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The Combinatorial Creature: Cortical Phenotypes within and across Lifetimes.

Leah A Krubitzer¹, Tony J Prescott²

¹Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

Trends in Neurosciences

|October 3, 2018

Summary

The mammalian neocortex varies in size and organization due to evolutionary and activity-dependent mechanisms. These processes allow rapid adaptation to environments and enable cultural influences on brain development in humans.

Keywords:

brain evolution cortical arealization epigenetics evo-devo neocortex

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Evolutionary Biology
Developmental Neuroscience

Background:

The neocortex is a defining mammalian brain structure, exhibiting significant diversity in size and organization across species.
Neocortical variability arises from both evolutionary genetic changes and activity-dependent modifications.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the mechanisms underlying neocortical variability in mammals.
To understand how evolutionary and activity-dependent processes shape brain structure and function.

Main Methods:

Comparative analysis of neocortical structures across mammalian species.
Review of genetic and neurobiological studies on brain development and plasticity.

Main Results:

Evolutionary mechanisms (gene sequence alterations) influence neocortical size, organization, and connectivity.
Activity-dependent mechanisms dynamically modify these same neocortical features.
Neocortical changes occur across various timescales, including within a single generation.

Conclusions:

A combination of genetic and activity-dependent mechanisms allows for flexible adaptation of the neocortex to diverse contexts.
In humans, this adaptability facilitates the impact of culture on brain construction.