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Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis
While the human brain is clearly large relative to body size, less is known about the timing of brain and brain component expansion within primates and the relative magnitude of volumetric increases. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods and data for both extant and fossil species, we iden...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6379089/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30702428 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41250 |
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author | Miller, Ian F Barton, Robert A Nunn, Charles L |
author_facet | Miller, Ian F Barton, Robert A Nunn, Charles L |
author_sort | Miller, Ian F |
collection | PubMed |
description | While the human brain is clearly large relative to body size, less is known about the timing of brain and brain component expansion within primates and the relative magnitude of volumetric increases. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods and data for both extant and fossil species, we identified that a distinct shift in brain-body scaling occurred as hominins diverged from other primates, and again as humans and Neanderthals diverged from other hominins. Within hominins, we detected a pattern of directional and accelerating evolution towards larger brains, consistent with a positive feedback process in the evolution of the human brain. Contrary to widespread assumptions, we found that the human neocortex is not exceptionally large relative to other brain structures. Instead, our analyses revealed a single increase in relative neocortex volume at the origin of haplorrhines, and an increase in relative cerebellar volume in apes. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6379089 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-63790892019-02-20 Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis Miller, Ian F Barton, Robert A Nunn, Charles L eLife Evolutionary Biology While the human brain is clearly large relative to body size, less is known about the timing of brain and brain component expansion within primates and the relative magnitude of volumetric increases. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods and data for both extant and fossil species, we identified that a distinct shift in brain-body scaling occurred as hominins diverged from other primates, and again as humans and Neanderthals diverged from other hominins. Within hominins, we detected a pattern of directional and accelerating evolution towards larger brains, consistent with a positive feedback process in the evolution of the human brain. Contrary to widespread assumptions, we found that the human neocortex is not exceptionally large relative to other brain structures. Instead, our analyses revealed a single increase in relative neocortex volume at the origin of haplorrhines, and an increase in relative cerebellar volume in apes. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2019-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC6379089/ /pubmed/30702428 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41250 Text en © 2019, Miller et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Evolutionary Biology Miller, Ian F Barton, Robert A Nunn, Charles L Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title | Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title_full | Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title_fullStr | Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title_short | Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
title_sort | quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis |
topic | Evolutionary Biology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6379089/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30702428 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41250 |
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