Evolution of nervous systems

PSY 511.003

2024-02-22

Prelude

Announcements

• Exercise 05 write-up due yesterday.
• Exercise 06 write-up due next Wednesday.
• Final project/paper proposal due Thursday, February 29

Last time…

• Methods in neuroscience

When and why would you choose EEG/ERP over fMRI?

Why do single unit recordings have the finest spatial and temporal resolution among neuroscience methods?

Today’s topics

• Evolution of nervous systems

Evolution

In the beginning…

Near IR deep field (12.5 hr exposure) from JWST

resources/evolution

Main points

• Our solar system has a history ~1/3 as long as the Universe
• Multi-cellular animals with nervous systems have a history ~1/7 as long as life on Earth
• Substantial similarities in vertebrate nervous systems
• Brain mass/body mass scaling

• (& subtypes) of cerebral cortical neurons distinguish human from other primate brains

Next time…

• Development of the human brain

Resources

References