High Risk Exploratory Research: Exploring 3D-CT and Geometric Morphometric Analyses of Cortical Surfaces in Fossil Hominids

我们早期祖先头骨内部的铸型(内铸型)表明了他们大脑的体积和形状，并复制了在他们一生中印在脑壳墙上的大脑皮层的特征。这些特征包括褶曲、沟纹和血管，这些特征有时与现代人的已知功能有关，如语言和右利手。因此，内播对于解决有关某些行为的起源的问题很有用。一个国际团队目前正在对重要的更新世化石古人类的头骨进行CAT扫描，产生的三维(3D)CT数据可用于从计算机屏幕生成和测量内颅骨表面的图像。为了验证3D-CT用于研究脑表面形态的有效性，将从3D-CT图像和几个关键的原始人头骨相应的传统内铸件中获得一组测量数据并进行比较。此外，还将在类人猿和人类头骨系列中探索应用3D几何方法来分析内铸件。一旦得到验证，这些方法就可以应用于新的样本，从而进一步了解大脑的进化。

Casts of the interiors of skulls (endocasts) of our early ancestors indicate the volume and shape of their brains, and reproduce features of the cerebral cortex that were imprinted on the walls of their braincases during life. These features include convolutions, sulcal patterns, and blood vessels, which are sometimes correlated with known functions such as speech and right-handedness in living people. Endocasts are therefore useful for addressing questions about the origins of certain behaviors. Skulls of important Pleistocene fossil hominids are currently being CAT-scanned by an international team, and the resulting three dimensional (3D) CT data are available for generating and measuring images of endocranial surfaces from a computer screen. In order to validate use of 3D-CT to investigate brain surface morphology, a set of measurements will be obtained and compared from 3D-CT images and the corresponding traditional endocasts of several key hominid skulls. Additionally, the application of 3D geometrical methods for analyzing endocasts will be explored in an ape and human skull series. Once validated, these methods can be applied to new specimens, leading to further insights about brain evolution.