Brains, Innovations and Evolution in Birds and Primates

“The strong positive relationship between residual brain size and innovation in North American birds adds to the evidence that this relationship is robust across phylogenetic levels (Lefebvre et al. 1997, 2004; Sol et al. 2005a,b) and geographical regions (Lefebvre et al. 1998).”

“This finding is consistent with previous work showing that mesopallial size predicts innovative and flexible behavior generally in birds [Timmermanns et al., 2000; Lefebvre et al., 2002, 2004].”

“Taxonomic counts of tool use and innovation are positively correlated in both birds (Lefebvre et al., 2002) and primates (Reader and Laland, 2002; Lefebvre et al., 2004).”

“both ecological and social factors can play an important role in shaping brain evolution [1,2,3,4].”

“First, the strong correlations between brain size and innovation ability in both birds and mammals (Reader and Laland, 2002; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Deaner et al., 2007) suggest that brain size can be taken as predictive of innovation level, ε.”

“When studies rely on anecdotal reports, there is of course a possibility that these are shaped by reporting biases, but substantial effort has been invested in accounting for research and observation biases, increasing confidence that taxonomic differences in innovation counts are not purely attributable to these conf…”

“…and store more information about their environment, enhancing the capacity of individuals to modify or invent new behaviors in flexible ways (Jerison 1973; Barton 1996; Marino 1996; Lefebvre et al. 1997, 2004; Allman 2000; Kaas 2000; Madden 2001; Reader and Laland 2002; Byrne and Corp 2004).”

“ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1111/evo.12341”

“For example, Libet (2004) notes that highly complex cognitive activities, such as solving a mathematical problem or creative thinking, can be done at the subconscious level in humans and, thus, complex problem solving in other animals may also proceed at an unconscious level rather than a conscious…”

“Enlargement of a Column According to volumetric measurements, the size of the avian telencephalon is proportionally larger in some species (e.g. parrots, passerines) than others (e.g. pigeons, galliforms) [Burish et al., 2004; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Iwaniuk and Hurd, 2005].”

“This hypothesis is supported by larger brain sizes [6], higher foraging innovation rates [7–9], higher reproductive flexibility [10–12], and higher sociality [13] in species living in more variable climates.”

“Consequently, a larger brain size may lead to greater behavioural flexibility (Lefebvre et al. 2004; Sol et al. 2005) and allow predators to feed on additional prey species.”

“Indeed, there is a growing body of evidence linking the enlargement and/or increase in neuron density of brain regions that are causally associated with informational integration in mammals (the cortex including the neocortex and striatum), birds (the telencephalon including the neostriatum and hyperstriatum ventrale)…”

“…exploring the extent to which other species traits known to in fl uence hummingbird feeding behaviour – such as bill curvature, body mass, competitive ability, or brain size – predict specialization (Temeles & Kress, 2003; Lefebvre, Reader & Sol, 2004; Altshuler, 2006; Maglianesi et al ., 2014).”

“…approach using the memory-based foraging model predicted the empirical space use of bison within Prince Albert (e.g. exploratory behavior, experimental forays) affords fitness advantages, including enhancing an animal’s capacity to quickly adapt to changing environments (Lefebvre et al. 2004).”

“Similarly, innovation rates may increase in the winter when resources become scarcer (Lefebvre et al., 2004).”

“We can, however, speculate that traits reflecting cognitive differences, such as tool use [Lefebvre et al., 2002] and feeding innovations [Lefebvre et al., 2004], are likely to be correlated with neuroanatomical features that improve processing capacity and a relatively high CFI represents just…”

“Species with relatively larger brains also show higher frequency of innovative behaviour and tool use (Reader and Laland 2002; Lefebvre et al. 2004).”

“A growing body of research has shown that innovation is adaptive in a wide array of species for invading novel environments (Lefebvre et al. 2004).”

“Comparing relative brain size with measures of behavioral complexity across species has revealed some of the most compelling evidence linking the evolution of brain and cognition (Lefebvre, Whittle, Lascaris, & Finkelstein, 1997; Lefebvre et al., 2004).”

“In mammals and birds, tool use positively correlates with brain size, social transmission, and innovation [7] and is considered to be a sign of cognitive capacity, i.”

“Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 09 October 2014 Version of attached le: Accepted Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Hopper, L.M. and Price, S.A. and Freeman, H.D. and Lambeth, S.P. and Schapiro, S.J. and Kendal, R.L. (2014) 'In uence of personality, age, sex,…”

“Variation in innovative problem solving both within and across species has been linked to cognitive abilities (Reader, 2003; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Griffin et al., 2014).”

“The success of such innovative species in new environments (Lefebvre et al., 2004) may have allowed them to radiate rapidly into vacant niches.”

“Measures of cognition are often correlated with one another (Lefebvre et al. 2004), suggesting that selection may act on some measure of general intelligence rather than on innovativeness per se.”

“…tool-use requires advanced cognitive and perceptual faculties, it is commonly used as an indicator for advanced physical intelligence (Emery and Clayton 2009; Seed and Byrne 2010), and has been linked to increased brain size in several taxa (e.g., Reader and Laland 2002; Lefebvre et al. 2004).”

“(7) Responding to change Responding flexibly to environmental stimuli and adapting rapidly to change is important for survival in unpredictable environments (Lefebvre et al., 2004).”

“It has been proposed that neurons are responsible for the evolution of intelligence, in that species with larger brains and more neurons generally have a larger range and versatility of behaviors than those with smaller brains (Lefebvre et al., 2004; Sol et al., 2005).”

“To control for such potential bias, we estimated research effort by counting the number of publications resulting from a keyword-based search using species’ names in Web of Science, as done in other studies (Nunn et al., 2003; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Garamszegi and Møller, 2012).”

“…Reader, & Sol, 2004), impact upon species’ fitness and ecology (Giraldeau, Caraco, & Valone, 1994; Reader & Laland, 2002; van Schaik & Pradhan, 2003; Lefebvre et al., 2004), and potential utility as a proxy measure for cognitive ability and behavioural flexibility (Sol, Timmermans, & Lefebvre,…”

“Here we defined simple to be represented by stereotypy or stigmergy as these are the two most common ‘simple’ explanations both invoked (Lefebvre et al., 2004; Hunt, 2005; Raby and Clayton, 2009) and known to explain nest building by other animals, chiefly invertebrates (Karsai and Theraulaz, 1995; Theraulaz and Bonab…”

“However, in taxa such as birds, sciurid mammals, toothed whales, and ungulates, aspects of social complexity such as the number of social alliances, social competition among groups, or the number of different social roles within a group may better describe the selective pressures of the social environment and thus be…”

“Comparative evidence suggests that taxonomic variation in the size of the primate isocortex and the avian associative pallium is associated with variation in a suite of correlated, domain-general cognitive abilities [Lefebvre et al., 2004; Reader et al., 2011] that include feeding innovation and tool use [Timmermans e…”

“…arcopallium/amygdala complex, and hippocampal formation noncorvids falls in linewith studies showing that the relative size of the mesopallium is increased in species with more flexible and innovative behavior (Lefebvre et al., 2002, 2004;Mehlhorn,Hunt et al., 2010; Timmermans et al., 2000).”

“…size has been linked to a wide range of benefits, including increased survival, adaptability to novel environments, innovation propensity, variability of habitats occupied, invasiveness, and sociability (Lefebvre et al. 2004; Lefebvre and Sol 2008; Sol 2009; Sol et al. 2007, 2010; Lefebvre 2013).”

“Moreover, as innovation rates are linked to large relative brain size (Deaner et al. 2007; Lefebvre et al. 2004; Overington et al. 2009; Reader et al. 2011), large-brained species are often thought to be driven to explore novelty.”

“the ability of individuals to express distinct behaviours in different contexts through innovation and learning processes [13–14], might also influence the balance between migratory and resident strategies in environments with sharp seasonal changes [15].”

“Behavioral flexibility may aid establishment through, for example, the ready adoption of unexploited new food resources (Lefebvre et al. 2004), the adjustment of breeding to the prevailing environmental conditions (Arcese et al.”

“Results linking behavioural flexibility to success in novel environments have been provided by Sol, Lefebvre, and colleagues in both birds and mammals (e.g., Sol and Lefebvre, 2000; Sol et al., 2002, 2005a,b, 2008; Lefebvre et al., 2004), and it is worthy of note that innovative propensity in each of these cases is po…”

“All of these have been shown to correlate with slow life histories and brain encephalization [68–71].”

“Innovation is associated with cognitive complexity, and in primates, innovation is positively correlated with relative brain size (Lefebvre et al., 2004; Manrique, V€olter, & Call, 2013; Sol, Duncan, Blackburn, Cassey, & Lefebvre, 2005).”

“Although innovative behaviours, including tool use and modification, have been described in other species (see Griffin & Guez, 2014 for review; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Overington et al., 2009; Reader et al., 2011), psychologists are often concerned with understanding the unique cognitive and…”

“…Behavioral ecologies that require complex sensory processing, decision-making, place memory and learning are associated with the evolution of larger brains and/ or higher brain regions in birds and mammals [Krebs et al., 1989; Reader and Laland, 2002; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Sol et al., 2005a].”

“1) 24 44 [2 9, 77 ,1 23 ]”

“These studies revealed that innovation rates correlate with relative brain size in both taxa, with more innovative species having enlarged associative brain areas (Lefebvre et al. 1997, 2004; Timmermans et al. 2000; Reader and Laland 2002).”

“A number of hypotheses have been generated to explain how selection may have driven changes in brain size (Francis, 1995; Barton and Harvey, 2000; de Winter and Oxnard, 2001; Hutcheon et al., 2002; Byrne and Corp, 2004; Lefebvre et al., 2004; Marino, 2005; Sol et al., 2005; Lefebvre and Sol, 2008; Rehkämper et al., 20…”

“Combined with the relative difficulty of training marmoset demonstrators in the first place, this may provide tentative support for the proposals made by Reader and Lefebvre (2001) and Lefebvre et al. (2003) , that social learning emerges as part of a more general package of cognitive flexibility, predicted by factors…”

“…the two traits, such as a scaling relationship of body surface area to brain volume (Jerison 1973), metabolic constraints limiting brain size (Martin 1981), or strong genetic correlations between brain and body size resulting in brain size evolving simply through a correlated response to…”

“Most of the first 57 studies on this topic reported anecdotal accounts of innovation in wild populations (e.g. birds: 58 Lefebvre et al., 1997, 2004; Sol et al., 2005a, 2005b; primates: Hosey et al., 1997; Lefebvre et al., 59 2004; Reader & Laland, 2001).”

“When systematically collected, observations of this type have been useful in testing links between innovative cognition, neurobiology, ecology and evolution in birds and primates (Reader & Laland 2002, 2003; Lefebvre et al. 2004).”