Skip to main content
 

Monkey Brains

Predicting Capacity from Structure

By Susan A. Weiner

Monkey Brains


 

Abstract

This case study in comparative physiology explores the connections between physiology, evolution and behavior. Students assume the role of researchers who have discovered the body of a rare and poorly studied (fictional) monkey, Callicebus imagini. Students need to figure out what they can learn about the physiology and behavior of the monkey from dissecting the brain of this specimen. To complete this case, students will need to research the functions of areas of the brain and use this information to predict how changes in those areas will impact the monkey. The case consists of two sections, with the second distributed only after the first has been completed. Students work in small groups, performing some of the research work individually and then collaborating to answer the larger questions. The case was developed for a mammalian physiology class, but could also be used in other human or animal physiology classes, or in an animal behavior class.

   

Date Posted

07/05/2019

Overview

Objectives

  • Suggest research approaches for studying the connections between behavior and physiology.
  • Predict how changes in one brain region might affect capabilities or behavior.
  • Describe how evolution can act on brain size.
  • Use allometry to predict the correlation between brain and body size.

Keywords

Primates; comparative physiology; brain; neuroscience; animal behavior; neuroanatomy; natural selection;

  

Subject Headings

Anatomy
Biology (General)
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Neuroscience
Wildlife Management
Zoology

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division, Graduate

  

FORMAT

PDF

   

TOPICAL AREAS

Ethics

   

LANGUAGE

English

   

TYPE/METHODS

Directed, Interrupted

 

 

Asset 2