Why does the left side of the brain control the right side of the body, while the right side controls the left? This unusual arrangement is one of the most intriguing features of the nervous system, and scientists have proposed a new explanation that reaches back hundreds of millions of years.
Dr. Martin Wessendorf, a neuroscientist and associate professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, studies how the brainstem regulates neurons in the spinal cord. Daniel Wang specializes in cognitive neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. Together, they have examined the evolutionary origins of the brain's crossed connections.
In a study published in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, the researchers explore several neural circuits in four-limbed animals that are cross-wired (meaning one side of the brain connects with the opposite side of the body). Their hypothesis suggests that these connections may have developed because evolution built new brain circuits around an ancient visual system.
The brain contains numerous pathways that cross from one side of the central nervous system to the other. Understanding why these contralateral (midline-crossing) connections exist requires examining how different sensory and movement circuits developed over evolutionary time.
Source: ScienceDaily - Psychology — Read the full article on the original site ↗