Cortical evolution in mammals: the bane and beauty of phenotypic variability.

ABSTRACT: Evolution by natural selection, the unifying theory of all biological sciences, provides a basis for understanding how phenotypic variability is generated at all levels of organization from genes to behavior. However, it is important to distinguish what is the target of selection vs. what is transmitted across generations. Physical traits, behaviors, and the extended phenotype are all selected features of an individual, but genes that covary with different aspects of the targets of selection are inherited. Here we review the variability in cortical organization, morphology, and behavior that have been observed across species and describe similar types of variability within species. We examine sources of variability and the constraints that limit the types of changes that evolution has and

SUBMITTER: Krubitzer LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3386882 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature