Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Integr Comp Biol. 2020 Oct 1;60(4):991-1006. doi: 10.1093/icb/icaa109.
A comprehensive understanding of animal cognition requires the integration of studies on behavior, electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, development, and genomics. Although studies of comparative cognition are receiving increasing attention from organismal biologists, most current studies focus on the comparison of behaviors and anatomical structures to understand their adaptative values. However, to understand the most potentially complex cognitive program of the human brain a greater synthesis of a multitude of disciplines is needed. In this review, we start with extensive neuroanatomic comparisons between humans and other primates. One likely specialization of the human brain is the expansion of neocortex, especially in regions for high-order cognition (e.g., prefrontal cortex). We then discuss how such an expansion can be linked to heterochrony of the brain developmental program, resulting in a greater number of neurons and enhanced computational capacity. Furthermore, alteration of gene expression in the human brain has been associated with positive selection in DNA sequences of gene regulatory regions. These results not only imply that genes associated with brain development are a major factor in the evolution of cognition, but also that high-quality whole-genome sequencing and gene manipulation techniques are needed for an integrative and functional understanding of comparative cognition in non-model organisms.
全面了解动物认知需要整合行为学、电生理学、神经解剖学、发育和基因组学的研究。尽管比较认知研究受到越来越多的机体生物学家的关注，但大多数当前的研究都集中在行为和解剖结构的比较上，以了解它们的适应价值。然而，要理解人类大脑中最具潜在复杂性的认知程序，需要更广泛的多学科综合。在这篇综述中，我们首先对人类和其他灵长类动物之间的广泛神经解剖学比较进行了讨论。人类大脑的一个可能的特化是新皮层的扩张，特别是在高级认知区域（例如前额叶皮层）。然后，我们讨论了这种扩张如何与大脑发育程序的异时性相关联，从而导致神经元数量的增加和计算能力的增强。此外，人类大脑中的基因表达改变与基因调控区域 DNA 序列的正选择有关。这些结果不仅表明与大脑发育相关的基因是认知进化的主要因素，还表明需要高质量的全基因组测序和基因操作技术，以对非模式生物的比较认知进行综合和功能理解。
