Our ancestors evolutionarily split from those of rhesus monkeys about 25 million years ago. Since then, brain areas have been added, have disappeared or have changed in function. This raises the question, ‘Has evolution given humans unique brain structures?’.


Professor Vanduffel explains: “We did functional brain scans in humans and rhesus monkeys at rest and while watching a movie to compare both the place and the function of cortical brain networks. Even at rest, the brain is very active. Different brain areas that are active simultaneously during rest form so-called ‘resting state’ networks. For the most part, these resting state networks in humans and monkeys are surprisingly similar, but we found two networks unique to humans and one unique network in the monkey.”

the image shows different fmri scans of the cerebral cortex.

Figure A: The human cerebral cortex, “leveled out” appears, with color in the areas that are specific for the human being.
Figure B: Image from parent study, on which is shown how the cerebral cortex of the human being through the evolution grew and developed areas that are specific for the human being. Credited to Wim Vanduffel.



The research is available via the Journal of Neuroscience.

Notes about this evolutionary neuroscience research

Contact: Wim Vanduffel – KU Leuven
Source: KU Leuven press release
Image Source: Image adapted from KU Leuven press release and is credited to Wim Vanduffel.
Original Research: Abstract for “Evolutionarily Novel Functional Networks in the Human Brain?” by Dante Mantini, Maurizio Corbetta, Gian Luca Romani, Guy A. Orban and Wim Vanduffel in Journal of Neuroscience. Published online February 20 2013 doi: 10.1523/​JNEUROSCI.4392-12.2013