Primate brain size is predicted by diet but not sociality

2017/03/27 by Alex R. DeCasien, Scott A. Williams, James P. Higham · 1 voice · 7 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Primate Behavior and Ecology

paper · doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0112

crossref issued 2017/03/27 · crossref published 2017/03/27 · crossref published-online 2017/03/27 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/27 · crossref created 2017/03/27 · crossref deposited 2024/06/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29 · crossref indexed 2026/07/29

Citations

• Human adaptation to the control of fire
• Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates
• The Expensive Brain: A framework for explaining evolutionary changes in brain size
• The social brain hypothesis
• Inference from Iterative Simulation Using Multiple Sequences
• Stone tools, language and the brain in human evolution

Cited by

• Reversal learning of visual cues in Heliconiini butterflies
• From fossils to mind
• A matter of fat: Hunting preferences affected Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions and human evolution
• Origins of violence: evolutionary decoupling between mild and lethal conspecific aggression in primates
• Brain evolution in Proboscidea (Mammalia, Afrotheria) across the Cenozoic
• Virtual endocast of late Paleocene Niptomomys (Microsyopidae, Euarchonta) and early primate brain evolution
• Encephalization quotient [wikipedia]

Discussions

• Really interesting @NatureEcoEvo paper on dietary changes vs. complex sociality as drivers of primate brain size http://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0112 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]