Recently, Professor Zhong Dingsheng from our hospital was invited to publish a paper in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, which substantially improved and expanded the core framework proposed in a target paper of the journal. This objective paper proposes a two-layer life history model that integrates insights from energetics and developmental hypotheses, providing a comprehensive explanatory framework for understanding how environmental conditions affect human development. However, Professor Zhong Dingsheng pointed out in his invited paper that although the two-layer model has made significant progress in integrating biological perspectives, there is still insufficient discussion on how social factors such as cultural norms and religious beliefs interact with biological factors to influence life history strategies. This limitation makes the model inadequate in explaining certain historical demographic phenomena.

After detailed examples and analysis, Professor Zhong Dingsheng's paper suggests expanding the 2-layer model proposed by Ellis et al. in the target paper to a 3-layer model, adding a "cultural institutional layer" as the third regulatory mechanism. This level not only independently influences the development of life history strategies, but also regulates the strength and direction of the effects of the first level (energetics) and the second level (exogenous mortality cues). This extended model will better explain differences in life history strategies in cross-cultural contexts, especially those phenomena that appear to contradict biological expectations. Meanwhile, it can also provide a more comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding fertility decisions in modern society.

At the end of the article, Professor Zhong Dingsheng proposed that in future research, the interaction mechanism between cultural and biological factors should be more systematically examined, especially the differences in the interpretation and response modes of exogenous mortality clues under different cultural backgrounds. This will help to construct a more comprehensive and explanatory theory of human life history.