Evolutionary Anatomy of the Primate Cerebral Cortex

by Edited by Dean Falk , Kathleen R. Gibson

• ISBN13: 9780521089951
• ISBN10: 0521089956
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Studies of brain evolution have moved rapidly in recent years, building on the pioneering research of Harry J. Jerison. This book provides state-of-the-art reviews of primate (including human) brain evolution. The volume is divided into two sections, the first offers new perspectives on the developmental, physiological, dietary, and behavioral correlates of brain enlargement. However, it has long been recognized that brains do not merely enlarge globally as they evolve, but that their cortical and internal organization also changes in a process known as reorganization. Species-specific adaptations therefore have neurological substrates that depend on more than just overall brain size. The second section explores these neurological underpinnings for the senses, adaptations, and cognitive abilities that are important for primates. With a prologue by Stephen J. Gould and an epilogue by Harry J. Jerison, this is an important new reference work for all those working on primate brain evolution.

Table of Contents

Preface

Prologue

Introduction to Part I

The Evolution of Brain Size

Encephalization and its developmental structure: how many ways can a brain get big?

Neocortical expansion and elaboration during primate evolution: a view from neuroembryology

In defense of the expensive tissue hypothesis

Bigger is better: primate brain size in relationship to cognition

The evolution of sex differences in primate brains

Brain evolution in hominids: are we at the end of the road?

Introduction to Part II

Neurological Substrates of Species-Specific Adaptations

The discovery of cerebral diversity: an unwelcome scientific revolution

Pheromonal communication and socialization

Revisiting australopithecine visual striate cortex: newer data from chimpanzee and human brains suggest it could have been reduced during australopithecine times

Structural symmetries and asymmetries in human and chimpanzee brains

Language areas of the hominid brain: a dynamic communicative shift on the upper east side planum

The promise and the peril in hominid brain evolution Phillip

Advances in the study of hominid brain evolution: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 3-D reconstruction

Exo- and endocranial morphometrics in mid-Pleistocene and modern humans

Epilogue: the study of primate brain evolution: where do we go from here?

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.