Rafa

Welcome to a new PhD student! Rafael Gallareto Sande is just beginning his PhD project in human evolution at the University of Burgos. After a first Master in Forensic Anthropology and a second one in Human Evolution, he is now joining this lab to keep on working on the morphology of the parietal cortex. His project does include issues in ontogeny, aging, vascularization and (of course) fossils. At present, the morphology of the parietal lobes is very distinctive in Homo sapiens, in both its size and shape. Besides the increase in curvature, our species display larger size and proportions of the parietal cortex, when compared with extinct hominids, including the large-brained Neandertals. These regions are association regions, crucial hubs for many cognitive functions, and are generated by gradients between primary inputs. Therefore, their expansion should be associated with some kind of behavioral change, and probably with increasing computational complexity in cognitive abilities including visuospatial integration, attention, language, working memory, and self-awareness. It remains to be evaluated what precise areas are involved in this recent evolution of our lineage. Rafa, welcome on board.