Ponce de León Marcia S, Bienvenu Thibaut, Akazawa Takeru, Zollikofer Christoph P E
Anthropologisches Institut und Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, 782-0003, Japan.
Curr Biol. 2016 Jul 25;26(14):R665-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.022.
While the braincase of adult Neanderthals had a similar volume to that of modern humans from the same period, differences in endocranial shape suggest that brain morphology differed between modern humans and Neanderthals. When and how these differences arose during evolution and development is a topic of ongoing research, with potential implications for species-specific differences in brain and cognitive development, and in life history [1,2]. Earlier research suggested that Neanderthals followed an ancestral mode of brain development, similar to that of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees [2-4]. Modern humans, by contrast, were suggested to follow a uniquely derived mode of brain development just after birth, giving rise to the characteristically globular shape of the adult human brain case [2,4,5]. Here, we re-examine this hypothesis using an extended sample of Neanderthal infants. We document endocranial development during the decisive first two years of postnatal life. The new data indicate that Neanderthals followed largely similar modes of endocranial development to modern humans. These findings challenge the notion that human brain and cognitive development after birth is uniquely derived [2,4].
虽然成年尼安德特人的脑壳体积与同一时期的现代人类相似，但颅内形状的差异表明现代人类和尼安德特人的脑形态有所不同。这些差异在进化和发育过程中何时以及如何出现是一个正在进行研究的课题，可能对大脑和认知发育以及生活史中的物种特异性差异产生影响[1,2]。早期研究表明，尼安德特人遵循一种祖先的脑发育模式，类似于我们现存的近亲黑猩猩[2-4]。相比之下，现代人类被认为在出生后不久遵循一种独特的脑发育模式，从而形成了成年人类脑壳特有的球形[2,4,5]。在这里，我们使用扩大的尼安德特婴儿样本重新审视这一假设。我们记录了出生后决定性的头两年内颅内的发育情况。新数据表明，尼安德特人在很大程度上遵循与现代人类相似的颅内发育模式。这些发现挑战了出生后人类大脑和认知发育是独特衍生的这一观点[2,4]。
