Re:Your Brain Is Not An Onion With A Tiny Reptile Inside (2020)
by lolinder on Tuesday September 19, 2023 @01:07AM
(#37565803)
> we have a basal ganglia which evolved from reptiles
I took this as the key point addressed in the introduction—this model of evolution is widely understood to be wrong. We did not evolve from reptiles, we evolved alongside reptiles from a common ancestor. Modern reptile brains have also changed in form and function since our common ancestor, and we don't have whole divisions of the brain that exist in humans but not in reptiles.
Essentially, the triune brain theory goes right alongside that classic image of the monkey evolving into a man. It's not actually how evolution works, but it's a catchy simplification that's hard to get rid of.
From the caption to the first diagram:
> The evolutionary tree (c) illustrates the correct view that animals do not linearly increase in complexity but evolve from common ancestors. The corresponding view of brain evolution (d) illustrates that all vertebrates possess the same basic brain regions, here divided into the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Coloring is arbitrary but illustrates that the same brain regions evolve in form; large divisions have not been added over the course of vertibrate evolution.
I took this as the key point addressed in the introduction—this model of evolution is widely understood to be wrong. We did not evolve from reptiles, we evolved alongside reptiles from a common ancestor. Modern reptile brains have also changed in form and function since our common ancestor, and we don't have whole divisions of the brain that exist in humans but not in reptiles.
Essentially, the triune brain theory goes right alongside that classic image of the monkey evolving into a man. It's not actually how evolution works, but it's a catchy simplification that's hard to get rid of.
From the caption to the first diagram:
> The evolutionary tree (c) illustrates the correct view that animals do not linearly increase in complexity but evolve from common ancestors. The corresponding view of brain evolution (d) illustrates that all vertebrates possess the same basic brain regions, here divided into the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Coloring is arbitrary but illustrates that the same brain regions evolve in form; large divisions have not been added over the course of vertibrate evolution.