Evolutionary Neuroscience

Evolutionary Neuroscience is a collection of articles in brain evolution selected from the recent comprehensive reference, Evolution of Nervous Systems (Elsevier, Academic Press, 2007). The selected chapters cover a broad range of topics from historical theory to the most recent deductions from comparative studies of brains. The articles are organized in sections focused on theories and brain scaling, the evolution of brains from early vertebrates to present-day fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds, the evolution of mammalian brains, and the evolution of primate brains, including human brains. Each chapter is written by a leader or leaders in the field, and has been reviewed by other experts. Specific topics include brain character reconstruction, principles of brain scaling, basic features of vertebrate brains, the evolution of the major sensory systems, and other parts of brains, what we can learn from fossils, the origin of neocortex, and the evolution of specializations of human brains. The collection of articles will be interesting to anyone who is curious about how brains evolved from the simpler nervous systems of the first vertebrates into the many different complex forms now found in present-day vertebrates. This book would be of use to students at the graduate or undergraduate levels, as well as professional neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists. Together, the chapters provide a comprehensive list of further reading and references for those who want to inquire further.

• The most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date single volume collection on brain evolution

• Full color throughout, with many illustrations

• Written by leading scholars and experts

PART 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY, THEORY, METHODS AND CONCEPTS Striedter: History of Ideas on Brain Evolution; Albert: Phylogenetic Character Reconstruction; Reichert, Hirth: Basic Nervous System "Types": One or Many?; Reichert, Lichtneckert: Origin and Evolution of the First Nervous System; Marín, López-Bendito: Neuronal Migration; Innocenti: The Role of Transient Connections in Brain Evolution; Cherniak: Neural Wiring Optimization; Stevens: Principles of Brain Scaling

PART 2 THE EVOLUTION OF BRAINS IN EARLY VERTEBRATES, FISHES, AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES AND BIRDS Fritzsch, Glover: Structure of Brains of Primitive Vertebrates (tunicates, amphioxus, lampreys) and the Basic Features of the Vertebrate Brain; Wullimann, Varnier: Evolution of the Nervous System in  Fishes; Roth, Dicke: Evolution of the Amphibian Nervous System; Bruce: Evolution of the Nervous System in Reptiles; Medina: Do Birds and Reptiles Possess Homologues of Mammalian Visual, Somatosensory and Motor Cortices?; Jarvis: The Evolution of Vocal Learning Systems in Birds and Humans; Martinez-Garcia, Novejarque, Lanuza: The Evolution of the Amygdala in Vertebrates; Fernald: The Evolution of Vertebrate Eyes; Eisthen, Polese: Vertebrate Olfactory Subsystems and their Evolution; Finger: The Evolution of Taste Systems; Soares, Carr: Shared and Convergent Features of the Auditory System of Vertebrates 

PART 3 EVOLUTION OF MAMMALIAN BRAINS Jerison: How Can Fossils Tell us About the Evolution of the Neocortex?; Molnár, Tavare, Cheung: The Origin of Neocortex: Lessons from Comparative Embryology; Kaas: Reconstructing the Organization of the Forebrain of the First Mammals; Krubitzer, Hunt: Captured in the net of space and time:  Understanding cortical field evolution; Kaas: The Evolution of the Dorsal Thalamus in Mammals; Reiner: The Evolution of the Basal Ganglia in Mammals and other Vertebrates; Eichenbaum: The Evolution of the Hippocampus; Glickstein, Oberdick, Voogd: The Evolution of the Cerebellum; Illig: Olfactory Cortex: Comparative Anatomy; Graf: Vestibluar System; Simon, Nicolelis, Araujo: Evolution of Gustation; Catania: The Evolution of the Somatosensory System; Zook: Somatosensory Specializations of Flying Mammals; Nudo: The Evolution of Motor Cortex and Motor Systems; Lyon: The Evolution of Visual Cortex and Visual Systems

PART 4 PRIMATE BRAIN EVOLUTION Preuss: Primate Brain Evolution; Ross, Martin: The Role of Vision in the Origin and Evolution of Primates; Kaas: The Evolution of Sensory and Motor Systems in Primates; Casagrande: The evolution of parallel pathways in the brains of primates; Hackett: The evolution of the primate and human auditory system; Deacon: The evolution of language systems in the human brain; Corballis: The evolution of hemispheric specializations of the human brain; Frey: Neurological specializations for manual gesture and tool use in humans; Allman: Frontal Cortex Evolution in Primates