Constantino von Economo's Inquiry into the Neuroanatomical Bases of Human Intelligence

Abstract

One of the problems that was addressed by Constantin von Economo were the neuroanatomical underpinnings of human intelligence, through the combination of cortical cytoarchitectonics and evolutionary neuroanatomy. He postulated the principle of “progressive cerebration” to denote the continuing evolution of the human mind, and conjectured on the future acquisition of new cortical structures in the human brain. One of his reviews of those ideas was translated by a young Spanish neuropsychiatrist, Enrique Escardó Peinador, and forms the corpus of the current presentation. The association of Economo with Spanish neurologists is also highlighted.