scholarly journals Australopithecus afarensis endocasts suggest ape-like brain organization and prolonged brain growth

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (14) ◽  
pp. eaaz4729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Gunz ◽  
Simon Neubauer ◽  
Dean Falk ◽  
Paul Tafforeau ◽  
Adeline Le Cabec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Cognition ◽  
Brain Growth ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Human Brains ◽  
Volume Estimates ◽  
Endocranial Volume

Human brains are three times larger, are organized differently, and mature for a longer period of time than those of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Together, these characteristics are important for human cognition and social behavior, but their evolutionary origins remain unclear. To study brain growth and organization in the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis more than 3 million years ago, we scanned eight fossil crania using conventional and synchrotron computed tomography. We inferred key features of brain organization from endocranial imprints and explored the pattern of brain growth by combining new endocranial volume estimates with narrow age at death estimates for two infants. Contrary to previous claims, sulcal imprints reveal an ape-like brain organization and no features derived toward humans. A comparison of infant to adult endocranial volumes indicates protracted brain growth in A. afarensis, likely critical for the evolution of a long period of childhood learning in hominins.

scholarly journals The evolution of religious cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Fraser Watts
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human System ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Evolution Of Religion ◽  
Two Phases

Several accounts of the evolution of religion distinguish two phases: an earlier shamanic stage and a later doctrinal stage. Similarly, several theories of human cognition distinguish two cognitive modes: a phylogenetically older system that is largely intuitive and a later, more distinctively human system that is more rational and articulate. This article suggests that cognition in the earlier stage in the evolution of religion is largely at the level of intuition, whereas the cognition of doctrine or religion is more conceptual and rational. Early religious cognition is more embodied and is more likely to carry healing benefits. The evolutionary origins of religion in humans seem to depend on developments in the cognitive architecture. It is further suggested that the cognition of early religion shows less conceptual differentiation, is characteristically participatory rather than objectifying and is less individualistic. The development of religion in recent centuries appears to show some approximate recapitulation of the stages through which religion originally evolved.

Testing hypotheses of the evolution of encephalization in the Canidae (Carnivora, Mammalia)

Paleobiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Finarelli
Keyword(s):  
Brain Volume ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Allometric Relationships ◽  
Likelihood Ratios ◽  
Abrupt Increase ◽  
Complex Social Behavior ◽  
Volume Estimates ◽  
Endocranial Volume ◽  
The Brain

Evolutionary trends observed over large clades have the potential to mask underlying trends that occur within their constituent subclades. A recent study of encephalization in the Caniformia (Carnivora, Mammalia) found evidence for an abrupt increase in median log-encephalization quotients (logEQs), indicating higher brain volume relative to body mass, at the end-Miocene, but gradual increase in the variance of logEQs. In this study, new endocranial volume estimates for fossil taxa in the well-sampled caniform subclade Canidae are reported. Using the encephalization data for the Canidae, hypotheses of evolution in encephalization allometries were tested with respect to canid phylogeny. The Akaike Information Criterion and likelihood ratios recovered support for a preferred hypothesis of the evolution of canid encephalization, which proposed two distinct allometric relationships: (1) a plesiomorphic grade of encephalization in the subfamilies Hesperocyoninae and Borophaginae and the paraphyletic canine genus Leptocyon, and (2) an apomorphic grade in the crown radiation of Caninae. This defines a shift in to higher encephalization, but without an associated change in the variance around the allometry. Increased canid encephalization coincides with a reorganization of the brain and the observed trend may reflect the evolution of complex social behavior in this clade.

scholarly journals Brain adaptation and alternative developmental trajectories

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark H. Johnson ◽  
Emily J. H. Jones ◽  
Teodora Gliga
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Developmental Rate ◽  
Synaptic Function ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
The Face ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Adaptation Processes ◽  
Human Brains

AbstractResilience and adaptation in the face of early genetic or environmental risk has become a major interest in child psychiatry over recent years. However, we still remain far from an understanding of how developing human brains as a whole adapt to the diffuse and widespread atypical synaptic function that may be characteristic of some common developmental disorders. The first part of this paper discusses four types of whole-brain adaptation in the face of early risk: redundancy, reorganization, niche construction, and adjustment of developmental rate. The second part of the paper applies these adaptation processes specifically to autism. We speculate that key features of autism may be the end result of processes of early brain adaptation, rather than the direct consequences of ongoing neural pathology.

scholarly journals Formation of the English-language neologisms as a result of lexical and semantic nominations

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Nataliia Alexandrovna Kameneva
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Online News ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Long Period ◽  
News Websites ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Complex Words

This article is dedicated to the formation of English-language neologisms as a result of lexical and semantic nomination. The object of this research is the changes in the lexical system of modern English language based on the analysis of media and online publications. The subject of this research is the methods of formation of neologisms in the late XX and early XXI centuries. The author determines the most common methods of the formation neologisms in digital periodicals, online news websites, forums and blogs. Analysis is conducted on such methods of word formation as affixation, conversion, formation of complex words, shortening and hybridization, abbreviation, etc. It is noted that the majority of neologisms result from lexical nomination. The goal of this article lies in analysis of the formation of neologisms used in the English lexicon for a long period of time, and thus have acquired a certain official standing. Such lexical innovations have been included or are in the process of being included into the official English language. An attempt is made to reveal the key features of methods of formation of neologisms, which are of primary importance for the communicative and social activity in their broadest sense. Majority of neologisms in the language, which is over 70%, result from the lexical methods of word formation; while the share of neologisms formed via semantic derivation is only a few percent of the total number of lexical innovations.

scholarly journals Normative brain size variation and brain shape diversity in humans

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 360 (6394) ◽  
pp. 1222-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Reardon ◽  
Jakob Seidlitz ◽  
Simon Vandekar ◽  
Siyuan Liu ◽  
Raihaan Patel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Subcortical Regions ◽  
Human Brains ◽  
Brain Shape

Brain size variation over primate evolution and human development is associated with shifts in the proportions of different brain regions. Individual brain size can vary almost twofold among typically developing humans, but the consequences of this for brain organization remain poorly understood. Using in vivo neuroimaging data from more than 3000 individuals, we find that larger human brains show greater areal expansion in distributed frontoparietal cortical networks and related subcortical regions than in limbic, sensory, and motor systems. This areal redistribution recapitulates cortical remodeling across evolution, manifests by early childhood in humans, and is linked to multiple markers of heightened metabolic cost and neuronal connectivity. Thus, human brain shape is systematically coupled to naturally occurring variations in brain size through a scaling map that integrates spatiotemporally diverse aspects of neurobiology.

Ontogenetic Shifts in Brain Organization in the Bluespotted Stingray Neotrygon kuhlii (Chondrichthyes: Dasyatidae)

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Lisney ◽  
Kara E. Yopak ◽  
Victoria Camilieri-Asch ◽  
Shaun P. Collin
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Brain Growth ◽  
Olfactory Bulbs ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Ontogenetic Shifts ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain

Fishes exhibit lifelong neurogenesis and continual brain growth. One consequence of this continual growth is that the nervous system has the potential to respond with enhanced plasticity to changes in ecological conditions that occur during ontogeny. The life histories of many teleost fishes are composed of a series of distinct stages that are characterized by shifts in diet, habitat, and behavior. In many cases, these shifts correlate with changes in overall brain growth and brain organization, possibly reflecting the relative importance of different senses and locomotor performance imposed by the new ecological niches they encounter throughout life. Chondrichthyan (cartilaginous) fishes also undergo ontogenetic shifts in habitat, movement patterns, diet, and behavior, but very little is known about any corresponding shifts in the size and organization of their brains. Here, we investigated postparturition ontogenetic changes in brain-body size scaling, the allometric scaling of seven major brain areas (olfactory bulbs, telencephalon, diencephalon, optic tectum, tegmentum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata) relative to the rest of the brain, and cerebellar foliation in a chondrichthyan, i.e., the bluespotted stingray Neotrygon kuhlii. We also investigated the unusual morphological asymmetry of the cerebellum in this and other batoids. As in teleosts, the brain continues to grow throughout life, with a period of rapid initial growth relative to body size, before slowing considerably at the onset of sexual maturity. The olfactory bulbs and the cerebellum scale with positive allometry relative to the rest of the brain, whereas the other five brain areas scale with varying degrees of negative allometry. None of the major brain areas showed the stage-specific differences in rates of growth often found in teleosts. Cerebellar foliation also increases at a faster rate than overall brain growth. We speculate that changes in the olfactory bulbs and cerebellum could reflect increased olfactory and locomotor capabilities, which may be associated with ontogenetic shifts in diet, habitat use, and activity patterns, as well as shifts in behavior that occur with the onset of sexual maturity. The frequency distributions of the three cerebellar morphologies exhibited in this species best fit a 2:1:1 (right-sided:left-sided:intermediate) distribution, mirroring previous findings for another stingray species.

scholarly journals A gradient from long-term memory to novel cognition: transitions through default mode and executive cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuyi Wang ◽  
Daniel S. Margulies ◽  
Jonathan Smallwood ◽  
Elizabeth Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Neural Function ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Support Decision Making ◽  
Made In

AbstractHuman cognition flexibly guides decision-making in familiar and novel situations. Although these decisions are often treated as dichotomous, in reality, situations are neither completely familiar, nor entirely new. Contemporary accounts of brain organization suggest that neural function is organized along a gradient from unimodal regions of sensorimotor cortex, through executive regions to transmodal default network. We examined whether this graded view of neural organization helps to explain how decision-making changes across situations that vary in their alignment with long-term knowledge. Functional magnetic resonance imaging found that as decisions are made in an increasingly familiar context, the BOLD signal follows this neural gradient, with stronger responses in default regions when items are linked in long-term memory. In this way, neural organization is optimized to support decision-making in both highly familiar and less familiar situations.

scholarly journals Subtle left-right asymmetry of gene expression profiles in embryonic and foetal human brains

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolien G.F. de Kovel ◽  
Steven N. Lisgo ◽  
Simon E. Fisher ◽  
Clyde Francks
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Gene Expression Profiles ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Central Nervous Systems ◽  
Left Right Asymmetry ◽  
Human Brains

AbstractLeft-right laterality is an important aspect of human brain organization for which the genetic basis is poorly understood. Using RNA sequencing data we contrasted gene expression in left- and right-sided samples from several structures of the anterior central nervous systems of post mortem human embryos and fetuses. While few individual genes stood out as significantly lateralized, most structures showed evidence of laterality of their overall transcriptomic profiles. These left-right differences showed overlap with age-dependent changes in expression, indicating lateralized maturation rates, but not consistently in left-right orientation over all structures. Brain asymmetry may therefore originate in multiple locations, or if there is a single origin, it is earlier than 5 weeks post conception, with structure-specific lateralized processes already underway by this age. This pattern is broadly consistent with the weak correlations reported between various aspects of adult brain laterality, such as language dominance and handedness.

Ontogenetic shifts and sexual dimorphism in the brain organization of the small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ioannis Roussos ◽  
Persefoni Megalofonou
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Medulla Oblongata ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Brain Growth ◽  
Olfactory Bulbs ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Positive Allometry ◽  
Scyliorhinus Canicula ◽  
The Brain

Abstract In this study, we investigated ontogenetic and sexual changes of the brain scaling as well as the scaling and the relative size of six major brain areas in the small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula from the Mediterranean Sea. The brain somatic index (0.31–1.25%) did not differ significantly between sexes but was significantly affected by size with smaller specimens exhibiting higher values. Brain growth exhibited negative allometry (allometric coefficient 0.634), not affected by sex or maturity status. The brain growth rate was found to be higher compared with a previous study from the Atlantic Ocean. Regarding the scaling of the brain areas, the olfactory bulbs scaled with positive allometry, the telencephalon and the diencephalon scaled with the same rate of negative allometry, the mesencephalon exhibited even higher negative allometry, while the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata both followed a close-to-isometric growth pattern. Immature S. canicula possessed a larger mesencephalon and diencephalon, highlighting the importance of vision in this life period, while mature specimens had enlarged olfactory bulbs, indicating that olfaction may be more important after the animal attains sexual maturity. In respect of sexual dimorphism, males had a larger cerebellum and medulla oblongata, while females had enlarged telencephalon and olfactory bulbs.

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