This web exhibit was first built in 2000 by Patricia Anne Kinser, Haverford College, under the direction of Paul Grobstein, Bryn Mawr College. The updated version of Comparative Neuroanatomy and Intelligence is now online at http://serendipstudio.org/exchange/brains. This old version has been archived in place, and will continue to be available for teachers and students who are using it.

Home Page

Compare Brains

• Pictures
  
• Similarities
  
• Differences

Compare Brain and Body Sizes

• Brains & Bodies
  
• Equalize body size
  
• Equilize brain size

Compare Brain Structures- Slices and Slides

• Directional terminology
  
• Sagittal cuts
• Main structures
• What's the point: magnification

The Neuron- Up Close and Personal

• Jello, mush, or neuron?
  
• Neurons in animals
  
• What is a neuron?
• Fun facts

The Question of Intelligence

• Why do we care?
  
• Methods for studying brain & intelligence

Links

Glossary

Bibliography

(image thanks to soton.ac.uk/~jrc3/chudler/brainsize.html)

Why do we care about all this comparative neuroanatomy?

Many people are interested in the relationship between body size and brain size. One may expect larger animals to have larger brains, but we want to know more about the relationship for two main reasons:

• First, knowing something about the general relationship may help us learn something interesting about brains, cognition, and intelligence in general;
• Second, if there is a general relationship between body and brain size, then we need to factor it out when talking about brain size and intelligence (or cognition)... For example, cows have bigger brains than most monkeys, but that most likely has more to do with the having larger bodies than large cow intelligence.

There are multiple methods for studying the brain and its relationship to behavioral complexity. Let's take an indepth look at these methods, which include:

• looking at the absolute magnitude of the brain
• measuring brain size versus body size
• measuring cortical folding
• measuring neocortex
• measuring volume of gray matter versus volume of nerve cells
• looking at specific brain structures

First, though, have you thought about what intelligence is anyway? How do scientists talk about it? Go here for a discussion of the relevence of intelligence or click on a button below . . .

Continue this discussion about intelligence and brain size

Huh? Can we start over?