10/25/2024 Todd Preuss: Discovering Human Brain Specializations — Present at the Creation of a New Science
Neuroscience Brown Bag
Todd Preuss, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Emory National Primate Research Center
Emory Medical School
Date: Friday, October 25, 2024
Time: 1:25PM-2:15PM
Location: 316 Wilson Hall
Discovering Human Brain Specializations — Present at the Creation of a New Science
The development of non-invasive neuroscientific technologies, particularly those involving MRI and genomics, and new comparative methodologies developed by evolutionary biologists, now allows us to identify unique features of the human brain. Current evidence makes it clear that the classical association regions of cerebral cortex were greatly expanded in humans, with particular enlargement of regions involved in semantic representation, language, and social cognition (including theory of mind). Diffusion MRI has also revealed human specializations of connectivity involving some of the expanded regions. Evolutionary changes in gene sequences and gene expression were numerous, although their phenotypic significance is typically unclear. One important unresolved issue is whether the enlargement of human cerebral cortex was accompanied by the addition of new cortical areas.
Questions? Contact Jon Kaas