Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution
Abstract Although intense research effort is seeking to address which brain areas fire and connect to each other to produce complex behaviors in a few living primates, little is known about their evolution, and which brain areas or facets of cognition were favored by natural selection. By developing...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07505-1 |
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| author | Marina Melchionna Silvia Castiglione Giorgia Girardi Antonio Profico Alessandro Mondanaro Gabriele Sansalone Narimane Chatar Alejandro Pérez Ramos Marcos Fernández-Monescillo Carmela Serio Luca Pandolfi Jacob Dembitzer Mirko Di Febbraro Marta Michelle Caliendo Alessia Di Costanzo Linda Morvillo Antonella Esposito Pasquale Raia |
| author_facet | Marina Melchionna Silvia Castiglione Giorgia Girardi Antonio Profico Alessandro Mondanaro Gabriele Sansalone Narimane Chatar Alejandro Pérez Ramos Marcos Fernández-Monescillo Carmela Serio Luca Pandolfi Jacob Dembitzer Mirko Di Febbraro Marta Michelle Caliendo Alessia Di Costanzo Linda Morvillo Antonella Esposito Pasquale Raia |
| author_sort | Marina Melchionna |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Although intense research effort is seeking to address which brain areas fire and connect to each other to produce complex behaviors in a few living primates, little is known about their evolution, and which brain areas or facets of cognition were favored by natural selection. By developing statistical tools to study the evolution of the brain cortex at the fine scale, we found that rapid cortical expansion in the prefrontal region took place early on during the evolution of primates. In anthropoids, fast-expanding cortical areas extended to the posterior parietal cortex. In Homo, further expansion affected the medial temporal lobe and the posteroinferior region of the parietal lobe. Collectively, the fast-expanding cortical areas in anthropoids are known to form a brain network producing mind reading abilities and other higher-order cognitive functions. These results indicate that pursuing complex cognition drove the evolution of Primate brains. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-71b72b5db48b440bb57fdfcb0c273506 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-71b72b5db48b440bb57fdfcb0c2735062025-01-19T12:35:41ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-01-018111210.1038/s42003-025-07505-1Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolutionMarina Melchionna0Silvia Castiglione1Giorgia Girardi2Antonio Profico3Alessandro Mondanaro4Gabriele Sansalone5Narimane Chatar6Alejandro Pérez Ramos7Marcos Fernández-Monescillo8Carmela Serio9Luca Pandolfi10Jacob Dembitzer11Mirko Di Febbraro12Marta Michelle Caliendo13Alessia Di Costanzo14Linda Morvillo15Antonella Esposito16Pasquale Raia17DiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDepartment of Biology, University of PisaDST, Università degli Studi di FirenzeDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaEvolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, Université de LiègeDepartamento de Ecología y Geología, Universidad de MálagaMuseo de Paleontología, Universidad Nacional de CórdobaDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDipartimento di Scienze, Università della BasilicataDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDepartment of Biosciences and Territory, University of MoliseDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIDiSTAR, Università di Napoli Federico IIAbstract Although intense research effort is seeking to address which brain areas fire and connect to each other to produce complex behaviors in a few living primates, little is known about their evolution, and which brain areas or facets of cognition were favored by natural selection. By developing statistical tools to study the evolution of the brain cortex at the fine scale, we found that rapid cortical expansion in the prefrontal region took place early on during the evolution of primates. In anthropoids, fast-expanding cortical areas extended to the posterior parietal cortex. In Homo, further expansion affected the medial temporal lobe and the posteroinferior region of the parietal lobe. Collectively, the fast-expanding cortical areas in anthropoids are known to form a brain network producing mind reading abilities and other higher-order cognitive functions. These results indicate that pursuing complex cognition drove the evolution of Primate brains.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07505-1 |
| spellingShingle | Marina Melchionna Silvia Castiglione Giorgia Girardi Antonio Profico Alessandro Mondanaro Gabriele Sansalone Narimane Chatar Alejandro Pérez Ramos Marcos Fernández-Monescillo Carmela Serio Luca Pandolfi Jacob Dembitzer Mirko Di Febbraro Marta Michelle Caliendo Alessia Di Costanzo Linda Morvillo Antonella Esposito Pasquale Raia Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution Communications Biology |
| title | Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| title_full | Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| title_fullStr | Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| title_short | Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| title_sort | cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07505-1 |
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