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Evolution of Brain

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lightbulbAbout this topic
The evolution of the brain refers to the biological and anatomical changes in brain structure and function over time in various species, driven by natural selection and environmental adaptations. This field of study examines the developmental pathways, genetic influences, and ecological factors that have shaped cognitive abilities and neural organization throughout evolutionary history.
lightbulbAbout this topic
The evolution of the brain refers to the biological and anatomical changes in brain structure and function over time in various species, driven by natural selection and environmental adaptations. This field of study examines the developmental pathways, genetic influences, and ecological factors that have shaped cognitive abilities and neural organization throughout evolutionary history.

Key research themes

1. How has the timing and pattern of brain structural maturation evolved across primates and what implications does this have for cognition and psychiatric vulnerability?

This theme focuses on the developmental timing of key neural processes like myelination and their evolutionary variation in primates, particularly humans and chimpanzees. It addresses how delayed or protracted neural maturation in humans supports advanced cognition by allowing greater social learning and plasticity but may also increase vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders during adolescence. Understanding species-specific neurodevelopmental trajectories sheds light on evolutionary adaptations in brain function and disease susceptibility.

Key finding: Quantitative histological analysis showed that humans exhibit a significantly prolonged postnatal neocortical myelination process compared to chimpanzees, with slower axon myelination density increases that extend beyond late... Read more

2. What evolutionary mechanisms explain the mosaic and allometric expansions of key brain structures (prefrontal cortex and cerebellum) in great apes and humans?

This research theme examines how certain brain regions, notably the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum, have undergone exceptional size increases during primate evolution, deviating from general allometric scaling. It explores genetic, developmental, and functional shifts that underpin heterochronic changes and differential enlargement of these areas, which underlie advanced cognitive abilities like executive function, technical intelligence, and complex sensorimotor control. Understanding these region-specific expansions clarifies primate neurological specialization and human cognitive evolution.

Key finding: Using phylogenetic comparative methods, the authors showed that great ape and human prefrontal cortex volumes exhibit multigrade, non-allometric enlargement relative to other primates, indicative of evolutionary... Read more
Key finding: Phylogenetic analyses identified significantly accelerated rates of cerebellar volume increase relative to neocortex size along ape lineages, especially great apes, with humans exhibiting the most pronounced relative... Read more

3. How can fossil endocast morphology and neurocranial structure inform us about brain reorganization during early hominin evolution?

This theme addresses the challenges and advances in inferring brain size, shape, and structural reorganization in fossil hominins through endocranial virtual reconstructions and comparative MRI/CT data. It highlights that morphological changes in the neurocranium do not straightforwardly reflect cortical reorganization due to factors like bipedalism and encephalization constraints. The work refines interpretations of fossil brain evolution relevant to language-related regions and sensory areas, improving understanding of cognitive and brain structural evolution in Homo and related taxa.

Key finding: Combined MRI and spatially aligned CT analyses of human and chimpanzee brains and neurocrania demonstrated that evolutionary changes in brain cortical structures—such as reorganization of frontal opercular and... Read more
Key finding: Analysis of fossil endocasts from early Homo specimens across Africa and Eurasia revealed that the modern human-like frontal lobe reorganization and language-related brain areas appeared later than the first genus dispersals... Read more

All papers in Evolution of Brain

As tools, digital photographs produce a mental event reshaping perception, generating a use-wear redescription of prehistoric people calculating shell net weight systems of at least ten grams. String is essential in making fishing nets... more
External and internal growth of cognition.
А novel type of a complex neuro-glandular brain structure including both nervous and glandular elements and associated with sensory ones is detected in Pyramicocephalus phocarum plerocercoid (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidea), parasite of... more
The brain is a complex organ that serves as the center of the nervous system. The brain exists in human, animals and trees, from microscopic size in viruses to the complex composition in human being. The brain is composed of the cerebrum,... more
The specific paper includes the abstract of my master thesis. My thesis title is "Evolution of symbolic thinking" and it is related with the emergence of symbolic signs in human prehistory.
Öncelikle bu makaleyi bir ödev vesilesi ile yazmış olduğumu belirtmek istiyorum. Bu sebepten konunun derinliğine inmeden sadece yüzeysel bir makale yazmış bulunmaktayım. Makale konu hakkında ön bilgi sahibi olmak isteyenler için gayet... more
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