May 2, 2018
Keio University
Nagoya University
A research group led by Professor Naomichi Ogihara of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, and Professor Hiroki Tanabe of the Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, has developed a method to precisely reconstruct the brain morphology of archaic Neanderthals and early modern Homo sapiens from their fossil skulls based on computational science and engineering techniques, and examined the differences in brain morphology between the two. The analysis revealed for the first time in the world that although there was no significant difference in overall brain size, the cerebellum of Neanderthals was relatively smaller compared to that of contemporary Homo sapiens. The cerebellum is generally considered to be a region involved in motor function, but the research group used data from modern humans to demonstrate that the relative volume of the cerebellum is also related to advanced cognitive and social abilities such as language production and comprehension, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens coexisted for a time, but there were differences in their brain morphology. It is believed that these differences led to a disparity in their ability to adapt to the environment, which ultimately became a factor in their differing fates.
The results of this research were published on April 26, 2018 (local time) in the British scientific journal "Scientific Reports."
Please see below for the full press release.