Definition
The absolute size, relative size (brain/body ratio), and stage of neurodevelopment in a species’ brain at the time of birth.
Introduction
The size and developmental stage of the newborn brain is highly variable across different mammalian species. For decades, the state of mammalian brains at birth has been the focus of great interest by researchers in developmental and reproductive biology, biological anthropology, and the evolution of life history. Although methods for comparing species’ brains at birth have varied widely, two major approaches have generally been used to examine birth timing and mammalian brains at birth. First, thanks to several large datasets (e.g., Sacher and Staffeldt 1974; Harvey and Clutton-Brock 1985), neonatal brain size, body size, gestation length, and similar variables have been analyzed by researchers in anthropology, life history, and evolutionary biology. A second approach uses more...
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Halley, A.C. (2018). Brain at Birth. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_802-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_802-1
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