ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2021
A Connectomic Hypothesis for the Hominization of the Brain.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Macroscale Gradient Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease: Patterns With Cognition Terms and Gene Expression Profiles.Human brain mapping · 2024Pooled it
- Genetic and phylogenetic uncoupling of structure and function in human transmodal cortex.Nature communications · 2022Pooled it
- The Emergence of Consciousness.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Article
- Selectivity for high-level language processing is highly localized in individual brains.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Brain structure and function in Homo naledi.Brain structure & function · 2026Review
- From comparative connectomics to large-scale working memory modeling in macaque and marmoset.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases.Annals of neurology · 2025Review
- From comparative connectomics to large-scale working memory modeling in macaque and marmoset.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Emergence of a temporal processing gradient from naturalistic inputs and network connectivity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Expansion of a conserved architecture drives the evolution of the primate visual cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Brain's geometries for movements and beauty judgments. A contribution of topos geometries.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Multi-scale spiking network model of human cerebral cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Human-specific genetic modifiers of cortical architecture and function.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2024Review
- The meso-connectomes of mouse, marmoset, and macaque: network organization and the emergence of higher cognition.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Review
- Oxygen and the Spark of Human Brain Evolution: Complex Interactions of Metabolism and Cortical Expansion across Development and Evolution.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- Functional and microstructural plasticity following social and interoceptive mental training.eLife · 2023Article
- Developmental mechanisms underlying the evolution of human cortical circuits.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Age differences in the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex: analyses of competing hypotheses.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cognitive abilities of the human brain, including language, have expanded dramatically in the course of our recent evolution from nonhuman primates, despite only minor apparent changes at the gene level. The hypothesis we propose for this paradox relies upon fundamental features of human brain connectivity, which contribute to a characteristic anatomical, functional, and computational neural phenotype, offering a parsimonious framework for connectomic changes taking place upon the human-specific evolution of the genome. Many human connectomic features might be accounted for by substantially increased brain size within the global neural architecture of the primate brain, resulting in a larger number of neurons and areas and the sparsification, increased modularity, and laminar differentiation of cortical connections. The combination of these features with the developmental expansion of upper cortical layers, prolonged postnatal brain development, and multiplied nongenetic interactions with the physical, social, and cultural environment gives rise to categorically human-specific cognitive abilities including the recursivity of language. Thus, a small set of genetic regulatory events affecting quantitative gene expression may plausibly account for the origins of human brain connectivity and cognition.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.