June 2024: publication LESEDI special edition of the IFAS Research magazine
Brain evolution: palaeosciences, neuroscience and artificial intelligence
By receiving inputs from the sensory organs and sending outputs to the muscles and other organs, the brain provides crucial information about the interactions between our ancestors (i.e., fossil hominins) and the environment in which they lived and evolved million
years ago in Africa. However, to date, there is no consensus on how the human cerebral specificities emerged. Because brain tissue is not preserved in the fossil record, palaeontologists have to rely on brain endocasts to reconstruct the organisation of the brain and infer functional implications.
Indeed, the endocasts retain traces of the sulci of the cerebral cortex, which are hallmarks of the anatomo-functional organisation of the brain. As such, the study of fossil hominin endocasts has the potential to yield evidence on the emergence of critical human specific functions and behaviours, such as speech capacity and toolmaking. Unfortunately, palaeoneurological studies are hampered by the fragmentary nature of the fossil record. Within this context, on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2023 the “BrAIn Evolution” workshop brought together researchers from palaeosciences, neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) for in-depth discussion on how to apply newly developed methods in neuroscience and AI to palaeontology to better understand the origins of the human brain.
References
Caroline Fonta, Amélie Beaudet, Annael Le Poullennec 2024 – Brain evolution: palaeosciences, neuroscience and artificial intelligence – Lesedi : Carnets de terrain = Lesedi : Field notes, 26, 44 p., LESEDI – https://hal.science/hal-04785753v1