Exploring the dorsal surface of hominoid brain endocasts by stereoplotter and discriminant analysis

Abstract

One of the more vexing problems with hominoid endocasts has been to secure reliable information that goes beyond their volumes. One method is explored here, where a large number (N = 171) of radial distances from a homologous internal central point to the dorsal endocast surface are measured in a polar coordinate system. From two pilot studies, one with a hominoid sample of N = 64, and the other with an enlarged sample of N = 92, the following results can be mentioned tentatively: (1) there are residual data that differ taxonomically in different cortical regions once overall endocast size is corrected in allometric fashion; (2) the major cortical regions where these differences appear most strongly are in the lower parietal lobule, anterior occipital zone, and the dorsoanterior region of the frontal lobe; (3) the method shows excellent promise in objectively and quantitatively depicting taxa-specific shape differences in functionally understood cortical regions through multivariate statistical analyses.