Anthropology and neuropsychology to study how the brain evolved
The CENIEH paleoneurologist Emiliano Bruner publishes a review article on the evolution of the parietal lobes in hominins and, in particular, on the aspects that could have influenced the evolution of material culture
Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just published a review article in the journal Brain Structure and Function, which brings anthropology and neuropsychology together to investigate the evolution of the parietal lobes in hominins and, in particular, to consider those aspects that could have influenced the evolution of material culture.
The paper introduces concepts and insights from paleoneurology, neuroarchaeology, and cognitive archaeology to highlight the changes in anatomy and behavior associated to the parietal cortex and visuospatial capacities in the human genus, as well as to technological production.
It also explores the evidence associated to neurophysiology and neuropsychology, analyzing certain pathological disorders associated to brain lesions such as apraxia (inability to perform manual coordination), considering ethological and electrophysiological studies in non-human primates, and describing the functional data from brain imaging.
The other collaborators on this paper, which is part of a special issue dedicated to the parietal lobes and the angular gyrus, are the researchers Alexandra Battaglia-Mayer, of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, and Roberto Caminiti, of the Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology, in Rome.
Bibliographical information:
Press release from the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH).
