Evolving To See | Evolution Of The Brain - Episode 2

How did the brain evolve? Why do we have a brain? What functions did our brains aqcuire over millions of years of evolution? Find out all about it in this new mini-series documentary: Evolution of the Brain.

In this second episode of the brain evolution documentary, we ask the question how a sense of sight evolved. We take a look at how simple light-responsive cells formed a basic, simple, eye. Gradually, simple eyes became more and more complex, but the specific adaptations differ per species. Whereas some animals have incredible distance perception, others are brilliant in distinguishing color. Us humans, we are good in distinguishing faces. Besides the evolution of the eye, we discuss the evolution of brain regions involved in visual processing. We discuss the neuroscience and function of these visual brain regions.

Next episode we will move on to how different senses, such as smelling, touching, hearing and tasting evolved. Later in this documentary mini-series we will end up with various episodes on the evolution of the human brain.

Production, narration, and story: Miles Wischnewski, PhD. 2021.

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Time stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:24 Why our senses are important
1:21 Visual perception: A sense of sight
2:01 First light-sensitive cells
3:31 First eye spots
5:08 Evolution of different types of eyes
6:10 Evolution of complex eyes
8:22 Evolution of vision in the brain
10:00 Specialization of vision differs between species
11:08 Summary and outro

References and resources:
Gehring W. J. (2005). New perspectives on eye development and the evolution of eyes and photoreceptors. The Journal of heredity, 96(3), 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esi027

Isa, T., Marquez-Legorreta, E., Grillner, S., & Scott, E. K. (2021). The tectum/superior colliculus as the vertebrate solution for spatial sensory integration and action. Current biology : CB, 31(11), R741–R762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04...

Kaas., J.H. (2020). Chapter 23 - Evolution of Visual Cortex in Primates. In: Evolutionary Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820...

Lyon, D.C. (2007). Chapter 34 - The Evolution of Visual Cortex and Visual Systems. In: Evolutionary Neuroscience.

Nilsson, D. E., & Arendt, D. (2008). Eye evolution: the blurry beginning. Current biology : CB, 18(23), R1096–R1098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.10...

Nilsson D. E. (2009). The evolution of eyes and visually guided behaviour. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 364(1531), 2833–2847. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0083

Rosa, M. G., & Krubitzer, L. A. (1999). The evolution of visual cortex: where is V2?. Trends in neurosciences, 22(6), 242–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-2236(99...

Timsit, Y., Lescot, M., Valiadi, M., & Not, F. (2021). Bioluminescence and Photoreception in Unicellular Organisms: Light-Signalling in a Bio-Communication Perspective. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(21), 11311. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222111311

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