Jon H. Kaas - Böcker

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. 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 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. The 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.

Provides the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date single volume collection on brain evolution Presents a full color treatment, with many illustrations Written by leading scholars and experts Features chapters on brain character reconstruction, principles of brain scaling, basic features of vertebrate brains, the evolution of the major sensory systems, and other parts of brains Discusses what we can learn from fossils, the origin of neocortex, and the evolution of specializations of human brains

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been an extensive effort, still growing for that matter, to explore and understand the organization of extrastriate cor­ tex in primates. We now recognize that most of caudal neocortex is visual in some sense and that this large visual region includes many distinct areas. Some of these areas have been well defined, and connections, neural properties, and the functional consequences of deactivations have been studied. More recently, non­ invasive imaging of cortical activity patterns during visual tasks has led to an expanding stream of papers on extrastriate visual cortex of humans, and results have been related to theories of visual cortex organization that have emerged from research on monkeys. Against this backdrop, the time seems ripe for a review of progress and a glance at the future. One caveat important to emphasize at the very onset is that the reader may be puzzled or confused by the use of different terminologies. Individual investi­ gators commonly tend to favor different terminologies, but in general some prove more advantageous than others. As discussed by Rowe and Stone (1977) as well as by others, there is an unfortunate tendency for role-indicating names to lead to fixed ideas about function, in contrast to those that are more neutral and adaptable to new findings.

The last 20 years of research have been marked by exceptional progress in understanding the organization and functions of the primate visual system. This understanding has been based on the wide application of traditional and newly emerging methods for identifying the functionally significant subdivisions of the system, their interconnections, the response properties of their neurons, and the population responses to stimulus events.While primates vary greatly in morphology and behavioral adaptations, all primates share certain features of the visual system. Although there are several books on vision in the market, until now no book has provided a comprehensive overview of the primate visual system. This book synthesizes the current knowledge on the anatomical and functional organization of the primate visual system and proposes new directions for research. Contributed by a multidisciplinary group of leading researchers, chapters consider a range of topics concerning various primates, including humans, and cover processing from the eye to neural codes for action, and from basic perception to memory.