Evolution of the Auditory System, Editorial Comment

Abstract

Many attempts have been made to correlate the variation in specific neuronal structures with behavioral performance, and several recent studies have focused on how this variation may be acquired during development and evolution (Finlay, Darlington, & Nicastro, 2001; Holland, 1999; Striedter, 2005). Understanding the origin of changes in brain structure and size, and how these changes relate to specific behavioral repertoires, is fundamental to our understanding of brain function itself. Despite this obvious fact, Fritzsch (1998, p. 207) pointed out in a recent article that several areas of research have not received much attention: