Evolution of Nervous Systems and Psychiatry: Consequences of the Vertical and Horizontal Duality of the Evolutionary Process

Overview

Journal J Psychiatry Neurosci

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 1993 Nov 1

PMID 8297923

Authors

B Dubrovsky

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Jacksonian views of brain evolution where new levels "add on" and become higher levels of integration "keeping down" the lower levels are examined. The hierarchical organization is contrasted with modern views of the evolution of nervous systems. These emphasize the "separation or factorization of different aspects of input into distinct processing channels, a factor which appears to be a generalized one in the evolution of brains and a necessary condition to adapt to a varying environment." The advantages of the latter view--vertical and horizontal development--for the interpretation of functional organization of nervous systems are discussed. The view that normal and pathological conditions do not form a continuum, but constitute qualitatively different phenomena, is presented and given support because of recent developments in neuroscience.

References

SOLYOM L, Heseltine G, McClure D, Solyom C, Ledwidge B, Steinberg G . Behaviour therapy versus drug therapy in the treatment of phobic neurosis. Can Psychiatr Assoc J. 1973; 18(1):25-32. DOI: 10.1177/070674377301800106. View

Crow T . Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process?. Br Med J. 1980; 280(6207):66-8. PMC: 1600263. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.280.6207.66. View

GASTAUT H . Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky's involuntary contribution to the sympotomatology and prognosis of epilepsy. William G. Lennox Lecture, 1977. Epilepsia. 1978; 19(2):186-201. DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1978.tb05030.x. View

Gilman S, Denny-Brown D . Disorders of movement and behaviour following dorsal column lesions. Brain. 1966; 89(3):397-418. DOI: 10.1093/brain/89.3.397. View

Dubrovsky B . Adrenal steroids and the physiopathology of a subset of depressive disorders. Med Hypotheses. 1991; 36(3):300-5. DOI: 10.1016/0306-9877(91)90153-p. View

Dubrovsky B, Garcia-Rill E . Convergence of tectal and visual cortex input to pericruciate neurons. Exp Neurol. 1971; 33(3):475-84. DOI: 10.1016/0014-4886(71)90119-1. View

LOVELESS N, Sanford A . The impact of warning signal intensity on reaction time and components of the contingent negative variation. Biol Psychol. 1975; 2(3):217-26. DOI: 10.1016/0301-0511(75)90021-6. View

TECCE J . Contingent negative variation (CNV) and psychological processes in man. Psychol Bull. 1972; 77(2):73-108. DOI: 10.1037/h0032177. View

Zeki S . Functional specialisation in the visual cortex of the rhesus monkey. Nature. 1978; 274(5670):423-8. DOI: 10.1038/274423a0. View

10.

Kaas J . Plasticity of sensory and motor maps in adult mammals. Annu Rev Neurosci. 1991; 14:137-67. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ne.14.030191.001033. View

11.

Paillard J, Michel F, Stelmach G . Localization without content. A tactile analogue of 'blind sight'. Arch Neurol. 1983; 40(9):548-51. DOI: 10.1001/archneur.1983.04050080048008. View

12.

Stephan H, FRAHM H, Baron G . New and revised data on volumes of brain structures in insectivores and primates. Folia Primatol (Basel). 1981; 35(1):1-29. DOI: 10.1159/000155963. View

13.

Dobry P, Casey K . Roughness discrimination in cats with dorsal column lesions. Brain Res. 1972; 44(2):385-97. DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(72)90310-1. View

14.

Bunge M . Emergence and the mind. Neuroscience. 1977; 2(4):501-9. DOI: 10.1016/0306-4522(77)90047-1. View

15.

Ingle D . Two visual mechanisms underlying the behavior of fish. Psychol Forsch. 1967; 31(1):44-51. DOI: 10.1007/BF00422385. View

16.

Merskey H . Variable meanings for the definition of disease. J Med Philos. 1986; 11(3):215-32. DOI: 10.1093/jmp/11.3.215. View

17.

Birbaumer N, Elbert T, Canavan A, Rockstroh B . Slow potentials of the cerebral cortex and behavior. Physiol Rev. 1990; 70(1):1-41. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.1990.70.1.1. View

18.

FLYNN J, Edwards S, Bandler Jr R . Changes in sensory and motor systems during centrally elicited attack. Behav Sci. 1971; 16(1):1-19. DOI: 10.1002/bs.3830160102. View

19.

Ghiselin M . Darwin and Evolutionary Psychology: Darwin initiated a radically new way of studying behavior. Science. 1973; 179(4077):964-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.179.4077.964. View

20.

Kelly D, Walter C . The relationship between clinical diagnosis and anxiety, assessed by forearm blood flow and other measurements. Br J Psychiatry. 1968; 114(510):611-26. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.114.510.611. View