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SPECIALIZATION BEGINS / GENDER DIFFERENCES / PREPROGRAMMING [ BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ]

SPECIALIZATION BEGINS As modern humans evolved from their hominid ancestors, their brain development continued with increasing specialization of regions and functions. One hypothesis suggests that the differences between the left and right hemispheres of the human brain can be traced to humans’ simian ancestors swinging through trees. Grasping one limb after another requires the arms…

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THE THREE BRAINS – EVOLUTION ( MACLEAN )

THE THREE BRAINS – EVOLUTION [ MACLEAN ] THE THREE BRAINS Neuroscientist Paul MacLean suggested in 1967 that the human brain functions as three separate “brains,” each of which represents a stage in evolutionary development. He referred to the three-way unity as humanity’s triune brain. Through evolution’s penchant for preserving genetic code that proves useful…

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EVOLUTIONARY CULES OR PAVLOV’S DOGS

EVOLUTIONARY CLUES OR PAVLOV’S DOGS EVOLUTIONARY CLUES Some of humanity’s evolutionary history can be observed in the development of a human fetus. As chicken and human embryos develop, for example, they experience a stage where they both have a tail, as well as arches and slits in their neck remarkably like the gill slits and…

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EVOLUTION – GROWING COMPLEXITY [ BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ]

EVOLUTION – GROWING COMPLEXITY [ BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ] GROWING COMPLEXITY If 2,000 neurons are sufficient for simple learning, imagine the explosion of complex behavior that accompanied the growth of neural complexity about 530 million years ago. Larger clumps of neurons in the diverse animal population that seemingly emerged overnight encouraged the flourishing of new animal…