The Evolution of the Cerebral Cortex: How Primates Changed the Brain Game

Transforming the Brain Game: Unraveling the Evolution of the Cerebral Cortex in Primates.
Explore the fascinating evolution of the cerebral cortex, the most sophisticated brain region, which is crucial for complex cognition and perception.

In this video, you'll learn how the cortex evolved from a simple network of nerves in giant worms to the highly specialized and intricately wired cortex of haplorrhines, the primate group that includes humans. Discover the selection pressures that drove the lateral expansion of the cortex and the exponential growth of white matter connections. Plus, learn how the cerebellum, the brain structure involved in motor movement and balance, contributed to the expansion of the cortex. Don't miss this in-depth exploration of the fascinating evolution of the brain! Subscribe now and join me for the next video in this series, which will explain the uniqueness of the human brain.

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Chapters:
00:00 The Cerebral Cortex (the basics)
02:47 Brain Evolution Basics
04:56 Evolution of the Cortex
10:21 Summary

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Sources:
- Loonen, A. J., & Ivanova, S. A. (2016). Circuits regulating pleasure and happiness: the evolution of the amygdalar-hippocampal-habenular connectivity in vertebrates. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 539. (PDF) Circuits Regulating Pleasure and Happiness: The Evolution of the Amygdalar-Hippocampal-Habenular Connectivity in Vertebrates
- Miller, I. F., Barton, R. A., & Nunn, C. L. (2019). Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis. Elife, 8, e41250.
- Springer, M. S., Meredith, R. W., Gatesy, J., Emerling, C. A., Park, J., Rabosky, D. L., ... & Murphy, W. J. (2012). Macroevolutionary dynamics and historical biogeography of primate diversification inferred from a species supermatrix. PLoS One, 7(11), e49521.

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Visuals and Music Credits

All other images are property of Andrew Cooper-Sansone

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— 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝

[prototropo]

Absolutely love the sequential logic of the brain's evolution (both in the narration and in neuro-evolution itself!).
But at 04:52 there is a chronologic stumble. We mammals did not evolve from reptiles; both reptiles, or the sauropsid line, and mammals, the synapsid line, split from each other shortly after sharing cohabitation as amniotes.
The amnion was the great advance from amphibians, who were water-obligate and lay only wet eggs, to creatures who could lay dry eggs, their embryo protected inside by an amniotic membrane. The amniotes then diverged into sauropsida and synapsida, which became in the former instance the reptilian branches of amniotes--turtles, lizards, crocodilians, dinosaurs and birds, and in the latter case the synapsid descendants--monotremes, marsupials and placentals; all the mammals.

[stevoplex]

I appreciate your highly wrinkled brain.

[trudyandgeorge]

For any nerdy onlookers at 7:51, you can calculate the number in the right column by taking the number next to it, then multiply it by one less, then cut that in half. To be explicit, it's (n)×(n-1)÷2. Commonly called the handshake theorem, it was used to prove how many total handshakes could happen between n people. And the logic is fun to think through. Focussing on a single individual for a moment, they would shake hands with n-1 people, the minus one is because they don't shake hands with themselves. Now we apply this to everyone (all n of them). Thats (n)(n-1). Now we need to divide by two because we've double counted. If the single individual we focussed on a moment ago was me, and you were one of the other n-1 people, then we counted me shaking your hand, and your shaking my hand. We've doubled up so must slash the total in half.

[skepticsam]

I don't reject the theory of evolution. In fact, I think it's pretty incredible. However, all the information about evolution discusses HOW evolution is responsible for the diversity of life but not WHY evolution would "create" anything at all. Why create the senses, complicated organs, and consciousness. It seems like there must be some kind of intelligence which is intrinsic to the universe itself which allows evolution to do what it has done.

[richardchin]

Fantastic content beautifully presented. Thank you.

[poksnee]

My question is: Why did human cognition evolve way past what is necessary for survival?

[derrickpatten]

The amphibians gave rise to the amniotes, which then split off into two groups; the synapsids and the diapsids. The diapsids would go on to become the reptiles we know today, but I think the synapsids had already split off before that happened. Therefore, the ancestors of today's mammals were never reptiles (though the earliest synapsids would have had a lot in common with the early diapsids, and would have appeared reptile-like in their morphology).

[macmackay]

songbirds don't have folding in their cortex but are still very smart, people think because there is a super high density of neurons to make up for the fact there's no folding.

[shinypeter]

As usual in brain development the transition from reptile to mammal is glossed over.

[ullisses]

Nice video, but please get rid of the music, it is extremely annoying.
Rgds

[robinredbeard]

I just LOVE a well organized and clear presentation of information. Thank you!

[Uditha-rh]

You are just describing the differences and functions of the brain in different species. It is like you going to international space station and describing the functions of each section and comparing to may be an aircraft, helicopter etc. BUT, what you need to do is to tell, what was the evolutionary process of getting there- the detailed mechanics, the neuropeptides, the complex pathways, the new genes in humans, the physiological control etc based on random mutations/ natural selection.

[MacWiedijk]

I see the cerebellum as a 3D representation of our environment. Diffusely connected to everything we experience. The growth in enormous numbers of synapses in the cerebellum are connected one to one with the growth of the cerebral cortex where the data is stored. In the cerebellum we do the originally spatial manipulations of the body in an environment, then manipulation of tools and finally, after the emergence of self-consciousness, the manipulation of fantasies and ideas. Thinking in symbols developed thinking in words, manipulated as if it were a path through the cerebellum.

[shemsimatador]

Is hippothalamus same with hippocampus.

[PauloRLustosa]

Muito obrigado. Eu tenho que assistir umas três vezes para entender tudo em inglês.
Parabéns pela importante divulgação científica.

[Arcaerus]

Your channel is great I bet that it will be pretty big one day!

[classic_sci_fi]

Very interesting in light of developing neuromorphic AI architectures.

[tugger]

when you a lesbo tryin to study evolutionary neurobio and the damn acorn worm comes up again 😑

[prschuster]

Direct and concise explanation in 12 minutes.

[justnoted]

You are gravely mistaken about the 'evolution of the brain.' The brain has made steady and fundamental adaptions over thousands of years. Your view is an accumulation of myths that unfortunately have become everyday go-to explanations for the gullible