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Cited by 1,126Primate Behavior and EcologyLanguage and cultural evolutionChild and Animal Learning Development

Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates

Open access
Reader, Simon M., Laland, Kevin N.·2002·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.062041299PMC PMC123666
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Abstract

Despite considerable current interest in the evolution of intelligence, the intuitively appealing notion that brain volume and “intelligence” are linked remains untested. Here, we use ecologically relevant measures of cognitive ability, the reported incidence of behavioral innovation, social learning, and tool use, to show that brain size and cognitive capacity are indeed correlated. A comparative analysis of 533 instances of innovation, 445 observations of social learning, and 607 episodes of tool use established that social learning, innovation, and tool use frequencies are positively correlated with species' relative and absolute “executive” brain volumes, after controlling for phylogeny and research effort. Moreover, innovation and social learning frequencies covary across species, in conflict with the view that there is an evolutionary tradeoff between reliance on individual experience and social cues. These findings provide an empirical link between behavioral innovation, social learning capacities, and brain size in mammals. The ability to learn from others, invent new behaviors, and use tools may have played pivotal roles in primate brain evolution.

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  • Ratio measures of relative brain structure size used commonly in comparative studies conflate allometric scaling with selection on specific brain regions.

    “One implication is that the ratio measures of relative brain structure size used commonly in comparative studies, such as neocortex ratio [8], ‘executive’ brain ratio [7,10,11] and ‘cerebrotype’ [50] conflate allometric scaling with selection on specific brain regions.”

    From Embodied cognitive evolution and the cerebellum (2012) · cites this paper as [11]

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Authors
Reader, S. M., & Laland, K. N.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Reader, Simon M.
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2002-03-12
Volume
99
Issue
7
Pages
4436-4441
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.062041299
PMC
PMC123666
OpenAlex
W2156834836
Cited by
1,126
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 88 · 2020: 72 · 2019: 66 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 54 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 58 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 79
FWCI
31.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • eScholarship@McGill (McGill) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Royal Society
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
social intelligence, behavioral innovation, social learning, tool use, brain size, primate cognition, brain evolution, evolutionary trade-offs, comparative cognition
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Biological Evolution, Intelligence, Learning, Primates, Social Behavior

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