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An evolutionary perspective on the emergence of brain anatomy and cognition| title | An evolutionary perspective on the emergence of brain anatomy and cognition |
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| start_date | 2025/11/03 |
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| schedule | 11h |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | Amphitheater NeuroSpin & Online |
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| summary | Cortical convolutions are a hallmark of large mammalian brains, where increased size correlates with more folding. These folds exhibit species-specific patterns, often mirroring the arrangement of cortical regions with distinct functions and connections. While cortical folding as a result of mechanical instability from brain growth has gained traction in the past decade, the consensus remains that folding patterns are genetically determined.
Our study explores to what extent mechanical morphogenesis shapes the development and evolution of the primate cortex. We reconstructed cerebral surfaces for over 70 primate species, and connectomes of the underlying structural connectivity for several New World and Old World monkeys. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we estimated ancestral states and validated our findings with an independent dataset of endocasts. We developed novel methods to compare folding, cortical thickness and connectivity patterns across species. We found that these patterns are strikingly similar between brains with similar volume no matter if they come from far branches of the phylogenetic tree. In contrast, the brains of 2 closely related species with different brain volumes show very different folding, cortical thickness and connectivity patterns. Finally, we investigated if these mechanical processes that shape the landscape of folds and connections could also influence function and behaviour. We collected behavioural and physiological data for all our species and found similar behavioural traits across species with similar brain volume, independent of their phylogenetic relationship.
Our findings suggest that mechanical morphogenetic processes significantly influence the organisation, anatomy, and connectivity of the primate brain, potentially impacting cognitive functions leading to the emergence of similar behavioural traits across distant evolutionary branches. |
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| responsibles | Blancho |
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Workflow history| from state (3) | to state | comment | date |
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| submitted | published | | 2025/10/30 08:08 UTC |
| published | submitted | | 2025/10/22 07:30 UTC |
| submitted | published | | 2025/10/22 07:30 UTC |
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