Human brains are more likely to be modeled by their environment than those of chimpanzees', and this phenomenon could explain why we are so adaptable to different settings and cultures.
The recent study is the first of its kind to look at the inherited genetic factors of brain organization in humans, and compare them to primates, Georgia State University reported.
To make their findings, a team of researchers studied 218 human brains and 206 chimpanzee brain, and compared both brain size and organization as related to genetic similarity. They discovered that human and chimpanzee brain sizes were both strongly influenced by genetics. On the other hand, there were significant differences between brain organization in humans and chimps. Chimpanzees' brain organization is primarily inherited, while in humans it is much more closely related to environmental factors.
"We found that the anatomy of the chimpanzee brain is more strongly controlled by genes than that of human brains, suggesting the human brain is extensively shaped by its environment no matter its genetics," said Aida Gómez-Robles, postdoctoral scientist at the George Washington University Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology and lead author on the paper.
The new findings could provide significant insight into humans' susceptibility to degenerative diseases.
"Though our findings suggest that the increased plasticity found in human brains has many benefits for adaptation, it is also possible that it makes our brain more vulnerable to many human-specific neurodegenerative and neurodevelopment disorders," said William Hopkins, professor in the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia Stat
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
