Current Search: Brain -- Evolution (x)
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- Title
- Relative prefrontal cortex surface area in Pan troglodytes and Homo sapiens and its implications for cognitive evolution.
- Creator
- George, Ian D., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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The human prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with complex cognitive behaviors such as planning for the future, memory for serial order, social information processing and language. Understanding how the PFC has changed through time is central to the study of human neural evolution. Here we investigate the expansion of the PFC by measuring relative surface area of the PFC in Pan troglodytes and Homo sapiens. Magnetic resonance images (MRI's) from 8 preserved chimpanzee brains (3 male and 5...
Show moreThe human prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with complex cognitive behaviors such as planning for the future, memory for serial order, social information processing and language. Understanding how the PFC has changed through time is central to the study of human neural evolution. Here we investigate the expansion of the PFC by measuring relative surface area of the PFC in Pan troglodytes and Homo sapiens. Magnetic resonance images (MRI's) from 8 preserved chimpanzee brains (3 male and 5 female adults) were segmented and measured. The results of this study indicate that there are gross anatomical differences between the chimpanzee and human prefrontal cortex beyond absolute size. The lower surface area to volume ratio in PFC of the chimpanzee when compared to a human indicates less gyral white matter in this region and thus, less associative connectivity. This anatomical evidence of a difference corresponds with the lesser cognitive complexity observed in chimpanzees.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/221945
- Subject Headings
- Frontal lobes, Physiology, Brain, Evolution, Cognitive neuroscience, Psychophysiology, Vertebrates, Evolution, Evolution (Biology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Hominin endocast topography: an analysis using geographic information systems.
- Creator
- Boas, Melissa., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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This study examined the topography of prefrontal molds of human endocasts using three-dimensional laser scanning and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to carry out intra-species comparisons. Overall brain topography can indicate when major reorganizational shifts in brain structure happened in our evolutionalry history, and these shifts may indicate major shifts in cognition and behavior. Endocasts are one of the sole sources of information about extinct hominin brains ; they...
Show moreThis study examined the topography of prefrontal molds of human endocasts using three-dimensional laser scanning and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to carry out intra-species comparisons. Overall brain topography can indicate when major reorganizational shifts in brain structure happened in our evolutionalry history, and these shifts may indicate major shifts in cognition and behavior. Endocasts are one of the sole sources of information about extinct hominin brains ; they reproduce details of the brain's external morphology. Analysis of endocast morphology has never been done using GIS methodology. The use of GIS helps to overcome previous obstacles in regards to endocast analysis. Since this methodology is new, this research focuses on only one species, Homo sapiens and the area of focus is narrowed to the frontal lobe, specifically Broca's cap. This area is associated with speech in humans and is therefore of evolutionary significance. The variability in lateralization of this feature was quantified.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358286
- Subject Headings
- Human evolution, Brain mapping, Cognitive neuroscience, Geographic information systems
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Experimental archaeology and hominid evolution: establishing a methodology for determining handedness in lithic materials as a proxy for cognitive evolution.
- Creator
- Ruck, Lana, Broadfield, Douglas C., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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Human handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is, therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly...
Show moreHuman handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is, therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly indicated handedness, with a binary logistic regression correctly predicting handedness for 71.7% of the flakes. However, other characteristics were not associated with handedness. This is a result of personal knapping styles, as additional analyses show that individual knappers associate with some attributes better than handedness does. Continued work on these methodologies will enable analysis of Paleolithic assemblages in the future, with the ultimate goal of tracking population-level hominid handedness rates through time and using them as a proxy for cognitive evolution and language acquisition.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004325, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004325
- Subject Headings
- Archaeology, Brain -- Evolution, Cerebral dominance, Cognition and culture, Flintknapping, Fossil hominids, Human evolution, Laterality
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The seeds of structure: Exploring the chimpanzee mind.
- Creator
- Halloran, Andrew R., Florida Atlantic University, Broadfield, Douglas C.
- Abstract/Description
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There are certain properties of the human mind which allow abstract thought. These properties are responsible for the ability to create myth (or explanations of the unknown), cosmology, and culture. They are the seeds of all human phenomena not attributable to instinct. These properties can be isolated as the capacity for numeric logic and the mind functioning in terms of binary oppositions. The long held paradigm sees the human species as unique in possessing these qualities and well as the...
Show moreThere are certain properties of the human mind which allow abstract thought. These properties are responsible for the ability to create myth (or explanations of the unknown), cosmology, and culture. They are the seeds of all human phenomena not attributable to instinct. These properties can be isolated as the capacity for numeric logic and the mind functioning in terms of binary oppositions. The long held paradigm sees the human species as unique in possessing these qualities and well as the phenomena they yield. In order to challenge this paradigm, a two experiments are conducted on a chimpanzee to see if she possessed these properties. She successfully completed the cognitive tests on both experiments, thus implicating the human species as not unique in its abstractions.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13309
- Subject Headings
- Brain--Evolution, Human information processing, Primates--Behavior, Human-animal communication, Cognition in animals, Chimpanzees--Behavior
- Format
- Document (PDF)