Multilevel atlas comparisons reveal divergent evolution of the primate brain.

ABSTRACT: Whether the size of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in humans is disproportionate when compared to other species is a persistent debate in evolutionary neuroscience. This question has left the study of over/under-expansion in other structures relatively unexplored. We therefore sought to address this gap by adapting anatomical areas from the digital atlases of 18 mammalian species, to create a common interspecies classification. Our approach used data-driven analysis based on phylogenetic generalized least squares to evaluate anatomical expansion covering the whole brain. Our main finding suggests a divergence in primate evolution, orienting the stereotypical mammalian cerebral proportion toward a frontal and parietal lobe expansion in catarrhini (primate parvorder comprising old world monkeys

SUBMITTER: Garin CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9231627 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature