Evolution of the Brain, in Humans – Paleoneurology

Definition The evolution of the human brain from hominids existing perhaps 3–5 MYA (million years ago) to the present has been a mosaic process of size increases intercalated with episodes of ▶reorganization of the cerebral cortex. The fossil evidence shows that reorganization preceded large-scale brain size increase, whether ▶allometric or not, by about 2–3 MYA and again around 1 MYA, involving a reduction of primary visual cortex and cerebral asymmetries, including those within Broca’s region. These changes were followed by nearly a tripling of brain size.