Brain Evolution

Name: Brain Evolution
Brand: Oxford University Press Inc
Price: 83.45 EUR
Availability: BackOrder

Georg F. Striedter(Author)

Oxford University Press Inc

Published on 20. October 2004

Book

Hardback

350 pages

978-0-87893-820-9 (ISBN)

€83.45incl. 7% vat

Shipment within 3-4 weeks

Description

Brain Evolution is a complex weave of species similarities and differences, bound by diverse rules or principles. This book is a detailed examination of these principles, using data from a wide array of vertebrates but minimizing technical details and terminology. It is written for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and more senior scientists who already know something about 'the brain,' but want a deeper understanding of how diverse brains evolved.
The book opens with a brief history of evolutionary neuroscience, then introduces the various groups of vertebrates and their major brain regions. The core of the text explores: what aspects of brain organization are conserved across the vertebrates; how brains and bodies changed in size as vertebrates evolved; how individual brain regions tend to increase or decrease in size; how regions can become structurally more (or less) complex; and how neuronal circuitry evolves. A central theme emerges from these chapters-that evolutionary changes in brain size tend to correlate with many other aspects of brain structure and function, including the proportional size of individual brain regions, their complexity, and their neuronal connections. To explain these correlations, the book delves into rules of brain development and asks how changes in brain structure impact function and behaviour. The final two chapters demonstrate the application of these rules, focusing on how mammal brains diverged from other brains and how Homo sapiens evolved a very large and 'special' brain.

Reviews / Votes

This text will surely supersede its stated goal, to pique the interest in brain evolution of advanced undergraduate and graduate students. From the very beginning, with the fascinating example of Bumpus' sparrows of 1898, we know this book will be more witty and lively than most on this topic. Throughout the remaining text, Striedter succeeds repeatedly by explicating the main principles of brain evolution without encyclopedic or dry detail. As a result of this new text, we can certainly anticipate that young students of evolutionary neuroscience will be enticed to address questions that currently lack much empirical data." * David C. Airey, Genes, Brain and Behavior * This volume offers an enduring and succinct summary of the vast archive of morphological data that reveals the wondrous diversity of brains." * Robert W. Doty, The Quarterly Review of Biology * Georg Striedter has produced a wonderful book that discusses current understandings of brain evolution. Overall, this is a volume that most neuroscientists will enjoy reading, and some of them, myself included, will find it useful as a textbook for graduate students and advanced undergraduates." * Jon H. Kaas, Nature Neuroscience * In Principles of Brain Evolution, Striedter accomplishes several important goals: he conveys the many aspects of brain structure and function that are conserved across species; he illustrates in a clear manner why species differences are real and should not be dismissed; he explores the complex issue as to how conservation and divergence * noted at various levels of neural organizationrelate to one another; and finally, he hypothesizes as to how the rules of brain development have consequences for how the brains evolve. Astonishingly, Striedter accomplishes these goals in some 360 pages of text! I highly recommend this book."
C. A. Morgan, III, M.D., M.A., Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine *

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Content

PART 1: EVOLUTIONARY NEUROSCIENCE: THIS BOOK'S SCOPE AND AMBITION
The Book's Scope and Major Themes
PART 2: A HISTORYOF COMPARATIVE NEUROBIOLOGY
The Birth of Comparative Neuroanatomy
Darwin's Time: The Owen-Huxley Debate
The Era of Comparative Cytoarchitectonics
Comparative Hodology and Histochemistry
The Rise of Neurocladistics
The Rejuvenation of Comparative Neuroembryology
Conclusions
PART 3: CONSERVATION IN VERTEBRATE BRAINS
A "Who's Who" of Vertebrates
Comparing Adult Brains
Adult Brain Regions
Adult Cell Types
Neuron-typical Molecules
Comparing Embryonic Brains
The Neuromeric Model
Criticisms of the Neuromeric Model
Mapping Embryos onto Adults
Conclusion
PART 4: EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN OVERALL BRAIN SIZE
Changes in Relative Brain Size
Mechanisms of Brain-body Scaling
Functional Correlates of Relative Brain Size
Changes in Absolute Brain Size
Constraints and Compromises
Conclusions
PART 5: EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN BRAIN REGION SIZE
Concerted versus Mosaic Evolution
Concerted Evolution
Mosaic Evolution
Toward a Synthesis
Functional Correlates of Brain Region Size
The Principle of Proper Mass
Absolute Size and Functional Capacity
Proportional Size and Influence
Relative Size and Adaptation
Synthesis: The Avian Hippocampus
Conclusions
PART 6: EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN BRAIN REGION STRUCTURE
Homology and Novelty
Phylogenetic Conversion: Lamination
Phylogenetic Proliferation: Segregation
Phylogenetic Proliferation: Addition
Conclusions
PART 7: EVOLUTION OF NEURONAL CONNECTIVITY
Epigenetic Population Matching and Cascades
The Parcellation Hypothesis
Connectional Invasion and Its Consequences
General Principles of Network Design
Synthesis and Conclusions
PART 8: WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT MAMMAL BRAINS?
Early Mammals and their Brains
The Phylogenetic History of Neocortex
Beyond the Neocortex
Conclusion
PART 9: WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT HUMAN BRAINS?
Primate Behavior and Overall Brain Size
Evolutionary Changes in Primate Brain Organization
Hominin Behavior and Overall Brain Size
Evolutionary Changes in Hominin Brain Organization
Conclusions
PART 10: WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT HUMAN BRAINS?
Explanatory Strategies in Evolutionary Neuroscience
Steps Toward Synthesis
Absolute and Relative Brain Size
Conclusion

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