Brain Behavior and Evolution 

About: Brain Behavior and Evolution is an academic journal published by Karger Publishers. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Retina & Brain size. It has an ISSN identifier of 0006-8977. Over the lifetime, 2342 publications have been published receiving 96101 citations.

Fractured somatotopy in granule cell tactile areas of rat cerebellar hemispheres revealed by micromapping.

Abstract: We defined spatial patterns of tactile projections to cerebellar cortex of anesthetized albino rats using microelectrode micromapping methods. Low threshold natural stimulation of cutaneous mechanorec

Brains, innovations and evolution in birds and primates.

Abstract: Several comparative research programs have focused on the cognitive, life history and ecological traits that account for variation in brain size. We review one of these programs, a program that uses the reported frequency of behavioral innovation as an operational measure of cognition. In both birds and primates, innovation rate is positively correlated with the relative size of association areas in the brain, the hyperstriatum ventrale and neostriatum in birds and the isocortex and striatum in primates. Innovation rate is also positively correlated with the taxonomic distribution of tool use, as well as interspecific differences in learning. Some features of cognition have thus evolved in a remarkably similar way in primates and at least six phyletically-independent avian lineages. In birds, innovation rate is associated with the ability of species to deal with seasonal changes in the environment and to establish themselves in new regions, and it also appears to be related to the rate at which lineages diversify. Innovation rate provides a useful tool to quantify inter-taxon differences in cognition and to test classic hypotheses regarding the evolution of the brain.

An autoradiographic analysis of the efferent connections from premotor and adjacent prefrontal regions (areas 6 and 9) in macaca fascicularis.

Abstract: The efferent connections from area 6 and adjacent regions of area 9 were investigated in 9 adult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) using the autoradiographic technique. Injection fields throughout these regions projected ipsilaterally to area 7 in the parietal lobe, n. caudatus, claustrum, n. ventralis anterior, n. parafascicularis, n. medialis dorsalis, n. reticularis thalami, colliculus superior, griseum centralis, griseum pontis and n. reticularis tegmenti pontis. The dorsolateral and medial aspects of areas 6 and 9 projected to the caudal cingulate gyrus, n. ventralis lateralis pars caudalis and n. interstitialis of Cajal. Axons originating in the ventrolateral cortex of areas 6 and 9 terminated in the orbital cortex. Projections arising from area 6 were traced to area 4, into the ventral bank of the rostral cingulate sulcus, to putamen, n. centralis superior lateralis, area X and its caudal continuation within n. ventralis posterior lateralis pars oralis, to n. ruber pars parvocellularis as well as the bulbar reticular formation. Adjacent prefrontal areas projected to the medial aspect of area 24, to areas 19, 20, 21 and 49/27 and to parts of the lateral thalamic nuclear group. This prefrontal projection pattern was in many respects also seen in cases injected into the dorsolateral portion of area 6, while its medial and ventrolateral subdivisions showed additional projections to n. ventralis medialis, the medial parts of centrum medianum as well as spinal and prorhinal projections, respectively.Furthermore, extensive bilateral connections were found within the frontal lobe, to basal ganglia, n. parafascicularis, n. centralis thalami, n. ruber, griseum pontis, n. reticularis tegmenti pontis, bulbar reticular formation and, more selectively, to colliculus superior and n. medialis dorsalis. Evidence was also presented for direct prefrontal connections to amygdala and corticonigral projections arising from areas 6 and 9. The results are discussed with respect to the intermediate position of area 6 between primary motor and prefrontal cortex as well as to differences of projection patterns within area 6 itself and, in particular, the supplementary motor area.

Avoiding the 'costs' of testosterone: ecological bases of hormone-behavior interactions.

Abstract: A combination of laboratory and field investigations of birds has shown that expression of behavior such as territorial aggression can occur throughout the year in many species and in different life h

Early lesions of superior colliculus: factors affecting the formation of abnormal retinal projections.

Abstract: The longest fibers of the main optic tract reach the upper layers of the superior colliculus (SC) of the midbrain. Destruction of this terminal area in newborn hamsters caused striking anomalies in the distribution of the optic tract, studied after the animals were fully grown. Evidence of termination was found in areas normally devoid of such termination: in the remaining tissue of the colliculus and in the thalamic nucleus lateralis posterior (LP). An abnormally high density of termination was found in part of the ventral nucleus of the lateral geniculate body. These thalamic regions normally receive connections from SC. Retinofugal axons could also be induced to terminate in the medial geniculate body of the thalamus if the brachium of the inferior colliculus, which normally carries auditory information to this cell group, was ablated at birth together with the lesion of SC.If the superficial layers of SC were destroyed unilaterally at birth, axons from the eye contralateral to the lesion not only reached the area of early damage, but also formed an abnormal decussation, crossing the tectal midline to terminate in the medial zone of the undamaged colliculus. Axons from the two eyes competed for terminal space in this intact colliculus, for they terminated in a nonoverlapping manner, and if the axons from the eye contralateral to the remaining SC were eliminated at birth, the anomalously recrossing axons increased in quantity and spread across the entire SC on the 'wrong' side of the midbrain. Hamsters with such an anomaly showed wrong-direction turning in response to visual stimuli in a large part of the visual field.The less the amount of termination found in SC, the greater was the amount in LP. Thus, optic tract axons showed a 'pruning effect' which may be attributed to a tendency for axons to conserve the quantity of their terminal arborizations. The pruning effect alone may account for the hypertrophy we found, after early SC lesions, of the dorsal terminal nucleus of the accessory optic tract. The tendency to invade vacated terminal space may be sufficient to account for an effect of early unilateral eye removal, namely, a pronounced increase in an ipsilateral retinal projection to the medial terminal nucleus of the accessory optic tract.The greatest alterations in axonal projections were seen when the two effects, competition and pruning, seemed to act jointly. Additional factors may have to be considered in fully explaining such neuroplasticity; some of these have been suggested.