Salas Cosme, Broglio Cristina, Rodríguez Fernando
Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla, Spain.
Brain Behav Evol. 2003;62(2):72-82. doi: 10.1159/000072438.
Historically the dominant trend in comparative brain and behavior research has emphasized the differences in cognition and its neural basis among species. In fact, the vertebrate forebrain shows a remarkable range of diversity and specialized adaptations. Probably the major morphological variation is that observed in the telencephalon of the actinopterygian fish, which undergoes a process of eversion during embryonic development, relative to the telencephalon of non-actinopterygians (for instance, amniotes), which develops by a process of evagination. These different developmental processes produce notable variation, mainly two solid telencephalic hemispheres separated by a unique ventricle in the actinopterygian radiation that contrasts with the hemispheres with internal ventricles in other groups. However, an increasing amount of evidence reveals that the forebrain of vertebrates, whether everted or evaginated, presents a common pattern of basic organization that supports highly conserved cognitive functions. We analyze here recent data indicating a close functional similarity between spatial cognition mechanisms in different groups of vertebrates, mammals, birds, reptiles, and teleost fish, and we show in addition that they rely on homologous neural mechanisms. Thus, recent functional and behavioral comparative evidence is added to the developmental and neuroanatomical data suggesting that the evolution of cognitive capabilities and their neural basis in vertebrates could have been more conservative than previously realized.
从历史上看，比较脑与行为研究的主导趋势一直强调物种间认知及其神经基础的差异。事实上，脊椎动物的前脑展现出了显著的多样性和特殊适应性。或许主要的形态学差异在于辐鳍鱼类端脑在胚胎发育过程中经历外翻过程，这与非辐鳍鱼类（如羊膜动物）通过内陷过程发育的端脑不同。这些不同的发育过程产生了显著差异，主要是在辐鳍鱼类中由一个独特脑室分隔的两个实心端脑半球，这与其他类群中具有内部脑室的半球形成对比。然而，越来越多的证据表明，脊椎动物的前脑，无论外翻还是内陷，都呈现出支持高度保守认知功能的共同基本组织模式。我们在此分析近期数据，这些数据表明不同脊椎动物类群（哺乳动物、鸟类、爬行动物和硬骨鱼）的空间认知机制之间存在密切的功能相似性，此外我们还表明它们依赖同源神经机制。因此，近期功能和行为比较证据补充了发育和神经解剖学数据，表明脊椎动物认知能力及其神经基础的进化可能比之前所认识到的更为保守。
