What Are the Synergies between Paleoanthropology and Brain Imaging?
Résumé
We are interested here in the central organ of our thoughts: the brain. Advances in
neuroscience have made it possible to obtain increasing information on the anatomy of this organ,
at ever-higher resolutions, with different imaging techniques, on ever-larger samples. At the same
time, paleoanthropology has to deal with partial reflections on the shape of the brain, on fragmentary
specimens and small samples in an attempt to approach the morphology of the brain of past human
species. It undeniably emerges from the perspective we propose here that paleoanthropology has
much to gain from interacting more with the field of neuroimaging. Improving our understanding
of the morphology of the endocast necessarily involves studying the external surface of the brain
and the link it maintains with the internal surface of the skull. The contribution of neuroimaging
will allow us to better define the relationship between brain and endocast. Models of intra- and
inter-species variability in brain morphology inferred from large neuroimaging databases will help
make the most of the rare endocasts of extinct species. We also conclude that exchanges between
these two disciplines will also be beneficial to our knowledge of the Homo sapiens brain. Documenting
the anatomy among other human species and including the variation over time within our own
species are approaches that offer us a new perspective through which to appreciate what really
characterizes the brain of humanity today.
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