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Neurosciences - From Molecule to Behavior: a university textbook pp 19–45Cite as

Evolution of Nervous Systems and Brains

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Abstract

The evolution of nervous systems and brains reveals two major evolutionary trends, one leading to ring-shaped nerve systems in cnidarians and ctenophorans, the other as the main track leading to a bilaterally organized nervous system with a circumesophageal ganglion and ventral cords. From there, again two major evolutionary trends originated, one in the protostomes, the other in the deuterostomes. The former culminated in the brain of the mollusk Octopus as well as in the brains of insects, predominantly flies and hymenopterans. Among the deuterostomes, complex brains, while sharing a basic organization, likewise evolved many times independently, e.g. in some teleosts, birds, especially corvids and psittacids, and mammals, especially primates including humans. Animal as well as human intelligence is significantly correlated with the number of neurons in multimodal brain centers and their information processing capacity. Humans have the largest number of cortical neurons as well as the most efficient information-processing capacities among large-brained animals and appear to be the only lifeform with a grammatically and syntactically structured language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, 28334, Bremen, Germany

    Gerhard Roth & Ursula Dicke

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  1. Gerhard Roth
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  2. Ursula Dicke
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Correspondence to Gerhard Roth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Neurobiology, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany

    C. Giovanni Galizia

  2. Labo. Perception et Mémoire, Institut Pasteur, rue du Dr. Roux 25, Paris CX 15, 75724, France

    Pierre-Marie Lledo

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Roth, G., Dicke, U. (2013). Evolution of Nervous Systems and Brains. In: Galizia, C., Lledo, PM. (eds) Neurosciences - From Molecule to Behavior: a university textbook. Springer Spektrum, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10769-6_2

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