ReviewFrontiers in neuroanatomy2014
Evolution of the human brain: when bigger is better.
Review in Frontiers in neuroanatomy, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 291 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional Segregation of the Human Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2016Pooled it
- Influences of Brain Size, Sex, and Sex Chromosome Complement on the Architecture of Human Cortical Folding.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2017Trial
- Positive association between emotional intelligence and white matter integrity in the cingulum and superior longitudinal fasciculus in healthy Japanese adults.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Astrocyte-Derived Extracellular Vesicles and the Evolution of Neural Complexity: Perspectives on Vesicle-Mediated Neuron-Glia Communication.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Molecular and cellular correlates of human cortical lateralization.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Two gradients, one cortex.National science review · 2026Article
- High-Throughput Volumetric Mapping Facilitated by Active Tissue SHRINK.Small methods · 2026Article
- The molecular and cellular underpinnings of human brain lateralization.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Electromechanically induced membrane restructuring enables learning and memory.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Rethinking Hominin Air Sac Loss in Light of Phylogenetically Meaningful Evidence.Evolutionary anthropology · 2025Article
- Neurosymbolic AI as an antithesis to scaling laws.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Article
- Are Oligodendrocytes the Culprits or Victims in Alzheimer's Disease.Physiological research · 2025Review
- Evolutionary changes leading to efficient glymphatic circulation in the mammalian brain.Nature communications · 2024Article
- An inclusive anatomical network analysis of human craniocerebral topology.Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- Small world properties of schizophrenia and OCD patients derived from fNIRS based functional brain network connectivity metrics.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Human-specific genetic modifiers of cortical architecture and function.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2024Review
- Deciphering the functional specialization of whole-brain spatiomolecular gradients in the adult brain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Eye-specific detection and a multi-eye integration model of biological motion perception.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Higher surface folding of the human premotor cortex is associated with better long-term learning capability.Communications biology · 2024Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Comparative studies of the brain in mammals suggest that there are general architectural principles governing its growth and evolutionary development. We are beginning to understand the geometric, biophysical and energy constraints that have governed the evolution and functional organization of the brain and its underlying neuronal network. The object of this review is to present current perspectives on primate brain evolution, especially in humans, and to examine some hypothetical organizing principles that underlie the brain's complex organization. Some of the design principles and operational modes that underlie the information processing capacity of the cerebral cortex in primates will be explored. It is shown that the development of the cortex coordinates folding with connectivity in a way that produces smaller and faster brains, then otherwise would have been possible. In view of the central importance placed on brain evolution in explaining the success of our own species, one may wonder whether there are physical limits that constrain its processing power and evolutionary potential. It will be argued that at a brain size of about 3500 cm(3), corresponding to a brain volume two to three times that of modern man, the brain seems to reach its maximum processing capacity. The larger the brain grows beyond this critical size, the less efficient it will become, thus limiting any improvement in cognitive power.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.