ArticleBrain structure & function2017
Evidence for expansion of the precuneus in human evolution.
Article in Brain structure & function, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 169 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postnatal interaction of size and shape in the human endocranium and brain structures.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Functional changes of precuneus architecture across newborns, infants, and early adolescents.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases.Annals of neurology · 2025Review
- Growth and development of the precuneus in humans from birth to early adulthood.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Vascular Microforamina in Adult Human Braincase: A Survey on Dry Skulls.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- The Chimpanzee Brainnetome Atlas reveals distinct connectivity and gene expression profiles relative to humans.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2025Article
- Cortical areas associated to higher cognition drove primate brain evolution.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Lactate flux dysfunction in patients with bipolar disorder: preliminary insights from ultra-high field 7T MRSI during task and rest.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- The uniqueness of human vulnerability to brain aging in great ape evolution.Science advances · 2024Article
- Comparative Analysis of Human-Chimpanzee Divergence in Brain Connectivity and its Genetic Correlates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Navigating Pubertal Goldilocks: The Optimal Pace for Hierarchical Brain Organization.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Oxygen and the Spark of Human Brain Evolution: Complex Interactions of Metabolism and Cortical Expansion across Development and Evolution.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2024Article
- Topological disruption of low- and high-order functional networks in presbycusis.Brain communications · 2024Article
- Evidence for increased parallel information transmission in human brain networks compared to macaques and male mice.Nature communications · 2023Article
- On the functional brain networks involved in tool-related action understanding.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Enhanced brain structure-function tethering in transmodal cortex revealed by high-frequency eigenmodes.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Cognitive Archeology and the Attentional System: An Evolutionary Mismatch for the GenusJournal of Intelligence · 2023Article
- Clinical anatomy of the precuneus and pathogenesis of the schizophrenia.Anatomical science international · 2023Review
- The hierarchical organization of the precuneus captured by functional gradients.Brain structure & function · 2023Article
- Sulcal morphology of posteromedial cortex substantially differs between humans and chimpanzees.Communications biology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The evolution of neurocranial morphology in Homo sapiens is characterized by bulging of the parietal region, a feature unique to our species. In modern humans, expansion of the parietal surface occurs during the first year of life, in a morphogenetic stage which is absent in chimpanzees and Neandertals. A similar variation in brain shape among living adult humans is associated with expansion of the precuneus. Using MRI-derived structural brain templates, we compare medial brain morphology between humans and chimpanzees through shape analysis and geometrical modeling. We find that the main spatial difference is a prominent expansion of the precuneus in our species, providing further evidence of evolutionary changes associated with this area. The precuneus is a major hub of brain organization, a central node of the default-mode network, and plays an essential role in visuospatial integration. Together, the comparative neuroanatomical and paleontological evidence suggest that precuneus expansion is a neurological specialization of H. sapiens that evolved in the last 150,000 years that may be associated with recent human cognitive specializations.
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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.