An intraspecific appraisal of the social intelligence hypothesis

Ashton, Benjamin J.; Thornton, Alex; Ridley, Amanda R.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2017.0288

Cited by 73 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 114 publications

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“…Although numerous comparative studies have addressed the role of social environment on cognition [96,97], they have yielded inconsistent and inconclusive empirical evidence [98]. Understanding how individual variation in cognition is affected by individual differences in social experiences and relationships requires a within-species approach [99]. However, as our above discussion highlights, such studies are surprisingly rare, especially in the wild.…”

Section: (A) Social Relationships Affect Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

How does cognition shape social relationships?

Wascher

Kulahci

Langley

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The requirements of living in social groups, and forming and maintaining social relationships are hypothesized to be one of the major drivers behind the evolution of cognitive abilities. Most empirical studies investigating the relationships between sociality and cognition compare cognitive performance between species living in systems that differ in social complexity. In this review, we ask whether and how individuals benefit from cognitive skills in their social interactions. Cognitive abilities, such as perception, attention, learning, memory, and inhibitory control, aid in forming and maintaining social relationships. We investigate whether there is evidence that individual variation in these abilities influences individual variation in social relationships. We then consider the evolutionary consequences of the interaction between sociality and cognitive ability to address whether bi-directional relationships exist between the two, such that cognition can both shape and be shaped by social interactions and the social environment. In doing so, we suggest that social network analysis is emerging as a powerful tool that can be used to test for directional causal relationships between sociality and cognition. Overall, our review highlights the importance of investigating individual variation in cognition to understand how it shapes the patterns of social relationships.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'.

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Section: (A) Social Relationships Affect Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

How does cognition shape social relationships?

Wascher

Kulahci

Langley

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…The third set of papers in the special issue explores the evolutionary consequences of individual cognitive variation, by considering whether individuals' cognitive abilities influence their fitness [18][19][20] and thus whether natural selection may act on these abilities and contribute to their evolution (if they are heritable) [21,22]. Currently, most studies have tested relationships between individual cognitive performance and single assays of fitness (but see [23 -25] for examples where multiple assays of cognitive performance have been related to fitness), and in most studies the relationship has been positive (summarized in [20]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring and understanding individual differences in cognition

Boogert

Madden

Morand‐Ferron

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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186

195

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Individuals vary in their cognitive performance. While this variation forms the foundation of the study of human psychometrics, its broader importance is only recently being recognized. Explicitly acknowledging this individual variation found in both humans and non-human animals provides a novel opportunity to understand the mechanisms, development and evolution of cognition. The papers in this special issue highlight the growing emphasis on individual cognitive differences from fields as diverse as neurobiology, experimental psychology and evolutionary biology. Here, we synthesize this body of work. We consider the distinct challenges in quantifying individual differences in cognition and provide concrete methodological recommendations. In particular, future studies would benefit from using multiple task variants to ensure they target specific, clearly defined cognitive traits and from conducting repeated testing to assess individual consistency. We then consider how neural, genetic, developmental and behavioural factors may generate individual differences in cognition. Finally, we discuss the potential fitness consequences of individual cognitive variation and place these into an evolutionary framework with testable hypotheses. We intend for this special issue to stimulate researchers to position individual variation at the centre of the cognitive sciences.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'.

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“…This topic is still receiving much attention (e.g. DeCasien et al 2017, Street et al 2017, Ashton et al 2018, González-Forero and Gardner 2018, Kverková et al 2018, Louail et al 2019. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss this literature in detail (but see Dunbar and Shultz 2017 and Rosati 2017 for reviews), in part because these works have sometimes used inconsistent brain measures in their analyses or are based on inconsistent datasets (Willemet 2013, 2015b, Powell et al 2017, Wartel et al 2018.…”

Section: Body Size Allowed Adaptationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometry unleashed: an adaptationist approach of brain scaling in mammalian evolution

Willemet

2019

Preprint

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The idea that allometry in the context of brain evolution mainly result from constraints channelling the scaling of brain components is deeply embedded in the field of comparative neurobiology. Constraints, however, only prevent or limit changes, and cannot explain why these changes happen in the first place. In fact, considering allometry as a lack of change may be one of the reasons why, after more than a century of research, there is still no satisfactory explanatory framework for the understanding of species differences in brain size and composition in mammals. The present paper attempts to tackle this issue by adopting an adaptationist approach to examine the factors behind the evolution of brain components. In particular, the model presented here aims to explain the presence of patterns of covariation among brain components found within major taxa, and the differences between taxa. The key determinant of these patterns of covariation within a taxon-cerebrotype (groups of species whose brains present a number of similarities at the physiological and anatomical levels) seems to be the presence of taxon-specific patterns of selection pressures targeting the functional and structural properties of neural components or systems. Species within a taxon share most of the selection pressures, but their levels scale with a number of factors that are often related to body size. The size and composition of neural systems respond to these selection pressures via a number of evolutionary scenarios, which are discussed here. Adaptation, rather than, as generally assumed, developmental or functional constraints, thus appears to be the main factor behind the allometric scaling of brain components. The fact that the selection pressures acting on the size of brain components form a pattern that is specific to each taxon accounts for the peculiar relationship between body size, brain size and composition, and behavioural capabilities characterizing each taxon. While it is important to avoid repeating the errors of the “Panglossian paradigm”, the elements presented here suggests that an adaptationist approach may shed a new light on the factors underlying, and the functional consequences of, species differences in brain size and composition.

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An intraspecific appraisal of the social intelligence hypothesis

Cited by 73 publications

References 114 publications

How does cognition shape social relationships?

How does cognition shape social relationships?

Measuring and understanding individual differences in cognition

Allometry unleashed: an adaptationist approach of brain scaling in mammalian evolution

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