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Reconstruction and Statistical Evaluation of Fossil Brains Using Computational Neuroanatomy

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Book cover Digital Endocasts

Part of the book series: Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series ((RNMH))

Abstract

To investigate differences in the cognitive abilities of fossil humans, it is important to be able to objectively infer possible differences in the anatomy and morphology of their brains from the insides of fossil crania. In this chapter, we present a new mathematical framework to virtually reconstruct fossil brains and to statistically evaluate possible morphological differences between fossil and extant human brains by means of computational neuroanatomy. Specifically, a fossil endocast was spatially deformed to a modern human endocast segmented from an MR image, and a mapping between these two endocast shapes was calculated. The modern human gray and white matter segmented from the MR images was then inversely transformed to reconstruct a virtual brain for the fossil cranium. Computational morphometry can then be used to statistically compare the reconstructed fossil brain with the brains of modern humans. The volume of each brain region can also be quantified by using neuroanatomical labels for the brain locations. To evaluate the accuracy of the reconstructed brain, the brains of modern subjects were reconstructed according to CT-derived endocasts, and were then compared with the subjects’ true brains, as derived from the MRI. The overall shapes of the reconstructed brains were in good agreement with those of the corresponding true brains. Although some limitations certainly apply, the present brain reconstruction techniques are expected to contribute to an improved understanding of the evolution of the human brain.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to T. Akazawa of Kochi Institute of Technology for giving the opportunity to participate in the research project “Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans: Testing Evolutionary Models of Learning” and for lending his continuous guidance and support throughout the course of the study. The authors also thank N. Sadato of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences; O. Kondo and T. Suzuki of the University of Tokyo; H. Amano, T. Kikuchi, and Y. Morita of Keio University; K. Hasegawa of Nagoya University; H. Ishida, A. Yogi, and S. Murayama of the University of the Ryukyus; and M. Nakatsukasa of Kyoto University, for collaborations in this project. This project is supported by Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans: Testing Evolutionary Models of Learning” (#22101001, #22101006, #22101007) and “The Evolutionary Origin and Neural Basis of the Empathetic Systems” (#16H01486) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, 2-2-2 Hikaridai Seika-cho, Sorakugun, Kyoto, 619-0288, Japan

    Takanori Kochiyama

  2. Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Kyoto, Japan

    Takanori Kochiyama

  3. Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan

    Hiroki C. Tanabe

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan

    Naomichi Ogihara

Authors
  1. Takanori Kochiyama
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  2. Hiroki C. Tanabe
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  3. Naomichi Ogihara
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Correspondence to Takanori Kochiyama .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CENIEH, Burgos, Spain

    Emiliano Bruner

  2. Keio University, Yokohama, Japan

    Naomichi Ogihara

  3. Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Hiroki C. Tanabe

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Kochiyama, T., Tanabe, H.C., Ogihara, N. (2018). Reconstruction and Statistical Evaluation of Fossil Brains Using Computational Neuroanatomy. In: Bruner, E., Ogihara, N., Tanabe, H. (eds) Digital Endocasts. Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56582-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56582-6_11

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  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-56580-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-56582-6

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