Adaptation and the brain / by Susan D. Healy. [electronic resource]
By: Healy, S. D. (Susan D.) [author].
Material type:
Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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WWW | Non-fiction | 573.8616 HEA/A (Browse shelf) | Available | EB761 |
Includes bibliographical references: 129-158p
Contents
Front Matter
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
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Expand2 The Measurable Brain
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Expand3 The Intelligent Brain
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Expand4 The Ecological Brain
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Expand5 The Innovative Brain
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Expand6 The Technical Brain
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Expand7 The Sexual Brain
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Expand8 The Social Brain
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Expand9 Concluding Remarks
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End Matter
References
Index
Abstract
The rationale for this work is to make some sort of sense of the seeming myriad of adaptive explanations for why vertebrate brains vary in size. The role that natural selection has played in brain size has been addressed using the comparative method, which allows identification of evolutionary patterns across species. One starting assumption is that brain size is a useful proxy for intelligence and therefore that large-brained animals are more intelligent than smaller-brained animals. Five classes of selection pressure form the majority of explanations: ecology, technology, innovation, sex, and sociality. After chapters in which I describe the difficulties of measuring both brain size and intelligence (cognition), I address the evidence for each of the five factors in turn, reaching the conclusion that although ecology provides the best explanations for variation in the size of brain regions, none of the factors yet offers a robust and compelling explanation for variation in whole brain size. I end by providing the steps I consider necessary to reach such an explanation, steps that I suggest are feasible, if challenging.
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