How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain?
Humans usually attribute themselves the prerogative of being the pinnacle of evolution. They have large brains with many billion neurons and glial cells, trillions of synapses and besides all, a plastic hardware that may change either subtly or strongly in response to the external environment and in...
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| Формат: | Online |
| Мова: | Англійська |
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Frontiers Media SA
2021
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| Онлайн доступ: | 18276 |
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| _version_ | 1869520759291904000 |
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| author | Fernanda Tovar-Moll Roberto Lent |
| author_browse | Fernanda Tovar-Moll Roberto Lent |
| author_facet | Fernanda Tovar-Moll Roberto Lent |
| author_sort | Fernanda Tovar-Moll |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Humans usually attribute themselves the prerogative of being the pinnacle of evolution. They have large brains with many billion neurons and glial cells, trillions of synapses and besides all, a plastic hardware that may change either subtly or strongly in response to the external environment and internal, mental commands. With this hypercomplex apparatus, they are capable of very sophisticated inward computations and outward behaviors that include self-recognition, metacognition, different forms of language expression and reception, prediction of future events, planning and performing long streams of motor acts, subtle emotional feelings, and many other surprising, almost unbelievable properties. The main challenge for research is: how do we explain this gigantic achievement of evolution? Is it a direct consequence of having acquired a brain larger than our primate ancestors, with huge numbers of computational units? Would it be determined by a particular way these units came to relate to each other, building up logic circuits of powerful capacities? What along development has “made the difference” for the construction of such a complex brain machine? How much of this complexity is innate, how much is sculpted by influence of the external world, by social interaction with our human fellows, and by the history of our own mental trajectory along life? Many specific questions can be asked (albeit not necessarily answered so far) to this purpose: (1) which genomic characteristics make us unique among primates? (2) which of developmental events during and beyond embryogenesis define our brain – prolonged neurogenesis? permanent circuit (re)formation? dynamic synaptogenesis? regressive sculpting of the hardware? all of them? (3) is there anything special about plasticity of the human brain that allows us to build the exquisite individual variability characteristic of our brains? Neuroscience is in need of a synthesis. Perhaps associating concepts derived from developmental neurobiology with evolutionary morphology and physiology, together with those that photograph the human brain in action under influence of the external world, would turn on a light at the end of the tunnel, and we would be able to understand what humans do have that is special – if anything – to explain our success in the Earth. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-49589 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media SA |
| publisherStr | Frontiers Media SA |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-495892024-04-05T12:36:07Z How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? Fernanda Tovar-Moll Roberto Lent RC321-571 Q1-390 brain evolution Evo-Devo Brain Development neuroplasticity thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAN Neurosciences Humans usually attribute themselves the prerogative of being the pinnacle of evolution. They have large brains with many billion neurons and glial cells, trillions of synapses and besides all, a plastic hardware that may change either subtly or strongly in response to the external environment and internal, mental commands. With this hypercomplex apparatus, they are capable of very sophisticated inward computations and outward behaviors that include self-recognition, metacognition, different forms of language expression and reception, prediction of future events, planning and performing long streams of motor acts, subtle emotional feelings, and many other surprising, almost unbelievable properties. The main challenge for research is: how do we explain this gigantic achievement of evolution? Is it a direct consequence of having acquired a brain larger than our primate ancestors, with huge numbers of computational units? Would it be determined by a particular way these units came to relate to each other, building up logic circuits of powerful capacities? What along development has “made the difference” for the construction of such a complex brain machine? How much of this complexity is innate, how much is sculpted by influence of the external world, by social interaction with our human fellows, and by the history of our own mental trajectory along life? Many specific questions can be asked (albeit not necessarily answered so far) to this purpose: (1) which genomic characteristics make us unique among primates? (2) which of developmental events during and beyond embryogenesis define our brain – prolonged neurogenesis? permanent circuit (re)formation? dynamic synaptogenesis? regressive sculpting of the hardware? all of them? (3) is there anything special about plasticity of the human brain that allows us to build the exquisite individual variability characteristic of our brains? Neuroscience is in need of a synthesis. Perhaps associating concepts derived from developmental neurobiology with evolutionary morphology and physiology, together with those that photograph the human brain in action under influence of the external world, would turn on a light at the end of the tunnel, and we would be able to understand what humans do have that is special – if anything – to explain our success in the Earth. 2021-02-11T15:34:07Z 2021-02-11T15:34:07Z 2016-01-19 14:05:46 2016 book 18276 16648714 9782889198894 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/49589 eng Frontiers Research Topics image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International http://www.frontiersin.org/books/How_Can_Development_and_Plasticity_Contribute_to_Understanding_Evolution_of_the_Human_Brain_/928 http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/1002/how-can-development-and-plasticity-contribute-to-understanding-evolution-of-the-human-brain Frontiers Media SA 10.3389/978-2-88919-889-4 10.3389/978-2-88919-889-4 bf5ce210-e72e-4860-ba9b-c305640ff3ae 9782889198894 130 open access |
| spellingShingle | RC321-571 Q1-390 brain evolution Evo-Devo Brain Development neuroplasticity thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAN Neurosciences Fernanda Tovar-Moll Roberto Lent How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title | How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title_full | How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title_fullStr | How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title_short | How Can Development and Plasticity Contribute to Understanding Evolution of the Human Brain? |
| title_sort | how can development and plasticity contribute to understanding evolution of the human brain |
| topic | RC321-571 Q1-390 brain evolution Evo-Devo Brain Development neuroplasticity thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAN Neurosciences |
| topic_facet | RC321-571 Q1-390 brain evolution Evo-Devo Brain Development neuroplasticity thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAN Neurosciences |
| url | 18276 |
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