Aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this textbook describes some of the basic principles affecting brain evolution. The author refers to data from a wide array of vertebrates while minimizing technical jargon. Particular attention has been paid to the ways in which changes in brain structure impact function and behavior. The volume concludes with a discussion on how mammal brains diverged from other brains and how Homo sapiens evolved a very large and special brain.
Evolutionary Neuroscience is a collection of articles in brain evolution selected from the recent comprehensive reference, Evolution of Nervous Systems (Elsevier, Academic Press, 2007). The selected chapters cover a broad range of topics from historical theory to the most recent deductions from comparative studies of brains. The articles are organized in sections focused on theories and brain scaling, the evolution of brains from early vertebrates to present-day fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds, the evolution of mammalian brains, and the evolution of primate brains, including human brains. Each chapter is written by a leader or leaders in the field, and has been reviewed by other experts. Specific topics include brain character reconstruction, principles of brain scaling, basic features of vertebrate brains, the evolution of the major sensory systems, and other parts of brains, what we can learn from fossils, the origin of neocortex, and the evolution of specializations of human brains. The collection of articles will be interesting to anyone who is curious about how brains evolved from the simpler nervous systems of the first vertebrates into the many different complex forms now found in present-day vertebrates. This book would be of use to students at the graduate or undergraduate levels, as well as professional neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists. Together, the chapters provide a comprehensive list of further reading and references for those who want to inquire further. The most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date single volume collection on brain evolution Full color throughout, with many illustrations Written by leading scholars and experts
This book presents a new, detailed examination that explains how elegant brains have been shaped in evolution. It consists of 19 chapters written by academic professionals in neuroscience, opening with the origin of single-celled creatures and then introducing primordial types in invertebrates with the great abundance of the brains of vertebrates. Important topics are provided in a timely manner, because novel techniques emerged rapidly—as seen, for examples, in the next-generation sequencers and omics approaches. With the explosion of big data, neural-related genes and molecules is now on the radar. In fact, Europe’s big science and technology projects, a €1 billion plan called the Human Brain Project and the Blue Brain Project to understand mammalian brain networks, have been launched in recent years. Furthermore, with the rise of recently advanced artificial intelligence, there is great enthusiasm for understanding the evolution of neural networks. The views from brain evolution in nature provide an essential opportunity to generate ideas for novel neuron- and brain-inspired computation. The ambition behind this book is that it will stimulate young scientists who seek a deeper understanding in order to find the basic principles shaping brains that provided higher cognitive functions in the course of evolution.
Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence covers the general principles of behavior and brain function. The book is divided into four parts encompassing 17 chapters that emphasize the implications of the history of the brain for the evolution of behavior in vertebrates. The introductory chapter covers the studies of animal behavior and their implications about the nature of the animal’s world. The following chapters emphasize methodological issues and the meanings of brain indices and brain size, as well as the general anatomy of the brain. Other chapters discuss the history of the brain in the major vertebrate groups that were known about 300 million years ago to determine the fate of these early vertebrate groups. Discussions on broad trends in evolution and their implications for the evolution of intelligence are also included. Substantive matter on the brains, bodies, and associated mechanisms of behavior of vertebrates are covered in the remaining chapters of the book, with an emphasis on evolution “above the species level . This book is of value to anthropologists, behavioral scientists, zoologists, paleontologists, and neurosciences students.
Evolution of Nervous Systems, Second Edition, Four Volume Set is a unique, major reference which offers the gold standard for those interested both in evolution and nervous systems. All biology only makes sense when seen in the light of evolution, and this is especially true for the nervous system. All animals have nervous systems that mediate their behaviors, many of them species specific, yet these nervous systems all evolved from the simple nervous system of a common ancestor. To understand these nervous systems, we need to know how they vary and how this variation emerged in evolution. In the first edition of this important reference work, over 100 distinguished neuroscientists assembled the current state-of-the-art knowledge on how nervous systems have evolved throughout the animal kingdom. This second edition remains rich in detail and broad in scope, outlining the changes in brain and nervous system organization that occurred from the first invertebrates and vertebrates, to present day fishes, reptiles, birds, mammals, and especially primates, including humans. The book also includes wholly new content, fully updating the chapters in the previous edition and offering brand new content on current developments in the field. Each of the volumes has been carefully restructured to offer expanded coverage of non-mammalian taxa, mammals, primates, and the human nervous system. The basic principles of brain evolution are discussed, as are mechanisms of change. The reader can select from chapters on highly specific topics or those that provide an overview of current thinking and approaches, making this an indispensable work for students and researchers alike. Presents a broad range of topics, ranging from genetic control of development in invertebrates, to human cognition, offering a one-stop resource for the evolution of nervous systems throughout the animal kingdom Incorporates the expertise of over 100 outstanding investigators who provide their conclusions in the context of the latest experimental results Presents areas of disagreement and consensus views that provide a holistic view of the subjects under discussion
"Much is conserved in vertebrate evolution, but significant changes in the nervous system occurred at the origin of vertebrates and in most of the major vertebrate lineages. This book examines these innovations and relates them to evolutionary changes in other organ systems, animal behavior, and ecological conditions at the time. The resulting perspective clarifies what makes the major vertebrate lineages unique and helps explain their varying degrees of ecological success. One of the book's major conclusions is that vertebrate nervous systems are more diverse than commonly assumed, at least among neurobiologists. Examples of important innovations include not only the emergence of novel brain regions, such as the cerebellum and neocortex, but also major changes in neuronal circuitry and functional organization. A second major conclusion is that many of the apparent similarities in vertebrate nervous systems resulted from convergent evolution, rather than inheritance from a common ancestor. For example, brain size and complexity increased numerous times, in many vertebrate lineages. In conjunction with these changes, olfactory inputs to the telencephalic pallium were reduced in several different lineages, and this reduction was associated with the emergence of pallial regions that process non-olfactory sensory inputs. These conclusions cast doubt on the widely held assumption that all vertebrate nervous systems are built according to a single, common plan. Instead, the book encourages readers to view both species similarities and differences as fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of nervous systems. Evolution; Phylogeny; Neuroscience; Neurobiology; Neuroanatomy; Functional Morphology; Paleoecology; Homology; Endocast; Brain"--
Neuroscience research has exploded, with more than fifty thousand neuroscientists applying increasingly advanced methods. A mountain of new facts and mechanisms has emerged. And yet a principled framework to organize this knowledge has been missing. In this book, Peter Sterling and Simon Laughlin, two leading neuroscientists, strive to fill this gap, outlining a set of organizing principles to explain the whys of neural design that allow the brain to compute so efficiently. Setting out to "reverse engineer" the brain -- disassembling it to understand it -- Sterling and Laughlin first consider why an animal should need a brain, tracing computational abilities from bacterium to protozoan to worm. They examine bigger brains and the advantages of "anticipatory regulation"; identify constraints on neural design and the need to "nanofy"; and demonstrate the routes to efficiency in an integrated molecular system, phototransduction. They show that the principles of neural design at finer scales and lower levels apply at larger scales and higher levels; describe neural wiring efficiency; and discuss learning as a principle of biological design that includes "save only what is needed." Sterling and Laughlin avoid speculation about how the brain might work and endeavor to make sense of what is already known. Their distinctive contribution is to gather a coherent set of basic rules and exemplify them across spatial and functional scales.
The mental gap between man and ape is immense. As the brain is the organ of the mind, we must assume that throughout evolution there were changes in the brain that created this gap. This book is a search for those changes. Written in a lively style, the book is a far-reaching and exciting quest for those things that make humans unique.
An essential reference for the new discipline of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience that defines the field's approach of applying evolutionary theory to guide brain-behavior investigations. Since Darwin we have known that evolution has shaped all organisms and that biological organs—including the brain and the highly crafted animal nervous system—are subject to the pressures of natural and sexual selection. It is only relatively recently, however, that the cognitive neurosciences have begun to apply evolutionary theory and methods to the study of brain and behavior. This landmark reference documents and defines the emerging field of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience. Chapters by leading researchers demonstrate the power of the evolutionary perspective to yield new data, theory, and insights on the evolution and functional modularity of the brain. Evolutionary cognitive neuroscience covers all areas of cognitive neuroscience, from nonhuman brain-behavior relationships to human cognition and consciousness, and each section of Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience addresses a different adaptive problem. After an introductory section that outlines the basic tenets of both theory and methodology of an evolutionarily informed cognitive neuroscience, the book treats neuroanatomy from ontogenetic and phylogenetic perspectives and explores reproduction and kin recognition, spatial cognition and language, and self-awareness and social cognition. Notable findings include a theory to explain the extended ontogenetic and brain development periods of big-brained organisms, fMRI research on the neural correlates of romantic attraction, an evolutionary view of sex differences in spatial cognition, a theory of language evolution that draws on recent research on mirror neurons, and evidence for a rudimentary theory of mind in nonhuman primates. A final section discusses the ethical implications of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience and the future of the field. Contributors: C. Davison Ankney, Simon Baron-Cohen, S. Marc Breedlove, William Christiana, Michael Corballis, Robin I. M. Dunbar, Russell Fernald, Helen Fisher, Jonathan Flombaum, Farah Focquaert, Steven J.C. Gaulin, Aaron Goetz, Kevin Guise, Ruben C. Gur, William D. Hopkins, Farzin Irani, Julian Paul Keenan, Michael Kimberly, Stephen Kosslyn, Sarah L. Levin, Lori Marino, David Newlin, Ivan S. Panyavin, Shilpa Patel, Webb Phillips, Steven M. Platek, David Andrew Puts, Katie Rodak, J. Philippe Rushton, Laurie Santos, Todd K. Shackelford, Kyra Singh, Sean T. Stevens, Valerie Stone, Jaime W. Thomson, Gina Volshteyn, Paul Root Wolpe
