A quantitative approach to cytoarchitectonics

Rehkämper, Gerd; Zilles, Karl; Schleicher, Axel

doi:10.1007/bf00315637

Cited by 18 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…While mammals have a laminar arrangement of their pallium thus forming a cortex, the avian pallium displays a nuclear arrangement with a layering restricted to relatively small areas [Rehkämper et al, 1984;Ebinger et al, 1992;Jarvis et al, 2005]. Thus, cognition in corvids and primates evolved similarly with respect to mental capabilities, despite building on a different system of microcircuits [Gün-türkün, 2005].…”

Section: Tool Manufacture and The Evolution Of Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tool-Making New Caledonian Crows Have Large Associative Brain Areas

Mehlhorn

Hunt²,

Gray³

et al. 2010

Brain Behav Evol

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Animals with a high rate of innovative and associative-based behavior usually have large brains. New Caledonian (NC) crows stand out due to their tool manufacture, their generalized problem-solving abilities and an extremely high degree of encephalization. It is generally assumed that this increased brain size is due to the ability to process, associate and memorize diverse stimuli, thereby enhancing the propensity to invent new and complex behaviors in adaptive ways. However, this premise lacks firm empirical support since encephalization could also result from an increase of only perceptual and/or motor areas. Here, we compared the brain structures of NC crows with those of carrion crows, jays and sparrows. The brains of NC crows were characterized by a relatively large mesopallium, striatopallidal complex, septum and tegmentum. These structures mostly deal with association and motor-learning. This supports the hypothesis that the evolution of innovative or complex behavior requires a brain composition that increases the ability to associate and memorize diverse stimuli in order to execute complex motor output. Since apes show a similar correlation of cerebral growth and cognitive abilities, the evolution of advanced cognitive skills appears to have evolved independently in birds and mammals but with a similar neural orchestration.

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Section: Tool Manufacture and The Evolution Of Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tool-Making New Caledonian Crows Have Large Associative Brain Areas

Mehlhorn

Hunt²,

Gray³

et al. 2010

Brain Behav Evol

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Cadherin expression by embryonic divisions and derived gray matter structures in the telencephalon of the chicken

Redies

Medina

Puelles

2001

J of Comparative Neurology

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The expression of three cadherins (cadherin-6B, cadherin-7, and R-cadherin) was studied by immunohistochemistry in the telencephalon of chicken embryos at intermediate stages of development (11 and 15 days of incubation). Expression patterns were related to cytoarchitecture and to previously published data on functional connections and on the expression of gene regulatory proteins. Our results indicate that, like in other regions of the embryonic chicken brain, the expression of each cadherin is restricted to parts of embryonic divisions as well as to particular nuclei, areas or their subdivisions. The expression patterns are largely complementary with partial overlap. The regional expression of the cadherins respects the boundary between the pallium and the subpallium as well as between various pallial and subpallial subdivisions. Novel subdivisions were found in several telencephalic areas. For example, subjacent to the hyperstriatum, the neostriatum contains multiple islands of cells with a profile of cadherin expression that differs from the surrounding matrix ("island fields"). Moreover, the expression of each cadherin is apparently associated with parts of intratelencephalic neural circuits and of thalamopallial and basal ganglia pathways. These results support a role for cadherins in the aggregation and differentiation of gray matter structures within embryonic brain divisions. The cadherin immunostaining patterns are interpreted in the context of a recently proposed divisional scheme of the avian pallium that postulates medial, dorsal, lateral, and ventral divisions as complete radial histogenetic units (Puelles et al. [2000]).

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Revised nomenclature for avian telencephalon and some related brainstem nuclei

Reiner

Perkel

Bruce

et al. 2004

J of Comparative Neurology

1,064

1,170

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The standard nomenclature that has been used for many telencephalic and related brainstem structures in birds is based on flawed assumptions of homology to mammals. In particular, the outdated terminology implies that most of the avian telencephalon is a hypertrophied basal ganglia, when it is now clear that most of the avian telencephalon is neurochemically, hodologically, and functionally comparable to the mammalian neocortex, claustrum, and pallial amygdala (all of which derive from the pallial sector of the developing telencephalon). Recognizing that this promotes misunderstanding of the functional organization of avian brains and their evolutionary relationship to mammalian brains, avian brain specialists began discussions to rectify this problem, culminating in the Avian Brain Nomenclature Forum held at Duke University in July 2002, which approved a new terminology for avian telencephalon and some allied brainstem cell groups. Details of this new terminology are presented here, as is a rationale for each name change and evidence for any homologies implied by the new names.Revisions for the brainstem focused on vocal control, catecholaminergic, cholinergic, and basal ganglia-related nuclei. For example, the Forum recognized that the hypoglossal nucleus had been incorrectly identified as the nucleus intermedius in the Karten and Hodos (1967) pigeon brain atlas, and what was identified as the hypoglossal nucleus in that atlas should instead be called the supraspinal nucleus. The locus ceruleus of this and other avian atlases was noted to consist of a caudal noradrenergic part homologous to the mammalian locus coeruleus and a rostral region corresponding to the mammalian A8 dopaminergic cell group. The midbrain dopaminergic cell group in birds known as the nucleus tegmenti pedunculopontinus pars compacta was recognized as homologous to the mammalian substantia nigra pars compacta and was renamed accordingly; a group of ␥-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons at the lateral edge of this region was identified as homologous to the mammalian substantia nigra pars reticulata and was also renamed accordingly. A field of cholinergic neurons in the rostral avian hindbrain was named the nucleus pedunculopontinus tegmenti, whereas the anterior nucleus of the ansa lenticularis in the avian diencephalon was renamed the subthalamic nucleus, both for their evident mammalian homologues.For the basal (i.e., subpallial) telencephalon, the actual parts of the basal ganglia were given names reflecting their now evident homologues. For example, the lobus parolfactorius and paleostriatum augmentatum were acknowledged to make up the dorsal subdivision of the striatal part of the basal ganglia and were renamed as the medial and lateral striatum. The paleostriatum primitivum was recognized as homologous to the mammalian globus pallidus and renamed as such. Additionally, the rostroventral part of what was called the lobus parolfactorius was acknowledged as comparable to the mammalian nucleus accumbens, which, together with the...

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A quantitative approach to cytoarchitectonics

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

Tool-Making New Caledonian Crows Have Large Associative Brain Areas

Tool-Making New Caledonian Crows Have Large Associative Brain Areas

Cadherin expression by embryonic divisions and derived gray matter structures in the telencephalon of the chicken

Revised nomenclature for avian telencephalon and some related brainstem nuclei

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