Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:25:22.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brain energetics and evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2001

Paul Bach-y-Rita  and
Gaetano L. Aiello
Paul Bach-y-Rita
Affiliation:
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706; Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, [email protected]
Gaetano L. Aiello
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Astronomiche, Via Archirafi n. 36, Palermo, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The human brain does not use more energy than the smaller brains of animals of comparable corporal weight. Uniquely, human functions localized largely in parts of the human brain that show greatest size increase over other animals may be mediated primarily by nonsynaptic neurotransmission, with reduced energy cost per kilogram of brain. This may affect the energetic constraints on evolution.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 2001 , pp. 280 - 281
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)