton - DA5 (Defensive Over-Activation Bias)
Buss - DA5, M14 (Defensive Over-Activation Bias)
Bowlby - DA7, M3 (Developmental Calibration)
Panksepp - DA8, M1, M2, M3, M4, M14 (Phylogenetic Priority)
McEwen - DC1, DA7 (Allostatic Load Accumulation)
Barrett (Lisa Feldman) - Bridge Thesis (Panksepp-Barrett resolution)
Dunbar - DA2 social architecture
Boehm - M11 (Cooperation / Alliance)
Trivers - M11, M14, DA6 (Cooperation / Alliance)
Gilbert (Paul) - M5 (Status Monitoring)
Rozin - M12 (Contamination Avoidance)
Hrdy - M9, DA2 (Care / Alloparenting)
Sapolsky - M5 + empirical demonstrations (Forest Troop)
Tomasello - M11 (Cooperation / Alliance)
Fehr & Gächter - M11 (empirical)
Curtis (Val) - M12 (Contamination Avoidance)
Cosmides - P2, DA6 (Domain-Sensitive Interacting Adaptations)
Boyd - P3 constraint
Richerson - P3 constraint
LeDoux - M1 threat detection, amygdala fear conditioning
Ainsworth - M3 attachment paradigm - Strange Situation
Henrich & Gil-White - Theoretical origin of the prestige/dominance dual model of human social rank: prestige as freely conferred deference for competence (an information-goods adaptation for cultural learning), distinct from dominance (rank via force/fear). The distinction M5's resolution condition names.
Empirical (39)
Harlow - attachment experiments - Nature of Love 1958
Holt-Lunstad - 50% mortality meta-analysis
Meaney - HPA-axis calibration
Birkett & Newton-Fisher - captive chimp abnormality data
Marmot - Whitehall studies
Jacka - SMILES trial - diet and depression
Moss (Michael) - DC2 - food industry market proxy exploitation
Schüll (Natasha Dow) - DC2 - gambling machine design as engineered proxy exploitation
Hazan - adult attachment - romantic love as attachment process
de Waal - empirical anchor (de Waal, primate sociality/empathy); work + links pending v1 corpus build
Haugen (Frances) - DC2 - attention-economy platforms as engineered proxy exploitation
Cacioppo (John T.) - Loneliness as evolved signaling mechanism; social neuroscience; UCLA Loneliness Scale lineage and Ohio State / University of Chicago lab program on physiological consequences of perceived social isolation. Secondary role: Hawkley-Cacioppo hypervigilance-to-threat cascade in lonely individuals.
Lieberman (Daniel) - Evolutionary anthropologist and human-evolutionary biologist. Primary scholar of the evolutionary biology of physical activity, running, walking, and the mismatch between evolved movement patterns and modern sedentary lifestyles. Named in M10 Movement/Regulatory source_researchers array. His work on hunter-gatherer activity levels, endurance-running evolution, and the active grandparent hypothesis provides the central evolutionary framing for M10 and M13.
Pellis (Sergio & Vivien) - Comparative psychologists at the University of Lethbridge. Primary research on the neurobiology and cross-species behavioral ecology of play, particularly play-fighting in rats and across mammalian taxa. Named in M4 Social Calibration/Play source_researchers array. Their work provides the definitive synthesis of the neurobiological substrates of play (prefrontal cortex, amygdala, somatosensory cortex, opioid/dopamine modulation) and the cross-species comparative study of play behavior.
Bullmore (Edward) - Psychiatrist and neuroscientist. Head of Department of Psychiatry at University of Cambridge and co-leader of GlaxoSmithKline clinical-imaging division. Primary researcher on neuroimmunology of depression - the cytokine / inflammation / mood cascade. His 2018 book The Inflamed Mind synthesizes the Dantzer/Raison/Miller/Danese literature on cytokine sickness behavior, inflammation as causal in depression, and the failed monoamine paradigm for a general audience.
Muldoon & Parke - DC2 - companion AI as market proxy exploitation
Fisher (Helen) - Reproductive motivation architecture; three-component system (lust / romantic love / attachment) with distinct neurochemical substrates; fMRI studies of romantic love with Lucy Brown and Art Aron; cross-cultural fieldwork on pair-bonding, mating, divorce, and adultery; Match.com singles-survey data on contemporary mating patterns. Listed in M14 the M14 source-researchers list.
Pontzer (Herman) - Evolutionary anthropologist and human energetics researcher. Primary researcher on the constrained total energy expenditure model - the finding that active populations (hunter-gatherers, subsistence farmers, physically demanding jobs) have total daily energy expenditure similar to sedentary industrialized populations of the same body size, because the body adapts metabolically to keep TEE within a narrow range. His Hadza field studies and multi-population comparisons are the empirical backbone for M13 Energy Regulation.
Field (Tiffany) - Developmental psychologist and director of the Touch Research Institute at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Primary researcher for R1 Touch. Her work established touch as a measurable developmental and therapeutic input with quantifiable effects on cortisol, weight gain (premature infants), growth, pain, and behavior. Field has published hundreds of papers on massage therapy, touch deprivation, maternal-infant touch, and cultural variation in touch.
Öhman - prepared fear / attentional bias to ancestral threats
Baumeister & Leary - empirical anchor (Baumeister & Leary, 'need to belong'); work + foundation/mechanism links pending v1 corpus build
Mark R. Leary - Sociometer theory: self-esteem as an internal gauge of relational value / social acceptance. Supplies the measurement axis of M5 Status Monitoring - how the organism reads its own standing. Distinct from the Baumeister & Leary need-to-belong pairing (M3).
Joey T. Cheng - Experimental demonstration that dominance and prestige are statistically independent yet both viable routes to real social rank and influence in live face-to-face groups. Empirical anchor for the prestige/dominance axis of M5.
Christopher von Rueden - Non-WEIRD cross-cultural evidence that dominance and prestige are distinct status routes with real fitness payoffs among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists. Cross-cultural anchor for M5's prestige/dominance distinction and its adaptive basis.
Garfield & Hagen - Field test of evolutionary leadership models among the Chabu (recently settled Ethiopian hunter-gatherers): prestige and dominance largely independent, both predict elected leadership, prestige more important; strong covariation of leadership traits and notable women leaders.
Scheer (Frank A. J. L.) - M7 - controlled human circadian-misalignment protocols; causal cardiometabolic consequences of misalignment (forced desynchrony).
Morris (Christopher J.) - M7 - simulated night-shift misalignment; blood-pressure and inflammatory-marker consequences.
Zeitzer (Jamie M.) - M7 - dose-response sensitivity of the human circadian pacemaker to nocturnal light.
Khalsa (Sat Bir S.) - M7 - definitive human phase-response curve to single bright-light pulses.
Vyas (Manav V.) - M7 - meta-analysis of shift work and vascular events.
Fischer (Dorothee) - M7 - chronotype distribution at US population scale (MCTQ mid-sleep applied to the American Time Use Survey).
Gettler - fatherhood-testosterone longitudinal evidence (Cebu cohort)
Feldman (Ruth) - parental brain and biobehavioral synchrony; paternal-care neuroplasticity
McLanahan - father-absence causal-design synthesis (Fragile Families)
Plomin - DA10, C15 (adoption/family-design leg of the heritability triangulation) (Heritable Parameter Variation)
Turkheimer - DA10, C15 (framing: three laws of behavior genetics) (Heritable Parameter Variation)
Gurven (Michael) - Co-director of the Tsimane Health and Life History Project. Principal source of longitudinal health and ageing data on a forager-horticulturalist population: blood pressure trajectories, inflammatory load, coronary calcium, and depressive symptoms. The main empirical anchor for Cor's falsifier-1 test of whether EEA-matched populations show industrial rates of chronic disease.
Kaplan (Hillard) - Co-director of the Tsimane Health and Life History Project and lead author of the coronary artery calcium study that established the lowest reported level of coronary atherosclerosis of any population measured. Primary source for the cardiometabolic half of Cor's falsifier-1 test.
Stieglitz (Jonathan) - Field researcher on depression in a small-scale subsistence society. Built the Tsimane depression interview and tested the host-defense (sickness-behaviour) account of depression in a high-pathogen population. Supplies the evidence that complicates a naive reading of Cor's falsifier 1 and that supports DA1 and M8 on defensive signalling.
Adjacent / Challenge (8)
Borsboom - network psychopathology - complementary
Kenrick et al. - Renovating Pyramid of Needs (most structurally similar precedent)
SDT / Deci & Ryan - challenge-layer competitor anchor (Self-Determination Theory / Deci & Ryan); composite placeholder, wire in v1 (G11)
Chollet / ARC-AGI - challenge-layer competitor anchor (Chollet / ARC-AGI); composite placeholder, wire in v1 (G11)
Liebig - DA9 historical precedent - Law of the Minimum
RDoC - challenge-layer competitor anchor (RDoC); extraction/work wiring deferred to v1 per gap G11 (challenge-layer depth)
ACT-R / SOAR / CLARION - challenge-layer competitor anchor (ACT-R / SOAR / CLARION cognitive architectures); composite placeholder, to be split + wired in v1 (G11)
Active Inference / Friston - challenge-layer competitor anchor (Active Inference / Friston) - the strongest framework-level competitor named in gap G11; wire in v1
Open Questions (16)
G9 - AI alignment matched/mismatched evaluation axis operationalization
A1 proposes 'matched / mismatched' as a fourth evaluation axis alongside helpful, harmless, and honest.
G1 - DC2 empirical depth beyond Schüll and Moss
Dedicated empirical depth on Haugen's Facebook Files and on companion-AI harm.
G6 - Matched-state measurement protocol
Cor specifies resolution conditions per mechanism (for example M3: reliable intimate co-regulators typically ~5+;
G5 - Tier 3 regulatory-input candidates beyond R1
R1 (Touch) is currently the only Tier 3 regulatory input in the inventory.
G12 - Phase 8 provenance mis-classification risk
Some extractions imported from prior cleanup passes may be mis-classified at the source_type level - for example, an extraction marked as 'primary' research that on closer reading...
G14 - Joint-authorship FK limitation on v2_works
Jointly-authored works are currently credited to a single primary researcher in the database, with co-authors listed only in the free-text authors field.
G2 - M14 cross-cultural variation evidence
M14 is sex-differentiated, with distinct female (VMH-centered) and male (POA-centered) neural architectures carrying different emphasis on commitment cues versus variety cues.
G3 - M6 human neurobiology replication
The Maier & Seligman 2016 reformulation of learned helplessness (default passivity with vmPFC-DRN override) is well-supported in rodent models, but the human neurobiological...
G4 - Bridge Thesis BT1 empirical discriminator
BT1 (Panksepp-Barrett Resolution) is defended conceptually - subcortical affective circuits are real, and folk emotion categories are constructed overlays on top of them.
G7 - Cultural-matched vs ancestrally-matched distinction
Boyd & Richerson's gene-culture coevolution constraint requires that 'matched' include cultural scaffolding, not just ancestral surface forms.
G8 - M14 proxy gradient clinical validation
The five-level M14 proxy gradient (real partner → attenuated real → partial proxy → pure proxy soft → pure proxy hard) is architecturally derived but lacks clinical validation...
G10 - Convergence coverage for 10 of 15 mechanisms
Cor's forcing-convergence layer currently covers 5 of 15 mechanisms (M1, M2, M3, M11, M14) with explicit multi-literature convergences.
G11 - Challenge layer depth
The current challenge layer holds 5 challenge extractions (EAAT philosophical critique, social-media-effect-size meta-analyses, Landy disgust-moral meta-analysis).
G13 - v2_extractions evidence_quality schema narrowing
The current evidence_quality categories compress some distinctions that matter for specific epistemic claims - cross-species biological replications, landmark longitudinal...
G15 - Restorative Environments domain primary-source grounding
The new Restorative Environments domain has no primary extractions yet.
G16 - Social-mismatch competition: candidate convergence versus downstream expression
Yong, Lim, Tan and Chan 2026 (DOI 10.3390/bs16050650) advance a "social evolutionary mismatch and competition hypothesis": social features of mismatch (increasing population size,...
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