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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
What do brain endocasts tell us? A comparative analysis of the accuracy of sulcal identification by experts and perspectives in palaeoanthropology
Journal of Anatomy, Year 2023
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Description
Palaeoneurology is a complex field as the object of study, the brain, does not fossilize. Studies rely therefore on the (brain) endocranial cast (often named endocast), the only available and reliable proxy for brain shape, size and details of surface. However, researchers debate whether or not specific marks found on endocasts correspond reliably to particular sulci and/or gyri of the brain that were imprinted in the braincase. The aim of this study is to measure the accuracy of sulcal identification through an experiment that reproduces the conditions that palaeoneurologists face when working with hominin endocasts. We asked 14 experts to manually identify well-known foldings in a proxy endocast that was obtained from an MRI of an actual in vivo Homo sapiens head. We observe clear differences in the results when comparing the non-corrected labels (the original labels proposed by each expert) with the corrected labels. This result illustrates that trying to reconstruct a sulcus following the very general known shape/position in the literature or from a mean specimen may induce a bias when looking at an endocast and trying to follow the marks observed there. We also observe that the identification of sulci appears to be better in the lower part of the endocast compared to the upper part. The results concerning specific anatomical traits have implications for highly debated topics in palaeoanthropology. Endocranial description of fossil specimens should in the future consider the variation in position and shape of sulci in addition to using models of mean brain shape. Moreover, it is clear from this study that researchers can perceive sulcal imprints with reasonably high accuracy, but their correct identification and labelling remains a challenge, particularly when dealing with extinct species for which we lack direct knowledge of the brain. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Anatomy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Anatomical Society.
Authors & Co-Authors
Mounier, Aurélien
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Kenya, Nairobi
Turkana Basin Institute
Rivière, Denis
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Commissariat a L'energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives
Mangin, Jean François
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Commissariat a L'energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives
Filippo, Andrea
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Albessard, Lou
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
United Kingdom, York
University of York
Beaudet, Amélie
France, Poitiers
Universite de Poitiers
Broadfield, Douglas C.
United States, Coral Gables
University of Miami
Bruner, Emiliano
Spain, Burgos
Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre la Evolución Humana Cenieh
Carlson, Kristian J.
South Africa, Johannesburg
University of the Witwatersrand
United States, Los Angeles
University of Southern California
Cofran, Zachary D.
United States, Poughkeepsie
Vassar College
Falk, Dean
United States, Tallahassee
Florida State University
Gilissen, Emmanuel P.E.
Belgium, Tervuren
Royal Museum for Central Africa
Gomez-Robles, Aida
United Kingdom, London
University College London
Neubauer, Simon
Austria, Linz
Johannes Kepler University Linz
Röding, Carolin
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Zhang, Yameng
China, Jinan
Shandong University
Balzeau, Antoine
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Belgium, Tervuren
Royal Museum for Central Africa
Statistics
Authors: 17
Affiliations: 18
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/joa.13966
ISSN:
00218782
Study Approach
Quantitative