Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
Psychol Res. 2012 Mar;76(2):212-9. doi: 10.1007/s00426-011-0377-9. Epub 2011 Sep 1.
This review describes a case of convergence in the evolution of brain and cognition. Both mammals and birds can organize their behavior flexibly over time and evolved similar cognitive skills. The avian forebrain displays no lamination that corresponds to the mammalian neocortex; hence, lamination does not seem to be a requirement for higher cognitive functions. In mammals, executive functions are associated with the prefrontal cortex. The corresponding structure in birds is the nidopallium caudolaterale. Anatomic, neurochemical, electrophysiologic and behavioral studies show these structures to be highly similar, but not homologous. Thus, despite the presence (mammals) or the absence (birds) of a laminated forebrain, 'prefrontal' areas in mammals and birds converged over evolutionary time into a highly similar neural architecture. The neuroarchitectonic degrees of freedom to create different neural architectures that generate identical prefrontal functions seem to be very limited.
这篇综述描述了大脑和认知进化趋同的一个案例。哺乳动物和鸟类都可以随着时间的推移灵活地组织自己的行为，并进化出类似的认知技能。鸟类的前脑没有对应哺乳动物新皮层的分层；因此，分层似乎不是更高认知功能的必要条件。在哺乳动物中，执行功能与前额叶皮层有关。鸟类的对应结构是尾侧端脑。解剖学、神经化学、电生理学和行为研究表明，这些结构非常相似，但不是同源的。因此，尽管存在（哺乳动物）或不存在（鸟类）分层的前脑，哺乳动物和鸟类的“前额叶”区域在进化过程中趋同，形成了高度相似的神经结构。创造产生相同前额叶功能的不同神经结构的神经结构自由度似乎非常有限。
