Evolution of behavioural control from chordates to primates - Paul Cisek

Very interesting hypothetical suggestion on how the different parts of the brain structure and functionality have evolved. It explains in a very plausible way why the brain looks as it does in terms of structures and how this structure evolved because of environmental and functional pressure.

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Excerpt from the article:

My goal in what follows is to propose a hypothetical but plausible sequence of the behavioural innovations that occurred in evolution along the lineage that produced humans, framed in the context of feedback control. […] Other concepts often discussed in neuroscience, such as internal representations and goals, will be introduced along the way but always within the context of feedback control, as this makes their functional roles more readily interpretable. Even standard psychological distinctions, such as between perception and action or between cognition and emotion, can best be understood within this general context. In fact, the overall theme will be that the evolutionary history of the nervous system is essentially a history of the continuous extension of behavioural feedback control further and further into the world.

Note: “feedback control” refers to the control of ones own body.