harnad@mind.UUCP (Stevan Harnad) (06/13/87)
The following is the abstract of a forthcoming article on which BBS
[Behavioral and Brain Sciences -- An international, interdisciplinary
Journal of Open Peer Commentary, published by Cambridge University Press]
invites self-nominations by potential commentators. The procedure is
explained after the abstract.
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Implications of the "Initial Brain" Concept for Brain Evolution in Cetacea
Ilya I. Glezer
Department of Neuroscience
City University of New York Medical School
New York NY 10031
Myron S. Jacobs
Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences
New York Aquarium, New York Zoological Society
Brooklyn NY 11224
Peter J. Morgane
Worcester Foundation for experimental Biology
Shrewsbury MA 01545
ABSTRACT
We review the evidence for the concept of an "initial" or
prototype brain. We outline four possible modes of brain
evolution suggested by our new findings on the evolutionary
status of the dolphin brain. The four modes involve various
forms of deviation from and conformity to the hypothesized
initial brain type. These include examples of conservative
evolution, progressive evolution, and combinations of the
two in which features of one or the other become dominant.
The four types of neocortical organization in extant mammals
may be the results of selective pressures on sensory-motor
systems resulting in divergent patterns of brain phylo-
genesis. A modular "modification/multiplication" hypothesis
is proposed as a mechanism of neocortical evolution in
eutherians. Representative models of the initial ancestral
group of mammals include not only extant basal Insectivora
and some Chiroptera; dolphins and large whales have also
retained many features of the archetypal or initial brain.
This group evolved from the initial mammalian stock and
returned to the aquatic environment some 50 million years
ago: This unique experiment of nature showed the effects of
radical changes in the environment on brain/body adaptations
and specializations. Although the dolphin brain has certain
quantitative characteristics of the evolutionary change seen
in the higher terrestrial mammals, it has also retained many
of the conservative features of the initial brain. Its neo-
cortical organization is accordingly fundamentally different
from that of terrestrial models of the initial brain such as
the hedgehog.
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This is an experiment in using the Net to find eligible commentators
for articles in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an
international, interdisciplinary journal of "open peer commentary,"
published by Cambridge University Press, with its editorial office in
Princeton NJ.
The journal publishes important and controversial interdisciplinary
articles in psychology, neuroscience, behavioral biology, cognitive science,
artificial intelligence, linguistics and philosophy. Articles are
rigorously refereed and, if accepted, are circulated to a large number
of potential commentators around the world in the various specialties
on which the article impinges. Their 1000-word commentaries are then
co-published with the target article as well as the author's response
to each. The commentaries consist of analyses, elaborations,
complementary and supplementary data and theory, criticisms and
cross-specialty syntheses.
Eligibility to serve as a BBS commentator normally requires being an
academically trained professional contributor to one of the disciplines
mentioned above, or to related academic disciplines. A letter should be sent
indicating the candidate's general qualifications as well as their basis for
wishing to serve as commentator for the particular target article in question.
It is preferable also to enclose a Curriculum Vitae. (This self-nomination
format may also be used by those who wish to become BBS Associates,
but these must also specify a current Associate who knows their work
and is prepared to nominate them; where no current Associate is known
by the candidate, the editorial office will send the Vita to
approporiate Associates to ask whether they would be prepared to
nominate the candidate.)
Potential commentators should send their names, addresses, a description of
their general qualifications and their basis for seeking to comment on
this target article in particular to the following e-mail or USmail address:
Stevan Harnad, Editor, Behavioral and Brain Sciences
20 Nassau Street, Room 240, Princeton NJ 08542 (phone: 609-921-7771)
--
Stevan Harnad (609) - 921 7771
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