Introduction

Mind Shift ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
John Parrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Past History ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

This introductory chapter begins by providing an overview of the power of the human brain, which is displayed in the wonders of modern civilization. Despite the human brain’s capacity for such intellectual and technological feats, we still know astonishingly little about how it achieves them. This deficit in understanding is a problem not only because it means we lack basic knowledge of the biological factors that underlie our human uniqueness, but also because, for all its amazing capabilities, the human mind seems particularly prone to dysfunction. Still, some would argue there is good reason to be optimistic about the prospect of developing new and better treatments for mental disorders in the not-so-distant future. Such optimism is based on the increasing potential to study how the brain works in various important new ways thanks to recent technological innovations. The chapter then considers two overly polarised views of the human mind. Ultimately, this book argues that society radically restructures the human brain within an individual person’s lifetime, and that it has also played a central role in the past history of our species, by shaping brain evolution.

scholarly journals Evolutionary modifications in human brain connectivity associated with schizophrenia

Brain ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (12) ◽  
pp. 3991-4002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn P van den Heuvel ◽  
Lianne H Scholtens ◽  
Siemon C de Lange ◽  
Rory Pijnenburg ◽  
Wiepke Cahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
The Brain

See Vértes and Seidlitz (doi:10.1093/brain/awz353) for a scientific commentary on this article. Is schizophrenia a by-product of human brain evolution? By comparing the human and chimpanzee connectomes, van den Heuvel et al. demonstrate that connections unique to the human brain show greater involvement in schizophrenia pathology. Modifications in service of higher-order brain functions may have rendered the brain more vulnerable to dysfunction.

scholarly journals Situating allostasis and interoception at the core of human brain function

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Katsumi ◽  
Karen Quigley ◽  
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Biological Mechanisms ◽  
The Core ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Basic Functions ◽  
Mental Events ◽  
Physical Phenomena ◽  
The Brain

It is now well known that brain evolution, development, and structure do not respect Western folk categories of mind – that is, the boundaries of those folk categories have never been identified in nature, despite decades of search. Categories for cognitions, emotions, perceptions, and so on, may be useful for describing the mental phenomena that constitute a human mind, but they make a poor starting point for understanding the interplay of mechanisms that create those mental events in the first place. In this paper, we integrate evolutionary, developmental, anatomical, and functional evidence and propose that predictive regulation of the body’s internal systems (allostasis) and modeling the sensory consequences of this regulation (interoception) may be basic functions of the brain that are embedded in coordinated structural and functional gradients. Our approach offers the basis for a coherent, neurobiologically-inspired research program that attempts to explain how a variety of psychological and physical phenomena may emerge from the same biological mechanisms, thus providing an opportunity to unify them under a common explanatory framework that can be used to develop shared vocabulary for theory building and knowledge accumulation.

Conclusion

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin E. H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Human Diversity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tremendous Amount

This concluding chapter links antiquarian and contemporary conceptions of race, though at the same time noting that there can be no easy distinction between the two. It shows that while there may be transhistorical and innate predispositions to divide human society into a fixed number of essentialized subgroups, it would be extremely hasty to suppose that these “kinks” of the human mind are somehow fixed in the human brain. Between any possible predisposition and the actual modern history of thinking about race, there is a tremendous amount of room for conceptualizing alternative paths our deep-seated propensities for thinking about human diversity might have taken, and could still yet take.

A Brief History of Life and Brain Evolution

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Behavioral Features ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Shape ◽  
Evolutionary Fitness

This chapter reviews some of the fundamentals of evolution, particularly adaptations and exaptations. Adaptations are physical or behavioral features that through natural selection aided survival and reproduction. Exaptations are physical or behavioral features that have been co-opted from their initial adaptive functions and subsequently enhanced fitness. The reuse, recycling, or redeployment of brain neurons for purposes other than their original adaption may be considered a central organizing principle of the brain. The chapter reviews the beginnings of life and presents a timeline of life through the evolution of hominins. The term hominin refers to all current and extinct relatives and ancestors of Homo sapiens, including the australopithecines and habilines, within about the last 6 million years. The chapter introduces the hypothesis that Homo sapiens survived and flourished, instead of Neandertals, Denisovans, and other hominins, because of brain shape differences, which created cognitive differences that enhanced the evolutionary fitness of Homo sapiens.

Is the Human Brain Unique?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
The Future ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Brain

Some scientists now argue that humans are really not superior to other species, including our nearest genetic neighbors, chimpanzees and bonobos. Indeed, those animals seem capable of many things previously thought to be uniquely human, including a sense of the future, empathy, depression, and theory of mind. However, it is clear that humans alone produce speech, dominate the globe, and have several brain diseases like schizophrenia. There are three possible sources within the brain for these differences in brain function: in the structure of the brain, in genes coding for proteins in the brain, and in the level of expression of genes in the brain. There is evidence that all three are the case, giving us a place to look for the intersection of the human mind and brain: the expression of genes within neurons of the prefrontal cortex.

scholarly journals Familial Retinal Arteriolar Tortuosity with Acute Hippocampal Infarction

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae Hee Kim ◽  
Sonia Lee ◽  
Su Jin Lim
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Transient Global Amnesia ◽  
Subcortical White Matter ◽  
Blurred Vision ◽  
Retinal Arterioles ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global Amnesia ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Retinal Arteriolar

Purpose: To report a case of familial retinal arteriolar tortuosity with acute hippocampal infarction. Method: Single-patient case report. Results: A 50-year-old woman presented with blurred vision and was found to have cataract, retinal hemorrhages, and tortuous retinal arterioles in both eyes. Similar findings of tortuous retinal arterioles were observed in her daughter and son. In her past history of 6 years prior to the visit, she had been diagnosed with transient global amnesia after brain magnetic resonance imaging, which showed hippocampal infarction and multiple chronic ischemic lesions in the periventricular and subcortical white matter. Conclusion: Familial retinal arteriolar tortuosity is known to affect the retinal vessels only. To our knowledge, this is the first report of ischemic injury to the brain in a patient with familial retinal arteriolar tortuosity.

Regional selection of the brain size regulating gene CASC5 provides new insight into human brain evolution

2016 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Shi ◽  
Enzhi Hu ◽  
Zhenbo Wang ◽  
Jiewei Liu ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Selection Of

Experiments on the r.n.s. (real nervous system) and monkey memory

1968 ◽  
Vol 171 (1024) ◽  
pp. 335-352 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Present State ◽  
Past History ◽  
Cerebral Function ◽  
Repair Shop ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Two Universes ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Classical Strategy

I am afraid that I find a title such as 'The logical analysis of cerebral functions’ irresistible. With what can it be contrasted except ‘The illogical analysis of cerebral functions’ ? Logic is a set of rules that allows one to deduce certain conclusions from certain assumptions. It is best carried out while sitting in an armchair or, nowadays, in a swivel chair in front of a computer console. But, of course, everything depends on the assumptions, and given any set of assumptions it is only a matter of time before, in principle, all possible conclusions can be listed exhaustively. Then, one can compare some of the conclusions with actual empirical results, provided one has the necessary connecting assumptions. This is a classical strategy. But given the peculiar past history and present state of our knowledge about cerebral functions, I am afraid that I am driven to embrace a contrasting approach of an ‘illogical analysis of cerebral functions’. Or, perhaps I should say I prefer an analysis of cerebral function that depends on inference rather than deduction. Deduction is an all-or none affair. It either leads to the brilliant break-through or to the scrap heap, or at least to the repair shop for patching or remoulding. In the history of our subject the scrap merchants have grown rich. I prefer a state of affairs where the assumptions stem from the conclusions rather than the conclusions from the assumptions. The problem of the analysis of cerebral function, as I see it, is that an organism both behaves, with all that can be elaborated by that word, and it also possesses a brain. But the two universes of discourse are quite different—there is nothing that we can say in making an assertion about the possession of a cranium that overlaps with descriptions about behaviour, except that without such a possession no behaviour is displayed for long. That is not a remarkable statement nor even one restricted to possession of an intact cranium: it applies equally forcefully to other vital organs. But somehow we have reached the point where we have more than a shrewd suspicion that the two are not independent—and it is by no means immediately obvious that they are not, as evidenced by the Greek hypothesis that the brain was a device merely for cooling the blood. But how do we study the mutual interaction? I suspect that one rather good way is by following the same steps that have already led us, over the centuries, to the firm view that there is some connexion between brain and behaviour. But progress has been painfully slow, and we are impatient.

scholarly journals A Brief Analysis About the Drug Addiction by Youths in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 608-613
Author(s):  
Dr. Nagaraju. K. S
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Nerve Cells ◽  
Good Friend ◽  
Normal Manner ◽  
Keywords Alcohol ◽  
History Of ◽  
Black World ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain

Abstract: People have been taking the drug in various forms for many years for enjoyment, relaxation, sleeping, stimulation, or another reason. In the starting, people takes the drug for taste and alter the consciousness, behavior, mood, and thoughts but he/she becomes habitual and dependent on any substance use disorder such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, amphetamines, or illegal drugs. As per my thoughts and watching surroundings, if you ask a drug intake person “how do you become a drug addictive”? Most people will answer this “they started taking the drug in their friend circle, at relatives home or with relationship partner”. The first time they take it for taste or due to forcing by someone but after some time this becomes a habit. Peer pressure can fall you in this black world. Also, if someone has family history of addiction then he/she may chance to catch this addiction and make habitual others as well. So good friend circle really matters. Drugs such as heroin and marijuana are structured in the same way as chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters are produced naturally by the human brain. As a result of this similarity, the drugs can fool the receptors of human brain and activate the nerve cells in such a way that they send some abnormal messages. In case of drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine, the nerve cells get activated and they release extraordinarily large volumes of neurotransmitters. They are also capable of preventing the brain from recycling these chemicals in a normal manner. A normal level of production is necessary in order to end the signal between neurons. Keywords: Alcohol – Beer, Wine, & Liquor, Opioids – Heroin, Fentanyl & Oxycodone, Cannabinoids – Marijuana & Hashish, Benzodiazepines – Ativan, Valium & Xanax, Stimulants – Adderall, Cocaine & Meth.

The Human Brain

1930 ◽  
Vol 76 (313) ◽  
pp. 245-249
Author(s):  
G. Elliot Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Attributes ◽  
The Brain

Man is distinguished from all other living creatures by the quality and range of his intellect, and on the physical side by the nature of the brain which confers upon him this mental pre-eminence. Moreover, as its exceptional powers were acquired by a process of evolution, the true significance of the human attributes can only be appreciated by examining the history of their development.

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