Read more
This book presents a new view on the evolution of the brain, cognition, and emotion. Around a half-century ago, Professor Harry Jerison published a seminal book entitled Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence. Since then, there has been a series of dramatic methodological and conceptual changes which have led to many new insights into the understanding of brain evolution and cognition. This book is particularly focused on three significant aspects of such changes. First, taking advantage of a new integrated approach called evolutionary developmental biology or Evo/Devo, researchers have started to look into vertebrate brain evolution from the developmental perspective. Second, comparative neuroanatomists have accumulated a large amount of information about the brains of diverse animal groups to refute the old-fashioned idea that vertebrate brains evolved linearly from non-mammals to mammals. Third, comparative behavioral studies have demonstrated that sophisticated cognition and emotion are not unique to some primates but are also found in many non-primate and even non-mammalian species. This work will appeal to a wide readership in such fields as neuroscience, cognitive science, and behavioral science.
List of contents
Part I Evolution of the Brain.- 1 An overview of brain evolution: lobe-finned fish vs ray-finned fish.- 2 The Origins of the Bird Brain: Multiple Pulses of Cerebral Expansion in Evolution.- 3 The evolution of mammalian brains from early mammals to present-day primates.- 4 Developmental sequences predict multiple types of increased intra-connectivity in evolution: a comparative analysis of developmental timing, gene expression, neuron numbers, and diffusion MR tractography.- Part II Evolution of Cognition.- 5 The Evolution of Cognitive Brains in Non-mammals.- 6 Evolution of Cognitive Brains: Mammals.- 7 On the Matter of Mind: Neural Complexity and Functional Dynamics of the Human Brain.- 8 Behavioural, cognitive, and neuronal changes in the acquisition of tool use.- 9 Great ape social attention.- 10 Evolution of vocal communication: From animal calls to human speech.- 11 Integration Hypothesis: A Parallel Model of Language Development in Evolution.- Part III Evolution of Emotion.- 12 Evolution of the emotional brain.- 13 Evolutionary origin of empathy and inequality aversion.
About the author
Shigeru Watanabe, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and Director
Department of Psychology, Keio University, Japan
Michel A. Hofman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, The Netherlands
Toru Shimizu, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Psychology, University of South Florida, USA
Summary
This book presents a new view on the evolution of the brain, cognition, and emotion. Around a half-century ago, Professor Harry Jerison published a seminal book entitled Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence. Since then, there has been a series of dramatic methodological and conceptual changes which have led to many new insights into the understanding of brain evolution and cognition. This book is particularly focused on three significant aspects of such changes. First, taking advantage of a new integrated approach called evolutionary developmental biology or Evo/Devo, researchers have started to look into vertebrate brain evolution from the developmental perspective. Second, comparative neuroanatomists have accumulated a large amount of information about the brains of diverse animal groups to refute the old-fashioned idea that vertebrate brains evolved linearly from non-mammals to mammals. Third, comparative behavioral studies have demonstrated that sophisticated cognition and emotion are not unique to some primates but are also found in many non-primate and even non-mammalian species. This work will appeal to a wide readership in such fields as neuroscience, cognitive science, and behavioral science.
