In the neuroanatomy of animals, an avian pallium is the dorsal telencephalon of a bird's brain. The subpallium is the ventral telencephalon.
The pallium of avian species tends to be relatively large, comprising ~75% of the telencephalic volume. Birds have a unique pallial structure known as the hyperpallium, once called the hyperstriatum. Evidence suggests the pallium in bird brains to be functionally equivalent to the mammalian cerebral cortex. [1] [2]
A 2002 conference at Duke University (Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium) established a standard nomenclature for describing the avian pallium as follows: [3] [4] [5] [6]
The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. In vertebrates, a small part of the brain called the hypothalamus is the neural control center for all endocrine systems. The brain is the largest cluster of neurons in the body and is typically located in the head, usually near organs for special senses such as vision, hearing and olfaction. It is the most energy-consuming organ of the body, and the most specialized, responsible for endocrine regulation, sensory perception, motor control, and the development of intelligence.
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 135 species are included in this family. The genus Corvus containing 47 species makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids (ravens) are the largest passerines.
Forkhead box protein P2 (FOXP2) is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the FOXP2 gene. FOXP2 is a member of the forkhead box family of transcription factors, proteins that regulate gene expression by binding to DNA. It is expressed in the brain, heart, lungs and digestive system.
Sauropsida is a clade of amniotes, broadly equivalent to the class Reptilia, though typically used in a broader sense to include both extinct stem-group relatives of modern reptiles, as well as birds. The most popular definition states that Sauropsida is the sibling taxon to Synapsida, the other clade of amniotes which includes mammals as its only modern representatives. Although early synapsids have historically been referred to as "mammal-like reptiles", all synapsids are more closely related to mammals than to any modern reptile. Sauropsids, on the other hand, include all amniotes more closely related to modern reptiles than to mammals. This includes Aves (birds), which are now recognized as a subgroup of archosaurian reptiles despite originally being named as a separate class in Linnaean taxonomy.
The globus pallidus (GP), also known as paleostriatum or dorsal pallidum, is a subcortical structure of the brain. It consists of two adjacent segments, one external, known in rodents simply as the globus pallidus, and one internal, known in rodents as the entopeduncular nucleus. It is part of the telencephalon, but retains close functional ties with the subthalamus in the diencephalon – both of which are part of the extrapyramidal motor system. The globus pallidus is a major component of the basal ganglia, with principal inputs from the striatum, and principal direct outputs to the thalamus and the substantia nigra. The latter is made up of similar neuronal elements, has similar afferents from the striatum, similar projections to the thalamus, and has a similar synaptology. Neither receives direct cortical afferents, and both receive substantial additional inputs from the intralaminar thalamus.
The neocortex, also called the neopallium, isocortex, or the six-layered cortex, is a set of layers of the mammalian cerebral cortex involved in higher-order brain functions such as sensory perception, cognition, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning and language. The neocortex is further subdivided into the true isocortex and the proisocortex.
The triune brain is a model of the evolution of the vertebrate forebrain and behavior, proposed by the American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean in the 1960s. The triune brain consists of the reptilian complex, the paleomammalian complex, and the neomammalian complex (neocortex), viewed each as independently conscious, and as structures sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution. According to the model, the basal ganglia are in charge of our primal instincts, the limbic system is in charge of our emotions and the neocortex is responsible for objective or rational thoughts.
The difficulty of defining or measuring intelligence in non-human animals makes the subject difficult to study scientifically in birds. In general, birds have relatively large brains compared to their head size. Furthermore, bird brains have twice the neuron packing density of mammal brains, for higher overall efficiency. The visual and auditory senses are well developed in most species, though the tactile and olfactory senses are well realized only in a few groups. Birds communicate using visual signals as well as through the use of calls and song. The testing of intelligence in birds is therefore usually based on studying responses to sensory stimuli.
Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds' bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight. Birds have a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems capable of very high metabolic rates and oxygen supply, permit the bird to fly. The development of a beak has led to evolution of a specially adapted digestive system.
The nidopallium, meaning nested pallium, is the region of the avian brain that is used mostly for some types of executive functions but also for other higher cognitive tasks. The region was renamed nidopallium in 2002 during the Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium because the prior name, neostriatum, suggested that the region was used for more primitive functions as the neostriatum in mammalian brains is sub-cortical.
Animal consciousness, or animal awareness, is the quality or state of self-awareness within an animal, or of being aware of an external object or something within itself. In humans, consciousness has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, qualia, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. Despite the difficulty in definition, many philosophers believe there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is.
The arcopallium refers to regions of the avian brain which partially overlap regions homologous to the amygdala of mammals. These regions have formerly been referred to as archistriatum, and before this epistriatum or amygdaloid complex, and a recent change of nomenclature has divided the region into the arcopallium and posterior pallial amygdala. The new nomenclature, adopted in 2004, reflects a modern understanding that the avian brain is broadly similar to the mammalian brain, containing large regions homologous to the mammalian neocortex, claustrum, and pallial amygdala. The outdated nomenclature it replaced perceived the avian brain as consisting almost entirely of enlarged basal ganglia, to which more complex outer layers had been added during a progress toward mammalian intelligence.
Stephanie Ann White is an American neuroscientist who is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research looks to understand how social interactions impact the brain. She serves as Director of the Neural Systems and Behavior programme at the Marine Biological Laboratory.
The avian brain is the central organ of the nervous system in birds. Birds possess large, complex brains, which process, integrate, and coordinate information received from the environment and make decisions on how to respond with the rest of the body. Like in all chordates, the avian brain is contained within the skull bones of the head.