A fundamental part of the evolution of the human being with respect to other primates could be explained by the greater plasticity of our brain. This is determined by the latest study carried out by scientists from George Washington University (USA) led by Spanish researcher Aida Gómez-Robles.
The experts performed structural magnetic resonance imaging in 218 human brains and 206 chimpanzee brains with varying degrees of kinship. The comparison of the results revealed that the organization and size of the brain depended more on genes in chimpanzees than in humans, which would have helped the latter to adapt much better to different environments and different cultures.
“We have observed that our brain is much more sensitive to environmental influences, and this anatomical property facilitates adaptation to a constantly changing environment, which includes our social and cultural context,” explains Sinc Gómez-Robles, leader of the study.
That is, the scientists found that the organization of the brain is highly heritable and dependent on genetic factors ; on the contrary, that of the human being has a much weaker genetic component.
This study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was the first to compare the genetic basis of the organization of both man and chimpanzee.
