"Principles of Brain Evolution"

by Georg Striedter


Table of Contents


1. Evolutionary Neuroscience: This Book's Scope and Ambition

- The Book's Scope and Major Themes 


2. A History of Comparative Neurobiology

- The Birth of Comparative Neuroanatomy 
- Darwin's Time: The Owen–Huxley Debate 
- The Era of Comparative Cytoarchitectonics 
- Comparative Hodology and Histochemistry 
- The Rise of Neurocladistics 
- The Rejuvenation of Comparative Neuroembryology 
- Conclusions


3. Conservation in Vertebrate Brains

- A "Who's Who" of Vertebrates 
- Comparing Adult Brains 
- Adult brain regions 
- Adult cell types 
- Neuron-typical molecules 
- Comparing Embryonic Brains 
- The neuromeric model 
- Criticisms of the neuromeric model 
- Mapping Embryos onto Adults 
- Conclusion 


4. Evolutionary Changes in Overall Brain Size

- Changes in Relative Brain Size 
- Mechanisms of brain–body scaling 
- Functional Correlates of Relative Brain Size 
- Changes in Absolute Brain Size 
- Constraints and Compromises 
- Conclusions 


5. Evolutionary Changes in Brain Region Size

- Concerted versus Mosaic Evolution 
- Concerted evolution 
- Mosaic evolution 
- Toward a synthesis 
- Functional Correlates of Brain Region Size 
- The principle of proper mass 
- Absolute size and functional capacity 
- Proportional size and influence 
- Relative size and adaptation 
- Synthesis: The avian hippocampus 
- Conclusions 


6. Evolutionary Changes in Brain Region Structure

- Homology and Novelty
- Phylogenetic Conversion: Lamination 
- Phylogenetic Proliferation: Segregation 
- Phylogenetic Proliferation: Addition 
- Conclusions 


7. Evolution of Neuronal Connectivity

- Epigenetic Population Matching and Cascades 
- The Parcellation Hypothesis 
- Connectional Invasion and Its Consequences 
- General Principles of Network Design 
- Synthesis and Conclusions 


8. What's Special about Mammal Brains?

- Early Mammals and their Brains 
- The Phylogenetic History of Neocortex 
- Beyond the Neocortex 
- Conclusion 


9. What's Special about Human Brains?

- Primate Behavior and Overall Brain Size 
- Evolutionary Changes in Primate Brain Organization 
- Hominin Behavior and Overall Brain Size 
- Evolutionary Changes in Hominin Brain Organization 
- Conclusions 


10. Reflections and Prospect

- Explanatory Strategies in Evolutionary Neuroscience 
- Steps Toward Synthesis 
- Absolute and Relative Brain Size
- Conclusion