Projects per year
Abstract
Humans are set apart from other animals by many elements of advanced cognition and behaviour, including language, judgement and reasoning. What is special about the human brain that gives rise to these abilities? Could the foremost part of the prefrontal cortex (the frontopolar cortex), which has become considerably enlarged in humans during evolution compared with other animals, be important in this regard, especially as, in primates, it contains a unique cytoarchitectural field, area 10? The first studies of the function of the frontopolar cortex in monkeys have now provided critical new insights about its precise role in monitoring the significance of current and alternative goals. In human evolution, the frontopolar cortex may have acquired a further role in enabling the monitoring of the significance of multiple goals in parallel, as well as switching between them. Here, we argue that many other forms of uniquely human behaviour may benefit from this cognitive ability mediated by the frontopolar cortex.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 645-657 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Nature Reviews Neuroscience |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2017 |
Keywords
- cognitive neuroscience
- human behaviour
- prefrontal cortex
Projects
- 1 Finished
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ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function
Egan, G., Rosa, M., Lowery, A., Stuart, G., Arabzadeh, E., Skafidas, E., Ibbotson, M., Petrou, S., Paxinos, G., Mattingley, J., Garrido, M., Sah, P., Robinson, P. A., Martin, P., Grunert, U., Tanaka, K., Mitra, P., Johnson, G., Diamond, M., Margrie, T., Leopold, D., Movshon, J., Markram, H., Victor, J., Hill, S. & Jirsa, V.
Australian National University , ETH Zurich, Australian Research Council (ARC), Karolinska Institute, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) , Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland , University of Sydney, Monash University – Internal University Contribution, National Institutes of Health (United States), Cornell University, New York University, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Duke University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, RIKEN
25/06/14 → 31/12/21
Project: Research