Explaining brain size variation: from social to cultural brain

Although the social brain hypothesis has found near-universal acceptance as the best explanation for the evolution of extensive variation in brain size among mammals, it faces two problems. First, it cannot account for grade shifts, where species or complete lineages have a very different brain size...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cognitive sciences 2012-05, Vol.16 (5), p.277-284
Main Authors: van Schaik, Carel P, Isler, Karin, Burkart, Judith M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Brain
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Culture
Evolution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Intelligence
Neurology
Observational learning
Organ Size
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reviews
Social Behavior
Social organization
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Summary:Although the social brain hypothesis has found near-universal acceptance as the best explanation for the evolution of extensive variation in brain size among mammals, it faces two problems. First, it cannot account for grade shifts, where species or complete lineages have a very different brain size than expected based on their social organization. Second, it cannot account for the observation that species with high socio-cognitive abilities also excel in general cognition. These problems may be related. For birds and mammals, we propose to integrate the social brain hypothesis into a broader framework we call cultural intelligence, which stresses the importance of the high costs of brain tissue, general behavioral flexibility and the role of social learning in acquiring cognitive skills.
ISSN:1364-6613
1879-307X
DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.004