Λεπτομέρειες βιβλιογραφικής εγγραφής
| Τίτλος: |
Fossil evidence favors a role for vision in the modular evolution of the primate neocortex. |
| Συγγραφείς: |
Kay, Richard F.1,2 (AUTHOR) richard.kay@duke.edu, Organ, Chris L.3 (AUTHOR), Morse, Paul E.4,5 (AUTHOR), Allen, Kari L.6 (AUTHOR), Kirk, E. Christopher7,8 (AUTHOR) eckirk@austin.utexas.edu |
| Πηγή: |
Science. 8/6/2026, Vol. 393 Issue 6811, p622-627. 6p. |
| Θεματικοί όροι: |
*Cerebral cortex development, *Optic nerve, *Paleontology |
| Περίληψη: |
Neocortical expansion is a key innovation of crown primates, although fossil evidence for how the neocortex has evolved remains elusive. We studied neocortical evolution using virtual brain endocasts from extant and Eocene-Miocene fossil primates. We found that neocortex size increased in parallel across crown primate clades, with rapid increases in tarsiers and anthropoids. Although the frontal lobe is commonly described as having expanded disproportionately in primates, we show that it evolved gradually, following a common pattern for allometric scaling. By contrast, nonfrontal neocortical regions underwent rapid increases relative to brain size in haplorhines. Neocortical expansion occurred in concert with increases in optic foramen area, suggesting that visual sensory inputs are functionally tied to modular evolution of the primate neocortex. Editor's summary: Expansion of the neocortex is a key differentiator of the primate brain relative to other mammals. Kay et al. used fossil primate brain virtual endocasts to understand how the neocortex evolved (see the Perspective by Barton). The authors showed that enhanced visual processing, not expansion of the frontal lobe, drove the major increases in neocortical size. These findings argue against the assumption that frontal lobe enlargement was the primary innovation underlying primate brain evolution. —Mattia Maroso [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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