Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
Department for Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2016 Apr;20(4):291-303. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.02.001. Epub 2016 Mar 2.
Assumptions on the neural basis of cognition usually focus on cortical mechanisms. Birds have no cortex, but recent studies in parrots and corvids show that their cognitive skills are on par with primates. These cognitive findings are accompanied by neurobiological discoveries that reveal avian and mammalian forebrains are homologous, and show similarities in connectivity and function down to the cellular level. But because birds have a large pallium, but no cortex, a specific cortical architecture cannot be a requirement for advanced cognitive skills. During the long parallel evolution of mammals and birds, several neural mechanisms for cognition and complex behaviors may have converged despite an overall forebrain organization that is otherwise vastly different.
关于认知的神经基础的假设通常集中在皮质机制上。鸟类没有大脑皮层，但最近在鹦鹉和鸦科鸟类中的研究表明，它们的认知技能与灵长类动物相当。这些认知发现伴随着神经生物学的发现，揭示了鸟类和哺乳动物的前脑是同源的，并且在连接和功能方面存在相似性，甚至到了细胞水平。但是，由于鸟类有一个很大的大脑皮层，却没有大脑皮层，因此特定的皮质结构可能不是高级认知技能的必要条件。在哺乳动物和鸟类的漫长平行进化过程中，尽管整体前脑组织有很大的不同，但几种认知和复杂行为的神经机制可能已经趋同。
