Robert Provine is a neuroscientist engaged in studies of the development, evolution and neural mechanisms of behavior. His approaches are comparative and interdisciplinary. During a research career spanning 30 years, he has investigated over 30 species using techniques ranging from electrophysiology and tissue culture to behavioral field studies. At various times, Professor provine has studied the neural basis of embryonic behavior, the development and evolution of bird flight, the voluntary control of visual accommodation, influences on nerve fiber outgrowth, machine intelligence and control, and most recently, the ethological analysis of normal and pathological human behavior. A common theme running through this work is a concern with the motor systems that produce movement. The recent studies of laughter, yawning, tickling, and behavioral contagion are not a break with the past, but an extension to humans of a long-term, programmatic analysis of behavior development and evolution.

Publications (Books)

2000

Laughter: A scientific investigation. Viking (US and Canada) October 2000.

Laughter: A scientific investigation. Faber and Faber (UK) November 2000.

Laughter: A scientific investigation. Castoldi and Baldini (Italy) in preparation.

Laughter: A scientific investigation. Laffont (France) in preparation.

Publications (Research articles and book chapters)

1998

Epidemie de rire. R. R. Provine et Helen Weems. Sciences et Avenir (Julliet/Aout), pp. 18- 19.

Le rire des singes. R. R. Provine et H. R. Weems. Sciences et Avenir (Julliet/Aout), pp. 20- 23.

Laughter. R. R. Provine, In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Yawning. R. R. Provine, In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Elsevier, Amsterdam.

1996

Yawning. R. R. Provine. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Elsevier, Amsterdam. CD ROM

Laughing. R. R. Provine. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Elsevier, Amsterdam. CD ROM

Contagious yawning and laughter: Significance for sensory feature detection, motor pattern generation, imitation, and the evolution of social behavior. R. R. Provine. In C. M. Heyes and B. G. Galef, eds., Social learning in animals: The roots of culture. Academic Press, New York pp. 179-208.

Yawns, laughs, smiles, tickles, and talking: Naturalistic and laboratory studies of facial action and social communication. R. R. Provine. In J. A. Russell, and J. M. Fernandez Dols Eds., New directions in the study of facial expression. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge pp. 158-175.

Laughter. R. R. Provine. American Scientist, 84, 38-45.

1994

Pre- and postnatal development of wing-flapping and flight in birds: Embryological, comparative and evolutionary perspectives. R. R. Provine. In M. O. Davies & P. Green , Eds., Perception and motor control in birds: A unified approach. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 135-159.

1993

Laughter punctuates speech: Linguistic, social, and gender contexts of laughter. R. R. Provine. Ethology, 95, 291-298.

Prenatal behavior development: Ontogenetic adaptations and non-linear processes. R. R. Provine. In G. J. P. Savelsbergh, Ed., The development of coordination in infancy. Elsevier, Amsterdam. pp. 203-236.

Natural priorities for developmental study: Neuroembryological perspectives of motor development. R. R. Provine. In A. Kalverboer, B. Hopkins, & R. Geuze, Eds., Motor development in early and later childhood. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 51-73.

Yawning, R. R. Provine. In M. A. Carskadon, Ed., Encyclopedia of sleep and dreaming. MacMillan, New York. pp. 651-654.

1992

Contagious laughter: Laughter is a sufficient stimulus for laughs and smiles. R. R. Provine. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30, 1-4.

1991

Laughter: A stereotyped human vocalization. R. R. Provine and Y. L. Yong. Ethology , 89, 115-124.

1989

Faces as releasers of contagious yawning: An approach to face detection using normal human subjects. R. R. Provine. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27, 211-214.

Laughing, smiling, and talking: Relation to sleeping and social context in humans. R. R. Provine and K. R. Fischer. Ethology, 83, 295-305.

Yawning and simulation science. R. R. Provine. Simulation, 53, 193-194.

Contagious yawning and infant imitation. R. R. Provine. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27, 125-126.

1988

On the uniqueness of embryos and the difference it makes. R. R. Provine. In W. P. Smotherman and S. R. Robinson, Eds., Behavior of the fetus. Telford Press, Caldwell, New Jersey. pp. 35-46.

1987

Yawning: Relation to sleeping and stretching in humans. R. R. Provine, H. B. Hamernik, and B. C. Curchack. Ethology, 76, 152-160.

Yawning: No effect of 3-5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise. R. R. Provine, B. C. Tate, and L. L. Geldmacher. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 48, 382-392.

1986

Behavioral Neuroembryology: Motor Perspectives. R. R. Provine. In W. Greenough and J. Juraska, Ed., Developmental NeuroPsychobiology. Academic Press, New York. pp. 213-239.

Yawning as a stereotyped action pattern and releasing stimulus. R. R. Provine. Ethology, 72, 109-122.

Yawning: Effects of stimulus interest. R. R. Provine and H. B. Hamernik. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 24, 437-438.

1984

Comparative analysis of the development of wing-flapping and flight in the fowl. R. R. Provine, C. L. Strawbridge, and B. J. Harrison. Developmental Psychobiology, 17, 1-10.

Wing-flapping during development and evolution. R. R. Provine. American Scientist, 72, 448-455.

1983

Chicken muscular dystrophy: An inherited disorder of flight. R. R. Provine. Developmental Psychobiology, 16, 23-27.

Development of wing-flapping and flight: A review. R. R. Provine. Bird Behaviour, 5, 16-21.

1982

Pre-flight development of bilateral wing coordination in the chick (Gallus domesticus): Effects of induced bilateral wing asymmetry. R. R. Provine. Developmental Psychobiology, 15, 245-255.

1981

Development of wing-flapping and flight in normal and flap-deprived chicks (Gallus domesticus). R. R. Provine. Developmental Psychobiology, 14, 279-291.

Wing-flapping develops in chickens made flightless by feather mutations. R. R. Provine. Developmental Psychobiology, 14, 481-486.

Embryonic and postembryonic development. R. R. Provine. In W. J. Bell and K. G. Adiyodi, Ed., The American Cockroach, Chapman and Hall, London. pp. 399-423.

1980

Development of between-limb movement synchronization in the chick embryo. R. R. Provine. Developmental Psychobiology, 13, 151-163.

1979

Crossing the midline: Limits of early eye-hand behavior. R. R. Provine and J. Westerman. Child Development, 50, 437-441.

"Wing-flapping" develops in wingless chicks. R. R. Provine. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 27, 233-237.

1977

Behavioral development of the cockroach (Periplaneta americana). R. R. Provine. Journal of Insect Physiology, 23, 213-220.

Development of spinal cord bioelectric activity in spinal chick embryos and its behavioral implications. R. R. Provine and L. Rogers. Journal of Neurobiology, 8, 217-228.

1976

Eclosion and hatching in cockroach first instar larvae: A stereotyped pattern of behavior. R. R. Provine. Journal of Insect Physiology, 22, 127-131.

Formation of cockroach interganglionic connectives: An in vitro analysis. R. R. Provine, K. R. Seshan and L. Aloe. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 165, 17-30.

Development of function in nerve nets. R. R. Provine. In J. Fentress, Ed., Simpler Networks and Behavior, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass., pp. 203-220.

1975

On voluntary ocular accommodation. R. R. Provine and J. M. Enoch. Perception and Psychophysics, 17, 209-212.

Reprinted in: T. Barber, L. DiCara, J. Kamiya, N. Miller, D. Shapiro and J. Stoyva, Ed., 1975 Biofeedback and Self-Control Annual, Aldine Publishing Co., Chicago (1976).

Shift in the peak of the photopic Stiles-Crawford function with marked accommodation. K. Blank, R. R. Provine and J. M. Enoch. Vision Research, 15, 499-507.

1974

Structural and electrophysiological properties of nymphal and adult insect medial neurosecretory cells: An in vitro analysis. K. R. Seshan, R. R. Provine and R. Levi-Montalcini. Brain Research, 78, 359-376.

Emergence of geometric patterns in insect nerve nets: An in vitro analysis. R. R. Provine, K. R. Seshan and L. Aloe. Brain Research, 80, 328-334.

1973

Spontaneous bioelectric activity in long term cultures of the embryonic insect central nervous system. R. R. Provine, L. Aloe, and K. R. Seshan. Brain Research, 56, 364-370.

Neurophysiological aspects of behavior development in the chick embryo. R. R. Provine. In G. Gottlieb, Ed., Behavioral Embryology, Academic Press, New York, 77-102.

1972

Ontogeny of bioelectric activity in the spinal cord of the chick embryo and its behavioral implications. R. R. Provine. Brain Research, 41, 365-378.

The levels of the brain specific proteins S-100 and 14-3-2 in the developing chick spinal cord. T. S. Cicero and R. R. Provine. Brain Research, 44, 294-298.

Neural correlates of embryonic motility in the chick. K. L. Ripley and R. R. Provine. Brain Research, 45, 127-134.

Hatching behavior of the chick (Gallus domesticus): plasticity of the rotatory component. R. R. Provine. Psychonomic Science, 29, 27-28.

1971

Embryonic spinal cord: Synchrony and spatial distribution of polyneuronal burst discharges. R. R. Provine. Brain Research, 29, 155-158.

1970

Electrical activity in the spinal cord of the chick embryo in situ. R. R. Provine, S. C. Sharma, T. T. Sandel, and V. Hamburger. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 65, 508-515.

Unit activity of the isolated spinal cord of chick embryo in situ. S. C. Sharma, R. R. Provine, V. Hamburger, and T. T. Sandel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 66, 40-47.