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evolutionary neuroscience

·May 30, 2022·5 min read

What’s in a Name? Glimmers of Evolution in Naming Babies

The more popular a baby's name becomes, the less likely the next generation of parents will use it. The same goes for dog breeds and the decline in popularity of specific breeds from one generation of owners to the next.

This shows the outline of a head and a question mark

Featured Neuroscience

·May 29, 2022·5 min read

What Is It About the Human Brain That Makes Us Smarter Than Other Animals?

How the human brain processes information differs from the brains of other primates. This may help explain why human cognitive abilities are superior to other animals.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 25, 2022·4 min read

Bat Brains Organized for Echolocation and Flight

Motor areas of the cerebral cortex are dedicated to sonar production and wing control in Egyptian fruit bats.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 21, 2022·4 min read

Humans May Have Evolved to Show Signs of Stress to Evoke Support From Others

Physical stress responses such as nail-biting or fidgeting may have evolved to show we are in a weakened state, prompting others to act more positively toward us.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 10, 2022·4 min read

Complex Human Childbirth and Cognitive Abilities a Result of Walking Upright

Bipedalism dramatically reshaped the hominin pelvis into a real birth canal. Researchers report Australopithecus had complex birth patterns compared to Great Apes and were likely to have practiced co-operative breeding.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·April 25, 2022·4 min read

“I Know This Song!” Evolutionary Keys to Musical Perception

The human ability to recognize patterns in pitch and tempo may emerge from pre-existing abilities in other species.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 24, 2022·5 min read

Prehistoric People Created Art by Firelight

An examination of artistic designs on stones believed to be over 15,000 years old reveals our early ancestors probably created intricate artwork by firelight.

This shows brain scans of different monkeys

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 12, 2022·3 min read

How the Human Brain Evolved to Harness Abstract Thought

In other primate species, the brain areas that comprise the default mode network involve two systems that are not strongly connected to each other. The regions, one responsible for cognitive tasks and the other for the suppression of external events, appear to be only recently linked by evolution. This linkage may have facilitated the capacity for abstract thought that lead to the rapid evolution of human cognitive abilities.

This shows a person making a metal bag, using hand tools

Featured Neuroscience

·November 13, 2021·5 min read

Tool Use and Language Skills Are Linked in the Brain: Practicing One Improves the Other

Fine motor skills utilized by using tools engage parts of the brain similar to those mobilized when we think about the construction of a sentence, researchers report.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 28, 2021·3 min read

Experts Name New Species of Human Ancestor

Researchers have named a new species of human ancestor. Homo bodoensis lived in Africa around half a million years ago and is a direct ancestor of modern humans.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 25, 2021·3 min read

That Primate’s Got Rhythm! Lemurs Produce Music-Like Rhythms

Research of lemurs sheds light on the evolutionary origins of musicality in humans.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·October 22, 2021·5 min read

When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size 3,000 Years Ago?

A new study reports human brain size decreased in size approximately 3,000 years ago, and the brain shrinkage parallels the expansion of collective intelligence in human societies.