Bridging Brain, Mind, and Behavior: 2002 Collaborative Awards
Interrogating the Genome to Uncover Human Specializations
of the Brain and Cognition
Despite behavioral evidence to the contrary, much of neuroscientific research is carried out assuming that the neural architecture of the brain, and especially of the cerebral cortex, is fundamentally similar across mammalian species. It is now becoming undeniable that evolution has produced important changes in brain organization, even among closely related species. During evolution, modifications of the brain supporting human cognition and behavior, such as language, handedness, and theory of mind, must have occurred. We do not yet know how the human brain specifically evolved to support these functional specializations.
Comparative research combining the tools of genomics, detailed anatomical characterizations, and thoughtfully designed behavioral studies offers an opportunity to ask questions about human specializations across different levels of biological organization. The investigators participating in the collaborative will take an integrated approach, focusing on the pattern of gene-expression differences and the possible organism consequences of that pattern. By working, together their combined expertise in genomics, neuroscience, and cognitive science will inform and constrain the design of the experiments and the interpretation of the results.
Participating Investigators
Todd M. Preuss, Ph.D. (lead PI), is Associate Research Professor of Neuroscience at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University. His laboratory carries out comparative anatomical studies of humans, apes, and monkeys, in order to identify evolutionary specializations of the human brain. The Preuss laboratory will be responsible for acquiring brain tissue and carrying out regional dissections for RNA extraction, and will carry out the majority of the histological and anatomical investigations in this project.
Carrolee Barlow, MD., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. A Searle Scholar (1999), Dr. Barlow has been a pioneer in the use of microarrays to explore brain development and disease. She will soon be taking a position at Merck, while continuing NIH-sponsored research. The initial microarray and PCR work in this project was carried out in her laboratory and it will continue to be strongly involved in the genomics component of this project.
Daniel H. Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurogenetics Program at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Geschwind, another pioneer in the application of genomic technologies to neuroscientific issues, has done extensive research on the genetics of cerebral asymmetry, language, psychiatric disorders, and motor diseases. His laboratory carried out the initial in situ hybridization confirmations of gene expression differences in this project. He has developed a brain-gene chip that will be instrumental in the analysis of species, regional, and hemispheric differences in gene expression.
Daniel J. Povinelli, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. For over ten years, Dr. Povinelli has carried out systematic studies of humans and chimpanzees in order to identify evolutionary specializations of human cognition. He is the recipient of a Centennial Fellowship from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and the author of Folk Physics for Apes (Oxford University Press, 2000). In collaboration with Dr. Johnson (see below), the Povinelli laboratory will design and implement the behavioral studies included in this project.
Scott H. Johnson, Ph.D., is Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College. Dr. Johnson uses fMRI, MEG, and classical neuropsychological methods to study the representation of visually guided action in the human brain. He recently received an Mentored Research Career Scientist Award from NIMH. Dr. Johnson will collaborate with Dr. Povinelli on the design of behavioral experiments, and with Drs. Preuss and Geschwind on the analysis of neuroanatomical differences between humans, chimpanzees, and monkeys.
