Evolutionary Neuroscience, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Guide to Brain Evolution

Evolutionary Neuroscience, Second Edition, is a collection of chapters on brain evolution that combines selected topics from the recent comprehensive reference, Evolution of Nervous Systems (Elsevier, Academic Press, 2017, 9780128040423). The selected chapters cover a broad range of topics, from historical theory, to the most recent deductions from comparative studies of brains.

Organization and Key Topics

The articles are organized in sections focused on history, concepts and theory, the evolution of brains from early vertebrates to present-day fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds, the evolution of mammalian brains, and the evolution of primate brains, including human brains. Each chapter is written by a leader or leaders in the field.

Specific Topics

Specific topics include brain character reconstruction, principles of brain scaling, basic features of vertebrate brains, the evolution of the major sensory systems, other parts of brains, what we can learn from fossils, the origin of neocortex, and the evolution of specializations of human brains.

Why This Book Matters

This collection of articles will be interesting to anyone who is curious about how brains evolved from the simpler nervous systems of the first vertebrates into the many different complex forms now found in present-day vertebrates. It provides the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date single volume collection on brain evolution, featuring a full color treatment, with many illustrations.

Key Features

Written by leading scholars and experts, this book offers insights into:

• Brain character reconstruction
• Principles of brain scaling
• Basic features of vertebrate brains
• The evolution of the major sensory systems
• Other parts of brains
• What we can learn from fossils
• The origin of neocortex
• The evolution of specializations of human brains

Author and Publication Details

Author: Jon H Kaas

Publication Date: May 30, 2020

Language: English

ISBN: 9780128205846, 9780128206065