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Magielse N, Heuer K, Toro R, Schutter DJLG, Valk SL. A Comparative Perspective on the Cerebello-Cerebral System and Its Link to Cognition. CEREBELLUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2023; 22:1293-1307. [PMID: 36417091 PMCID: PMC10657313 DOI: 10.1007/s12311-022-01495-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The longstanding idea that the cerebral cortex is the main neural correlate of human cognition can be elaborated by comparative analyses along the vertebrate phylogenetic tree that support the view that the cerebello-cerebral system is suited to support non-motor functions more generally. In humans, diverse accounts have illustrated cerebellar involvement in cognitive functions. Although the neocortex, and its transmodal association cortices such as the prefrontal cortex, have become disproportionately large over primate evolution specifically, human neocortical volume does not appear to be exceptional relative to the variability within primates. Rather, several lines of evidence indicate that the exceptional volumetric increase of the lateral cerebellum in conjunction with its connectivity with the cerebral cortical system may be linked to non-motor functions and mental operation in primates. This idea is supported by diverging cerebello-cerebral adaptations that potentially coevolve with cognitive abilities across other vertebrates such as dolphins, parrots, and elephants. Modular adaptations upon the vertebrate cerebello-cerebral system may thus help better understand the neuroevolutionary trajectory of the primate brain and its relation to cognition in humans. Lateral cerebellar lobules crura I-II and their reciprocal connections to the cerebral cortical association areas appear to have substantially expanded in great apes, and humans. This, along with the notable increase in the ventral portions of the dentate nucleus and a shift to increased relative prefrontal-cerebellar connectivity, suggests that modular cerebellar adaptations support cognitive functions in humans. In sum, we show how comparative neuroscience provides new avenues to broaden our understanding of cerebellar and cerebello-cerebral functions in the context of cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neville Magielse
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Otto Hahn Cognitive Neurogenetics Group, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Katja Heuer
- Institute Pasteur, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roberto Toro
- Institute Pasteur, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Dennis J L G Schutter
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sofie L Valk
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
- Otto Hahn Cognitive Neurogenetics Group, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
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Magielse N, Toro R, Steigauf V, Abbaspour M, Eickhoff SB, Heuer K, Valk SL. Phylogenetic comparative analysis of the cerebello-cerebral system in 34 species highlights primate-general expansion of cerebellar crura I-II. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1188. [PMID: 37993596 PMCID: PMC10665558 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05553-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The reciprocal connections between the cerebellum and the cerebrum have been suggested to simultaneously play a role in brain size increase and to support a broad array of brain functions in primates. The cerebello-cerebral system has undergone marked functionally relevant reorganization. In particular, the lateral cerebellar lobules crura I-II (the ansiform) have been suggested to be expanded in hominoids. Here, we manually segmented 63 cerebella (34 primate species; 9 infraorders) and 30 ansiforms (13 species; 8 infraorders) to understand how their volumes have evolved over the primate lineage. Together, our analyses support proportional cerebellar-cerebral scaling, whereas ansiforms have expanded faster than the cerebellum and cerebrum. We did not find different scaling between strepsirrhines and haplorhines, nor between apes and non-apes. In sum, our study shows primate-general structural reorganization of the ansiform, relative to the cerebello-cerebral system, which is relevant for specialized brain functions in an evolutionary context.
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Grants
- RT and KH are supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche, projects NeuroWebLab (ANR-19-DATA-0025) and DMOBE (ANR-21-CE45-0016). KH received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No101033485 (Individual Fellowship). Last, this work was funded in part by Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund under the Helmholtz International Lab grant agreement InterLabs-0015, and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF Competition 2, 2015–2016), awarded to the Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives initiative at McGill University, through the Helmholtz International BigBrain Analytics and Learning Laboratory (HIBALL), including NM, SBE, and SLV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neville Magielse
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428, Jülich, Germany.
- Otto Hahn Cognitive Neurogenetics Group, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Roberto Toro
- Institut Pasteur, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, Université Paris Cité, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724, Paris, France
| | - Vanessa Steigauf
- Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Ave, MI, 49855, Marquette, USA
| | - Mahta Abbaspour
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Luisenstraße 56, Haus 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Bonhoefferweg 3, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Katja Heuer
- Institut Pasteur, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, Université Paris Cité, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724, Paris, France
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sofie L Valk
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428, Jülich, Germany.
- Otto Hahn Cognitive Neurogenetics Group, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstraße 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
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Schmill MP, Thompson Z, Lee D, Haddadin L, Mitra S, Ezzat R, Shelton S, Levin P, Behnam S, Huffman KJ, Garland T. Hippocampal, Whole Midbrain, Red Nucleus, and Ventral Tegmental Area Volumes Are Increased by Selective Breeding for High Voluntary Wheel-Running Behavior. BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2023; 98:245-263. [PMID: 37604130 DOI: 10.1159/000533524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
Uncovering relationships between neuroanatomy, behavior, and evolution are important for understanding the factors that control brain function. Voluntary exercise is one key behavior that both affects, and may be affected by, neuroanatomical variation. Moreover, recent studies suggest an important role for physical activity in brain evolution. We used a unique and ongoing artificial selection model in which mice are bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior, yielding four replicate lines of high runner (HR) mice that run ∼3-fold more revolutions per day than four replicate nonselected control (C) lines. Previous studies reported that, with body mass as a covariate, HR mice had heavier whole brains, non-cerebellar brains, and larger midbrains than C mice. We sampled mice from generation 66 and used high-resolution microscopy to test the hypothesis that HR mice have greater volumes and/or cell densities in nine key regions from either the midbrain or limbic system. In addition, half of the mice were given 10 weeks of wheel access from weaning, and we predicted that chronic exercise would increase the volumes of the examined brain regions via phenotypic plasticity. We replicated findings that both selective breeding and wheel access increased total brain mass, with no significant interaction between the two factors. In HR compared to C mice, adjusting for body mass, both the red nucleus (RN) of the midbrain and the hippocampus (HPC) were significantly larger, and the whole midbrain tended to be larger, with no effect of wheel access nor any interactions. Linetype and wheel access had an interactive effect on the volume of the periaqueductal gray (PAG), such that wheel access increased PAG volume in C mice but decreased volume in HR mice. Neither linetype nor wheel access affected volumes of the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum (VP), or basolateral amygdala. We found no main effect of either linetype or wheel access on neuronal densities (numbers of cells per unit area) for any of the regions examined. Taken together, our results suggest that the increased exercise phenotype of HR mice is related to increased RN and hippocampal volumes, but that chronic exercise alone does not produce such phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret P Schmill
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Zoe Thompson
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Department of Biology, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA
| | - Daisy Lee
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Laurence Haddadin
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Shaarang Mitra
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Raymond Ezzat
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Samantha Shelton
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Phillip Levin
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Sogol Behnam
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Kelly J Huffman
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Theodore Garland
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
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Social and vocal complexity in bottlenose dolphins. Trends Neurosci 2022; 45:881-883. [PMID: 36404454 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Bottlenose dolphins are highly social, renowned for their vocal flexibility, and possess highly enlarged brains relative to their body size. Here, we discuss some of the defining features of bottlenose dolphin social and vocal complexity and place this in the context of their cognitive evolution.
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Waugh DA, Thewissen JGM. The pattern of brain-size change in the early evolution of cetaceans. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0257803. [PMID: 34582492 PMCID: PMC8478358 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Most authors have identified two rapid increases in relative brain size (encephalization quotient, EQ) in cetacean evolution: first at the origin of the modern suborders (odontocetes and mysticetes) around the Eocene-Oligocene transition, and a second at the origin of the delphinoid odontocetes during the middle Miocene. We explore how methods used to estimate brain and body mass alter this perceived timing and rate of cetacean EQ evolution. We provide new data on modern mammals (mysticetes, odontocetes, and terrestrial artiodactyls) and show that brain mass and endocranial volume scale allometrically, and that endocranial volume is not a direct proxy for brain mass. We demonstrate that inconsistencies in the methods used to estimate body size across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary have caused a spurious pattern in earlier relative brain size studies. Instead, we employ a single method, using occipital condyle width as a skeletal proxy for body mass using a new dataset of extant cetaceans, to clarify this pattern. We suggest that cetacean relative brain size is most accurately portrayed using EQs based on the scaling coefficients as observed in the closely related terrestrial artiodactyls. Finally, we include additional data for an Eocene whale, raising the sample size of Eocene archaeocetes to seven. Our analysis of fossil cetacean EQ is different from previous works which had shown that a sudden increase in EQ coincided with the origin of odontocetes at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. Instead, our data show that brain size increased at the origin of basilosaurids, 5 million years before the Eocene-Oligocene transition, and we do not observe a significant increase in relative brain size at the origin of odontocetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A. Waugh
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio
Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, United States of America
| | - J. G. M. Thewissen
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio
Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, United States of America
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Mccurry MR, Marx FG, Evans AR, Park T, Pyenson ND, Kohno N, Castiglione S, Fitzgerald EMG. Brain size evolution in whales and dolphins: new data from fossil mysticetes. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blab054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) have some of the largest and most complex brains in the animal kingdom. When and why this trait evolved remains controversial, with proposed drivers ranging from echolocation to foraging complexity and high-level sociality. This uncertainty partially reflects a lack of data on extinct baleen whales (mysticetes), which has obscured deep-time patterns of brain size evolution in non-echolocating cetaceans. Building on new measurements from mysticete fossils, we show that the evolution of large brains preceded that of echolocation, and subsequently followed a complex trajectory involving several independent increases (e.g. in rorquals and oceanic dolphins) and decreases (e.g. in right whales and ‘river dolphins’). Echolocating whales show a greater tendency towards large brain size, thus reaffirming cognitive demands associated with sound processing as a plausible driver of cetacean encephalization. Nevertheless, our results suggest that other factors such as sociality were also important.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Mccurry
- Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales 2052, Australia
- Paleobiology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Felix G Marx
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand
- Department of Geology, University of Otago, Dunedin, 3054, New Zealand
| | - Alistair R Evans
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Geosciences, Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Travis Park
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, UK
| | - Nicholas D Pyenson
- Paleobiology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Naoki Kohno
- Department of Geology and Palaeontology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Silvia Castiglione
- Department of Earth Sciences, Environment and Resources, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Napoli,Italy
| | - Erich M G Fitzgerald
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Geosciences, Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, UK
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Avin S, Currie A, Montgomery SH. An agent-based model clarifies the importance of functional and developmental integration in shaping brain evolution. BMC Biol 2021; 19:97. [PMID: 33971877 PMCID: PMC8111752 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01024-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Vertebrate brain structure is characterised not only by relative consistency in scaling between components, but also by many examples of divergence from these general trends.. Alternative hypotheses explain these patterns by emphasising either ‘external’ processes, such as coordinated or divergent selection, or ‘internal’ processes, like developmental coupling among brain regions. Although these hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, there is little agreement over their relative importance across time or how that importance may vary across evolutionary contexts. Results We introduce an agent-based model to simulate brain evolution in a ‘bare-bones’ system and examine dependencies between variables shaping brain evolution. We show that ‘concerted’ patterns of brain evolution do not, in themselves, provide evidence for developmental coupling, despite these terms often being treated as synonymous in the literature. Instead, concerted evolution can reflect either functional or developmental integration. Our model further allows us to clarify conditions under which such developmental coupling, or uncoupling, is potentially adaptive, revealing support for the maintenance of both mechanisms in neural evolution. Critically, we illustrate how the probability of deviation from concerted evolution depends on the cost/benefit ratio of neural tissue, which increases when overall brain size is itself under constraint. Conclusions We conclude that both developmentally coupled and uncoupled brain architectures can provide adaptive mechanisms, depending on the distribution of selection across brain structures, life history and costs of neural tissue. However, when constraints also act on overall brain size, heterogeneity in selection across brain structures will favour region specific, or mosaic, evolution. Regardless, the respective advantages of developmentally coupled and uncoupled brain architectures mean that both may persist in fluctuating environments. This implies that developmental coupling is unlikely to be a persistent constraint, but could evolve as an adaptive outcome to selection to maintain functional integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahar Avin
- Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Adrian Currie
- Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
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Abstract
Cognition is often defined as a dual process of physical and non-physical mechanisms. This duality originated from past theory on the constituent parts of the natural world. Even though material causation is not an explanation for all natural processes, phenomena at the cellular level of life are modeled by physical causes. These phenomena include explanations for the function of organ systems, including the nervous system and information processing in the cerebrum. This review restricts the definition of cognition to a mechanistic process and enlists studies that support an abstract set of proximate mechanisms. Specifically, this process is approached from a large-scale perspective, the flow of information in a neural system. Study at this scale further constrains the possible explanations for cognition since the information flow is amenable to theory, unlike a lower-level approach where the problem becomes intractable. These possible hypotheses include stochastic processes for explaining the processes of cognition along with principles that support an abstract format for the encoded information.
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Muller AS, Montgomery SH. Co-evolution of cerebral and cerebellar expansion in cetaceans. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1418-1431. [PMID: 31507000 PMCID: PMC6916408 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 08/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Cetaceans possess brains that rank among the largest to have ever evolved, either in terms of absolute mass or relative to body size. Cetaceans have evolved these huge brains under relatively unique environmental conditions, making them a fascinating case study to investigate the constraints and selection pressures that shape how brains evolve. Indeed, cetaceans have some unusual neuroanatomical features, including a thin but highly folded cerebrum with low cortical neuron density, as well as many structural adaptations associated with acoustic communication. Previous reports also suggest that at least some cetaceans have an expanded cerebellum, a brain structure with wide‐ranging functions in adaptive filtering of sensory information, the control of motor actions, and cognition. Here, we report that, relative to the size of the rest of the brain, both the cerebrum and cerebellum are dramatically enlarged in cetaceans and show evidence of co‐evolution, a pattern of brain evolution that is convergent with primates. However, we also highlight several branches where cortico‐cerebellar co‐evolution may be partially decoupled, suggesting these structures can respond to independent selection pressures. Across cetaceans, we find no evidence of a simple linear relationship between either cerebrum and cerebellum size and the complexity of social ecology or acoustic communication, but do find evidence that their expansion may be associated with dietary breadth. In addition, our results suggest that major increases in both cerebrum and cerebellum size occurred early in cetacean evolution, prior to the origin of the major extant clades, and predate the evolution of echolocation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stephen Hugh Montgomery
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
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