Principles of Brain Evolution

Principles of Brain Evolution PDF Author: Georg F. Striedter
Publisher: Sinauer Associates Incorporated
ISBN: 9780878938209
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this textbook describes some of the basic principles affecting brain evolution. The author refers to data from a wide array of vertebrates while minimizing technical jargon. Particular attention has been paid to the ways in which changes in brain structure impact function and behavior. The volume concludes with a discussion on how mammal brains diverged from other brains and how Homo sapiens evolved a very large and special brain.

Principles of Brain Evolution

Principles of Brain Evolution PDF Author: Georg F. Striedter
Publisher: Sinauer Associates Incorporated
ISBN: 9780878938209
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this textbook describes some of the basic principles affecting brain evolution. The author refers to data from a wide array of vertebrates while minimizing technical jargon. Particular attention has been paid to the ways in which changes in brain structure impact function and behavior. The volume concludes with a discussion on how mammal brains diverged from other brains and how Homo sapiens evolved a very large and special brain.

A History of the Human Brain

A History of the Human Brain PDF Author: Bret Stetka
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604699884
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
“A History of the Human Brain is a unique, enlightening, and provocative account of the most significant question we can ask about ourselves.” —Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox Just 125,000 years ago, humanity was on a path to extinction, until a dramatic shift occurred. We used our mental abilities to navigate new terrain and changing climates. We hunted, foraged, tracked tides, shucked oysters—anything we could do to survive. Before long, our species had pulled itself back from the brink and was on more stable ground. What saved us? The human brain—and its evolutionary journey is unlike any other. In A History of the Human Brain, Bret Stetka takes us on this far-reaching journey, explaining exactly how our most mysterious organ developed. From the brain’s improbable, watery beginnings to the marvel that sits in the head of Home sapiens today, Stetka covers an astonishing progression, even tackling future brainy frontiers such as epigenetics and CRISPR. Clearly and expertly told, this intriguing account is the story of who we are. By examining the history of the brain, we can begin to piece together what it truly means to be human.

The Lives of the Brain

The Lives of the Brain PDF Author: John S. Allen
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674053494
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Though we have other distinguishing characteristics (walking on two legs, for instance, and relative hairlessness), the brain and the behavior it produces are what truly set us apart from the other apes and primates. And how this three-pound organ composed of water, fat, and protein turned a mammal species into the dominant animal on earth today is the story John S. Allen seeks to tell. Adopting what he calls a “bottom-up” approach to the evolution of human behavior, Allen considers the brain as a biological organ; a collection of genes, cells, and tissues that grows, eats, and ages, and is subject to the direct effects of natural selection and the phylogenetic constraints of its ancestry. An exploration of the evolution of this critical organ based on recent work in paleoanthropology, brain anatomy and neuroimaging, molecular genetics, life history theory, and related fields, his book shows us the brain as a product of the contexts in which it evolved: phylogenetic, somatic, genetic, ecological, demographic, and ultimately, cultural-linguistic. Throughout, Allen focuses on the foundations of brain evolution rather than the evolution of behavior or cognition. This perspective demonstrates how, just as some aspects of our behavior emerge in unexpected ways from the development of certain cognitive capacities, a more nuanced understanding of behavioral evolution might develop from a clearer picture of brain evolution.

The Origin of Mind

The Origin of Mind PDF Author: David C. Geary
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
ISBN: 9781591471813
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
"Geary also explores a number of issues that are of interest in modern society, including how general intelligence relates to academic achievement, occupational status, and income."--BOOK JACKET.

The Evolving Brain

The Evolving Brain PDF Author: C. H. Vanderwolf
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387342303
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
This book presents a series of essays on neuroscientific aspects of human nature and instinctive behavior, individually acquired (learned) behavior, human bipedal locomotion, voluntary movement, and the general problem of how the brain controls behavior. The author argues that concepts of the mind based on ancient Greek philosophy are past usefulness, and that modern animal behavior studies provide a better guide to the functional organization of the brain.

Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self

Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self PDF Author: John C. Eccles
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134968345
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Sir John Eccles, a distinguished scientist and Nobel Prize winner who has devoted his scientific life to the study of the mammalian brain, tells the story of how we came to be, not only as animals at the end of the hominid evolutionary line, but also as human persons possessed of reflective consciousness.

Global Brain

Global Brain PDF Author: Howard Bloom
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470310391
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."-DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom-one of today's preeminent thinkers-offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a "complex adaptive system," a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality. Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a "grand vision," says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.

The Evolving Brain

The Evolving Brain PDF Author: R. Grant Steen
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615923594
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
The human brain is arguably the most complex object in the universe. With about 100 billion neurons, each of which makes perhaps 10,000 synapses, our incredible central processing unit is capable of roughly 1,000 trillion interconnections.What do scientists know about how this amazingly complex organ functions? Is it even possible to unravel all of its mysteries? In this comprehensive book on the science of the brain, distinguished neurophysiologist R. Grant Steen provides us with a crash course on how the brain works. As a researcher on the forefront of brain studies, Dr. Steen explores the latest findings on a host of topics:?Consciousness, unconsciousness, and brain death?Learning, memory, and role of genes?Motivation, aggression, and the range of emotions?The plasticity of the growing brain?Mental illness and treatmentHe also delves into such stimulating questions as: Where does creativity come from? What is personality? Can we distinguish between the brain and the mind?Impressive in breadth and depth, yet written with clarity in an engaging, nontechnical style, this fascinating tour of the brain provides the general reader with the latest information on one of the most intriguing and burgeoning areas of scientific research. No topic has more meaning or relevance than using our brains to understand the working of our own minds.R. Grant Steen, Ph.D. (Chapel Hill, NC) is a neurophysiologist and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill. He has authored or edited four books including the highly acclaimed DNA & Destiny: Nature and Nurture in Human Behavior, in addition to nearly seventy research papers.

Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain

Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain PDF Author: Douglas T. Kenrick
Publisher: American Psychological Association
ISBN: 1433834790
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Like our ancestors, we must do our best to survive, form friendships, win respect, attract mates, and care for our families. In the 21st century, however, the threats to our survival are sometimes hidden. This book presents evolutionary science-based advice for fending off our modern attackers and learning how to be happy in the modern world.

Evolution of the Primate Brain

Evolution of the Primate Brain PDF Author: Michel A. Hofman
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444538607
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
This volume of Progress in Brain Research provides a synthetic source of information about state-of-the-art research that has important implications for the evolution of the brain and cognition in primates, including humans. This topic requires input from a variety of fields that are developing at an unprecedented pace: genetics, developmental neurobiology, comparative and functional neuroanatomy (at gross and microanatomical levels), quantitative neurobiology related to scaling factors that constrain brain organization and evolution, primate palaeontology (including paleoneurology), paleo-anthropology, comparative psychology, and behavioural evolutionary biology. Written by internationally-renowned scientists, this timely volume will be of wide interest to students, scholars, science journalists, and a variety of experts who are interested in keeping track of the discoveries that are rapidly emerging about the evolution of the brain and cognition. Written by internationally renowned scientists, this timely volume will be of wide interest to students, scholars, science journalists, and a variety of experts who are interested in keeping track of the discoveries that are rapidly emerging about the evolution of the brain and cognition