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A bigger brain for a more complex environment

  • Umberto di Porzio EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 17. August 2020
Reviews in the Neurosciences
Aus der Zeitschrift Reviews in the Neurosciences Band 31 Heft 8

Abstract

The environment increased complexity required more neural functions to develop in the hominin brains, and the hominins adapted to the complexity by developing a bigger brain with a greater interconnection between its parts. Thus, complex environments drove the growth of the brain. In about two million years during hominin evolution, the brain increased three folds in size, one of the largest and most complex amongst mammals, relative to body size. The size increase has led to anatomical reorganization and complex neuronal interactions in a relatively small skull. At birth, the human brain is only about 20% of its adult size. That facilitates the passage through the birth canal. Therefore, the human brain, especially cortex, develops postnatally in a rich stimulating environment with continuous brain wiring and rewiring and insertion of billions of new neurons. One of the consequence is that in the newborn brain, neuroplasticity is always turned “on” and it remains active throughout life, which gave humans the ability to adapt to complex and often hostile environments, integrate external experiences, solve problems, elaborate abstract ideas and innovative technologies, store a lot of information. Besides, hominins acquired unique abilities as music, language, and intense social cooperation. Overwhelming ecological, social, and cultural challenges have made the human brain so unique. From these events, as well as the molecular genetic changes that took place in those million years, under the pressure of natural selection, derive the distinctive cognitive abilities that have led us to complex social organizations and made our species successful.

Keywords: bipedalism; cultural transmission; migration; molecular genetic changes; neuronal connectivity
Corresponding author: Umberto di Porzio, Developmental Neurobiology Laboratory, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, CNR, Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80128Naples, Italy, E-mail: ,

  1. Author contribution: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2020-05-24
Accepted: 2020-07-04
Published Online: 2020-08-17
Published in Print: 2020-11-18

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. A bigger brain for a more complex environment
  3. Lifestyle intervention to prevent Alzheimer’s disease
  4. Machine learning (ML) for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using brain imaging
  5. Nanomaterial integration into the scaffolding materials for nerve tissue engineering: a review
  6. Resveratrol in the treatment of neuroblastoma: a review
  7. Retinal involvement in Alzheimer's disease (AD): evidence and current progress on the non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of AD-related pathology using the eye
  8. Noninvasive brain stimulation for patients with a disorder of consciousness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2020-0041
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
bipedalism; cultural transmission; migration; molecular genetic changes; neuronal connectivity

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. A bigger brain for a more complex environment
  3. Lifestyle intervention to prevent Alzheimer’s disease
  4. Machine learning (ML) for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using brain imaging
  5. Nanomaterial integration into the scaffolding materials for nerve tissue engineering: a review
  6. Resveratrol in the treatment of neuroblastoma: a review
  7. Retinal involvement in Alzheimer's disease (AD): evidence and current progress on the non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of AD-related pathology using the eye
  8. Noninvasive brain stimulation for patients with a disorder of consciousness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
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