Journal Article

PreJuSER-19097

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Sexual dimorphism and laterality in the evolution of the primate prefrontal cortex

Smaers, J. B. ; Mulvaney, P. I. ; Soligo, C. I. ; Zilles, K.FZJ* ; Amunts, K.FZJ*

2012
Karger Basel

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/7383  doi:10.1159/000336115

Abstract: Social selective pressures are commonly considered as the main driving force of primate brain evolution. Primate social behaviour is, however, known to be sexually dimorphic, and no previous study has made a direct comparison between male and female brain structures across species. We quantify sex-specific evolutionary trends in the prefrontal cortex of anthropoid primates (including humans) to investigate how sexual selection has shaped brain evolution in primates. The prefrontal cortex is of particular importance to the investigation of sexual dimorphism in primate brain evolution because of its association to those cognitive capacities central to primate (and human) evolution: sociality and higher-order cognitive processing. Our results demonstrate sex-by-hemisphere differences in the evolution of the prefrontal cortex in humans and non-human anthropoid primates congruent with the principal selective pressures considered to underlie anthropoid behavioural evolution. Our findings further show how sexual selection can shape brain adaptation in primates and provide an evolutionary framework for interpreting sex and sex-by-hemisphere differences in cortical organization in humans and non-human primates.

Keyword(s): Animals (MeSH) ; Biological Evolution (MeSH) ; Brain: anatomy & histology (MeSH) ; Cerebrum: anatomy & histology (MeSH) ; Female (MeSH) ; Haplorhini: anatomy & histology (MeSH) ; Humans (MeSH) ; Male (MeSH) ; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated (MeSH) ; Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated (MeSH) ; Organ Size (MeSH) ; Prefrontal Cortex: anatomy & histology (MeSH) ; Primates: physiology (MeSH) ; Sex Characteristics (MeSH) ; J ; Sexual dimorphism (auto) ; Laterality (auto) ; Prefrontal cortex (auto) ; Primate (auto) ; Anthropoid (auto)

Note: Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Molekulare Organisation des Gehirns (INM-2)
2. Strukturelle und funktionelle Organisation des Gehirns (INM-1)

Research Program(s):

1. Funktion und Dysfunktion des Nervensystems (FUEK409) (FUEK409)
2. 89571 - Connectivity and Activity (POF2-89571) (POF2-89571)

Appears in the scientific report 2012

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Database coverage:
; ; Allianz-Lizenz / DFG ; BIOSIS Previews ; Current Contents - Agriculture, Biology and Environmental Sciences ; Current Contents - Life Sciences ; JCR ; NCBI Molecular Biology Database ; Nationallizenz ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Thomson Reuters Master Journal List ; Web of Science Core Collection ; Zoological Record

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