Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health have used MRI to suggest the brain’s ability to use tools and locate objects can be connected to Neanderthal-derived gene variants.

This so-called “residual echo” can be attributed to Neanderthals, who went extinct 40,000 years ago, according to lead researcher Karen Berman, MD. The ancestors of humans interbred with these evolutionary cousins, which resulted in Neanderthal DNA becoming part of the human genome.

“It’s been proposed that Neanderthals depended on visual-spatial abilities and toolmaking, for survival, more so than on the social affiliation and group activities that typify the success of modern humans – and that Neanderthal brains evolved to preferentially support these visuospatial functions,” Berman said. “Now we have direct neuroimaging evidence that such trade-offs may still be operative in our brains.”

The results were published online July 24 through the journal Scientific Reports.

Berman and colleagues examined 221 participants of European ancestry for Neanderthal variants. They then related this to brain structure measured via MRI. The images showed gene variants were likely involved in development of the brain’s visual system.

The team is currently examining what role such genetic information played in brain development.

The full study is available for free here.