Comprehensively covers the evolution of nervous systems across the entire animal kingdom, including highly specific topics and an overview of current approaches
Chapters included in four main topic areas:
Early Nervous Systems: Their Evolution in Invertebrates, Fish,
Reptiles and Birds
The Nervous System of Early Mammals and their Evolution
The Nervous Systems of Non-Human Primates
The Evolution of the Human Brain: Apes and other Ancestors
Individual titles include:
Invertebrate origins of vertebrate nervous systems The nervous
systems of jawless vertebrates The Brains of Cartilaginous Fishes
The Brains of Teleost Fishes Lungfish Nervous Systems The Brains of
Amphibians The emergence of mammals A new mammalian brain ontology
based on developmental gene expression Mammalian evolution: the
phylogenetics story The early mammalian brain Evolution of the
mammalian olfactory system The phylogeny of primates What can the
fossil record tell us about evolutionary changes to the primate
brain Cellular composition, cortical morphology and developmental
mechanisms that give rise to a larger neocortex with diverse cell
types Cell composition in primates Scaling up the simian primate
cortex: a conserved pattern of expansion across brain sizes
Evolution and development of cortical cell types in primates
Evolutionary-developmental aspects of cortical connectivity Human
Brain Evolution: A History of Ideas and Methods Human evolutionary
history Evolution of human life history Energetics, life history,
and human brain evolution The fossil evidence of human brain
evolution Differences in brain organization between Neandertals and
modern humans Evolution of the human genome and its relationship to
brain evolution Molecular Evolution and Phenotypic Change Evolution
of brain systems for social cognition Evolution of the Human Brain:
Design without a Designer The evolution of visual-motor areas of
the frontal cortex of humans--comparisons of monkeys and humans.
Evolution of Language
Kaas's major research interests are in the evolution and functional
organization of sensory-perceptual, cognitive, and motor systems,
especially in primates, in the development of these systems, and in
how these systems are plastic in response to injury and use in
developing and adult brains. Special research emphasis is placed on
studying visual, auditory and somatosensory systems, but current
studies are also concerned with multimodal and sensorimotor
integration in parietal and frontal cortex. Research questions are
addressed with a range of electrophysiological, neuroanatomical,
biochemical, and behavioral techniques. Teaching interests are in
neuroscience, biological psychology, and animal behavior.
Current Research:
• Single and multielectrode recordings of neurons in primary
somatosensory cortex of monkeys.
• Optical imaging of functional subdivisions of visual cortex in
monkeys.
• Studies of anatomical connections of neural networks in brain
systems devoted to somatosensory, visual, auditory, motor, and
gustatory functions in monkeys.
• Studies of brain architecture. Dr. Rubenstein is a Professor in
the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San
Francisco. He also serves as a Nina Ireland Distinguished Professor
in Child Psychiatry at the Nina Ireland Laboratory of Developmental
Neurobiology. His research focuses on the regulatory genes that
orchestrate development of the forebrain. Dr. Rubenstein's lab has
demonstrated the role of specific genes in regulating neuronal
specification, differentiation, migration and axon growth during
embryonic development and on through adult life. His work may help
to explain some of the mechanisms underlying human
neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
"These volumes are highly recommended for academic and professional libraries and large public libraries, as well as research laboratories specializing in neuroscience, comparative neuroanatomy, and evolutionary neurobiology." --Quarterly Review of Biology
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