Evolutionary Neuropsychology

In Evolutionary Neuropsychology, Frederick L. Coolidge examines the evolutionary origins of the human brain's present structures and functions, and traces these origins from the first life forms, through the development of consciousness, to modern human thinking. A new multidisciplinary science, evolutionary neuropsychology embraces and uses empirical findings from the fields of evolution, neuroscience, cognitive sciences, psychology, anthropology, and archaeology. The bedrock foundation of evolutionary neuropsychology is the assumption that functionally-specialized brain regions are adaptations naturally selected in response to various environmental challenges over the course of billions of years of evolution. These adaptations and their brain regions and circuitry may now serve new functions, which are called exaptations, and they are particularly involved in higher cognitive functions.

Frederick L. Coolidge received his PhD in Psychology and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Florida. He is currently a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). He has received three Fulbright Fellowships, three teaching awards, and two outstanding research awards. In 2015, he was a Senior Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, and he is an annual Scholar-in-Residence at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.

Chapter 1: A Brief History of Life and Brain Evolution Chapter 2: The Evolution of Learning and Memory Systems Chapter 3: An Introduction to the Brain Chapter 4: The Frontal Lobes Chapter 5: The Parietal Lobes Chapter 6: The Temporal Lobes Chapter 7: The Cerebellum Chapter 8: The Hippocampus Chapter 9: The Evolution of Sleep and Dreams Chapter 10: Paleopsychopathology