Significance of studies of the avian brain from three perspectives

The avian brain has been one of the most popular subjects in neuroscience. Recent developments and findings related to avian studies from three different fields are described and their significance is discussed. These topics are: 1) paleontological discoveries indicating that birds are the successors of dinosaurs; 2) neuroanatomical findings indicating that there is a general pattern of information processing in the avian brain; and 3) an evolution hypothesis suggesting that the avian brain has neurons corresponding to those of the mammalian neocortex.