Summary: The shape of the brain has developed in parallel with its functions throughout evolution.
The study examined 3D surface models of the brains of 90 species of Euarchontoglires, allowing researchers to analyze the diversity of brain shapes and their relationship to function, behavior and ecology.
Key findings:
- The shape of the brain has evolved in parallel with the function of the organ.
- The study used 3D surface models of the brains of 90 species of Euarchontoglires, including humans, macaques, mice, rats, squirrels and hamsters.
- The results of the study show that the brain first expands areas of visual attention before other areas related to higher cognitive functions, such as language and memory, as it adapts to its environment.
Source: Medical University of Vienna
The connections between the structure of the brain and its functions are a major focus of neuroscience.
A new study from the Medical University of Vienna, involving a team of international partners, has looked at evolution and its relation to the architectural possibilities of human and animal brains.
The results showed that the shape of the brain has developed in parallel with the function of the organ throughout evolution.
The results of the study were published in the famous journal Nature connections.
The study examined 3D surface models of the brains of 90 Euarchontoglire (supraprimate) species, such as humans, macaques, marmosets, mice, rats, squirrels and hamsters.
Computer modeling of common ancestry and analysis of the shapes of neural structures were used to create a common representation of the brain.
For the first time, this made it possible to analyze the diversity of brain forms and their relation to function, behavior and ecology, ie the relationship between living beings and their environment.
The results confirm that the shape of the brain has evolved in parallel with the function of the organ.
“By evaluating different growth patterns, we were able to identify seven clusters that expanded together during brain evolution and correspond to specific aspects of cognitive abilities in animals and humans,” explained lead author Ernst Schwarz of the Computational Imaging Research Lab. (CIR) at MedUni Vienna Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy.
As a result, the brain adapts to the environment by first expanding areas of visual attention before other areas involved in higher cognitive functions such as language and memory.
The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers from around the world.
“The study would not have been possible without the extremely open, interdisciplinary, international collaboration that characterized it. It combines elements of neuroscience, anatomy, paleontology, and mathematics, and involves more than a dozen laboratories around the world,” said study leader Georg Lang.
“One of the drivers of this work was an interest in plasticity – the question of why some brain regions are better able to reorganize than others during disease. And we hope that a better understanding of brain geometry will help us gain insight into these mechanisms,” he concluded.
The results of the study could also help to better understand the commonalities and differences between animals and humans.
For this evolutionary neuroscience research news
Author: Karina Kirschbichler
Source: Medical University of Vienna
Contact person: Karin Kirschbichler – Medical University of Vienna
Image: Image featured in Neuroscience News
Preliminary study: Open access.
Ernst Schwarz et al. “Evolution of basket geometry and its relationship to function, behavior and ecology”. Nature connections
Abstract
Evolution of cortical geometry and its relation to function, behavior and ecology
Studies of comparative neuroanatomy and the fossil record show the influence of socioecological niches on the morphology of the cerebral cortex, but have often produced conflicting theories about its development.
Here we investigate the relationship between the shape of the cerebral cortex and the topography of its function.
We construct a common geometric representation of the cerebral cortex for ninety extant species of Euarchontoglires, including widely used experimental model organisms. We show that variability in surface geometry is related to species ecology and behavior independent of overall brain size.
Namely, the reconstruction of the ancestral shape of the cortical surface and its changes during evolution allow us to trace the evolutionary history of localized cortical expansion, the modal segregation of brain function, and their relation to behavior and cognition.
We find that individual cortical regions follow different sequences of area growth during evolutionary adaptation to dynamic socioecological niches. The anatomical correlates of this sequence of events are still observable in extant species and are relevant to their current behavior and ecology.
We dissect the deep evolutionary history of human cortical surface shape into spatially and temporally defined components with highly interpretable functional associations, emphasizing the importance of considering the evolutionary history of cortical regions when studying their anatomy and function.
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