2023-12-25 12:45:00
This work, published in Science Advances, highlights how the evolution of human cognition is linked to that of the environment. These findings challenge the belief that cognitive abilities are due to brain size.
Although it represents only 2% of the average man’s body weight, the human brain consumes 20% of the total energy required by the body. Researchers discovered a linear relationship between glucose metabolism in the brain and its functional connectivity.
The results suggest that areas of the brain that have more connections require more energy, such as the front parietal network that performs high-level cognitive tasks. This brain network, which manages problem solving and decision-making, consumes 67% more energy.
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Newsweek reports that the variance in energy distribution was observed in all countries and among all participants, regardless of gender or age. The team’s work highlights how areas of the brain contain more neuromodulators, like dopamine and serotonin, that need more energy.
“It appears that the benefits of increased cortical energy metabolism, as well as increased supply of energy substrates, outweigh the risks. However, our knowledge of how the interaction between neuromodulators slow-acting and energetic substrates take place are insufficient” explained the authors of the study.
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