Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Sheffield Robotics and Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Trends Neurosci. 2018 Oct;41(10):744-762. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.08.002. Epub 2018 Sep 25.
The neocortex is one of the most distinctive structures of the mammalian brain, yet also one of the most varied in terms of both size and organization. Multiple processes have contributed to this variability, including evolutionary mechanisms (i.e., alterations in gene sequence) that alter the size, organization, and connections of neocortex, and activity dependent mechanisms that can also modify these same features. Thus, changes to the neocortex can occur over different time-scales, including within a single generation. This combination of genetic and activity dependent mechanisms that create a given cortical phenotype allows the mammalian neocortex to rapidly and flexibly adjust to different body and environmental contexts, and in humans permits culture to impact brain construction.
新皮层是哺乳动物大脑中最具特色的结构之一，但在大小和组织方面也是变化最多的结构之一。多种过程促成了这种变异性，包括进化机制（即基因序列的改变）改变了新皮层的大小、组织和连接，以及活动依赖性机制也可以改变这些相同的特征。因此，新皮层的变化可以在不同的时间尺度上发生，包括在单个世代内。这种遗传和活动依赖性机制的组合创造了特定的皮层表型，使哺乳动物新皮层能够快速灵活地适应不同的身体和环境背景，并且在人类中允许文化影响大脑结构。
