Understanding primate brain evolution
Open accessAbstract
We present a detailed reanalysis of the comparative brain data for primates, and develop a model using path analysis that seeks to present the coevolution of primate brain (neocortex) and sociality within a broader ecological and life-history framework. We show that body size, basal metabolic rate and life history act as constraints on brain evolution and through this influence the coevolution of neocortex size and group size. However, they do not determine either of these variables, which appear to be locked in a tight coevolutionary system. We show that, within primates, this relationship is specific to the neocortex. Nonetheless, there are important constraints on brain evolution; we use path analysis to show that, in order to evolve a large neocortex, a species must first evolve a large brain to support that neocortex and this in turn requires adjustments in diet (to provide the energy needed) and life history (to allow sufficient time both for brain growth and for ‘software’ programming). We review a wider literature demonstrating a tight coevolutionary relationship between brain size and sociality in a range of mammalian taxa, but emphasize that the social brain hypothesis is not about the relationship between brain/neocortex size and group size per se ; rather, it is about social complexity and we adduce evidence to support this. Finally, we consider the wider issue of how mammalian (and primate) brains evolve in order to localize the social effects.
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According to the social brain hypothesis, the high degree of encephalization reached by the neocortex of social mammals, especially Homo sapiens, may be a direct consequence of the cognitive demands required for the stable management of complex relationships within social groups.
“the high degree of encephalization reached by the neocortex of social mammals, especially by Homo sapiens, may be a direct consequence of the cognitive demands required for the stable management of complex relationships that occur within social groups”
From Internet use and access, behavior, cyberbullying, and grooming: Results of an investigative whole city survey of adolescents (2017) · cites this paper as [38]
Dunbar has identified an approximate number of 150 friends or social relationships that the individual human subject is actually able to maintain.
“Dunbar has come to identify an approximate number of 150 friends or social relationships that the individual human subject is actually able to maintain”
From Internet use and access, behavior, cyberbullying, and grooming: Results of an investigative whole city survey of adolescents (2017) · cites this paper as [38]
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- Authors
- Dunbar, R. I. M., & Shultz, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-02-13
- Volume
- 362
- Issue
- 1480
- Pages
- 649-658
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC2346523
- OpenAlex
- W2140795140
- Cited by
- 392
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 29
- FWCI
- 2.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- primate brain evolution, social brain hypothesis, sociality, group size, social complexity, body size, basal metabolic rate, life history, diet, coevolution, path analysis
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Diet, Biological Evolution, Models, Biological, Organ Size, Primates, Social Behavior, Neocortex
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