The Human Brain: Size and Development Essay

Humans evolve from apelike ancestors approximately five million years ago. Most closely related to us are our non-human primates such as African great apes, chimpanzees and gorillas. Scientific studies reveal that more similar traits are being share by human and our non-human primates compared to other animals. As human evolve from our apelike ancestors, changes in our DNA differentiate ourselves from our non-human primate. Even though we evolve from our non-human ancestors and share similar anatomical structures and characteristics, we are unique in our own ways. We possess specific qualities and abilities that differ from other species. There is a substantial gap between non-human primate and fully developed human. Here we will discuss

Scientists are motivated for the need to understand the brain to explain neurological diseases such as Autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Schizophrenia, and many more. The cure to many of these may just be found hidden in the brain. Could it really be just simple as rewiring the brain or replacing defective or missing parts? The

Despite the evolutionary many benefits and gradient expenses with human intelligence, increased brain size did not occur because it was able to expand by itself. Environmental factors are what led to the evolutionary changes. A fundamental principle of evolutionary theory is that evolution is the balanced outcome between costs and benefits. Since the price of maintaining a large brain is greater, it is inherently improbably that expansion of the brain will evolve without a selection factor being adequate to overcome the high expenses. (Dunbar, 2007) There has been a strong correlation between increased temperatures in the global climate and increased endocranial volume. Over the past three million years, the average global temperature has been steadily increasing, as well as the braincase of human ancestors. Strong evidence of this is seen between the period approximately 200,000 to 800,000 years ago where the Earth’s climate experienced the greatest temperature fluctuations which

2 Modern hominins possess extremely large brains relative to body size and are bipedal, however the former trait shows up late

brains. The 32 billion base pair axolotl genome was recently sequenced in an effort to discover the cause

The DAZ gene was inserted into the Y-chromosome during the first wave of ampliconic transpositions, and since then has become an important genetic marker for primate evolution

This discovery will totally lead to new roads to understanding the evolution of humans and also

This in turn allowed them to consider the context of differing abilities to cope with fluctuating resources, different variables, and overall paths in brain development between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs). Although Neanderthals did share similar brain sizes comparable to anatomically modern humans (AMHs), nevertheless Neanderthals brain cases were elongated and not globular as in Homo Sapiens implying that anatomically modern humans (AMHs) and Neanderthals reached fairly large brain sizes along dissimilar evolutionary paths. In their underlying research, they hypothesize that similarly sized brains of both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs) were ostensibly organized differently for two

       In addition, the macro evolutionary enlargement of the hominid brain correspond with other mammals and body size (Henneberg 748). The micro evolutionary decrease in human brain size during intellectual and cultural achievement (Henneberg 748). The lack of intraspecfic correlation between brain size and measured human intelligence is not in result of its size (Henneberg 748). It is also probably not in result of its gross anatomical structure (Henneberg 748). Human encephalization may be more a result of the reduction in the relative body size as opposed to the increase in brain size (Henneberg 748).

Introduction For the past few weeks in Biology 107, the class has been touching on the subject of evolution and how it is brought about through various processes. Evolution is a concept that has been researched extensively for over a century now and continues to bring interesting findings day after day. According to the Hardy-Weinberg law (a principle that contributes to the understanding of evolution) first introduced by Godfrey Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg states that there are five possible agents of evolutionary change, including: natural selection, genetic drift, mutations, gene flow, and nonrandom mating. Nonetheless, the mechanism of interest for this particular lab is natural selection.

She argues that brain development helped humans achieve getting this far in evolution, stating that they are able to have complex reasoning due to the size increase (2). Although both can agree that brain development was a piece

Evolutionary psychology is a specialist field within the spectrum of psychological enquiry, which seeks to examine and understand some of the predominant reasoning behind the concept of why the human species, whilst biologically similar to other species on the planet, is so very distinct in terms of intelligence and mental progression; demonstrated by the multifaceted and complex social structures we have created. Primary to this domain of evolutionary psychological interest is the notion of ‘theory of mind’, which was developed

Non-historical definitions of adaptations are more useful for modern interpretations of adaptations. Gould and Vrba’s hypothesis finally addressed the origin of the adapation and claimed “an adaptation was a trait whose “historical genesis” was due to the same selective pressure as that which currently maintains the trait.” An adaptation which no longer had a selective pressure was named an

An Oxford University research team looked at how 500 species, both living and fossilized, have evolved over about 60 million years. The ones that lived in social groups had much larger brains, relative to body size, than those species that tend to be self-sufficient.

It appears, however, that one single gene is not solely responsible for a particular behavior. Instead it seems to take many genes that are combined together to produce both functional and dysfunctional behaviors.