Journal article

The evolution of self-control.

  • MacLean EL Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology, maclean@duke.edu.
  • Hare B Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.
  • Nunn CL Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • Addessi E Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00197 Rome, Italy;
  • Amici F Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;
  • Anderson RC Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27704;
  • Aureli F Instituto de Neuroetologia, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, CP 91190, Mexico;Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, United Kingdom;
  • Baker JM Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research andDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305;
  • Bania AE Center for Animal Care Sciences, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, DC 20008;
  • Barnard AM Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and.
  • Boogert NJ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, Scotland;
  • Brannon EM Center for Cognitive Neuroscience,Psychology and Neuroscience, and.
  • Bray EE Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104;
  • Bray J Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • Brent LJ Center for Cognitive Neuroscience,Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
  • Burkart JM Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland;
  • Call J Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;
  • Cantlon JF Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and.
  • Cheke LG Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;
  • Clayton NS Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;
  • Delgado MM Department of Psychology and.
  • DiVincenti LJ Department of Comparative Medicine, Seneca Park Zoo, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14620;
  • Fujita K Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan;
  • Herrmann E Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;
  • Hiramatsu C Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan;
  • Jacobs LF Department of Psychology andHelen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720;
  • Jordan KE Departments of Psychology and.
  • Laude JR Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506;
  • Leimgruber KL Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
  • Messer EJ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, Scotland;
  • Moura AC Departamento Engenharia e Meio Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Paraiba, 58059-900, João Pessoa, Brazil;
  • Ostojić L Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;
  • Picard A Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
  • Platt ML Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience,Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;Neurobiology, and.
  • Plotnik JM Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;Think Elephants International, Stone Ridge, NY 12484;
  • Range F Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria;Wolf Science Center, A-2115 Ernstbrunn, Austria;
  • Reader SM Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1B1;
  • Reddy RB Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and.
  • Sandel AA Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and.
  • Santos LR Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
  • Schumann K Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;
  • Seed AM Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, Scotland;
  • Sewall KB Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27704;
  • Shaw RC Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;
  • Slocombe KE Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
  • Su Y Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
  • Takimoto A Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan;
  • Tan J Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • Tao R Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, Scotland;
  • van Schaik CP Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland;
  • Virányi Z Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria;
  • Visalberghi E Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00197 Rome, Italy;
  • Wade JC Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506;
  • Watanabe A Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom;
  • Widness J Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
  • Young JK Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322;
  • Zentall TR Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506;
  • Zhao Y Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Show more…
  • 2014-04-23
Published in:
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2014
English Cognition presents evolutionary research with one of its greatest challenges. Cognitive evolution has been explained at the proximate level by shifts in absolute and relative brain volume and at the ultimate level by differences in social and dietary complexity. However, no study has integrated the experimental and phylogenetic approach at the scale required to rigorously test these explanations. Instead, previous research has largely relied on various measures of brain size as proxies for cognitive abilities. We experimentally evaluated these major evolutionary explanations by quantitatively comparing the cognitive performance of 567 individuals representing 36 species on two problem-solving tasks measuring self-control. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that absolute brain volume best predicted performance across species and accounted for considerably more variance than brain volume controlling for body mass. This result corroborates recent advances in evolutionary neurobiology and illustrates the cognitive consequences of cortical reorganization through increases in brain volume. Within primates, dietary breadth but not social group size was a strong predictor of species differences in self-control. Our results implicate robust evolutionary relationships between dietary breadth, absolute brain volume, and self-control. These findings provide a significant first step toward quantifying the primate cognitive phenome and explaining the process of cognitive evolution.
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/236423
Statistics

Document views: 116 File downloads:
  • Full-text: 0