What Fueled Large Brain Growth In Evolution?

[Sunstone]

What fueled large brain growth in evolution? What selective advantages did our ancestors with larger brains have?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

What do you think?

 

[Sunstone]

What do you think?

Thanks for asking, Jay. I think a relatively recent theory is intriguing. Brain growth seems to correlate with the size of the social group in primates. So, perhaps a larger brain was advantageous to living in larger groups, and then perhaps living in larger groups had advantages too.

 

[painted wolf]

actually it is a general trend that brain size increases over time. Look at any major group of vertebrates and you will see this.

Now as for our brains in specific... that is the result of a few key mutations on genes like ASPM and MYH16.
Not to mention the mutation of FOXP2 that lets us have this conversation.

wa:do

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Well, everything gets bigger, doesen't it? Our whole body got big, our limbs, why not our brain? In like a 100 years time, when i am 5, i will be a MLA basketball player.

 

[painted wolf]

not really.. our jaw has gotten smaller, so have our toes.

But I could hope for more height... lol

wa:do

 

[methylatedghosts]

In like a 100 years time, when i am 5, i will be a MLA basketball player.

Did this make sense to anyone? lol

In 100 years time you will be your current age + 100. Or dead....

 

[Don Penguinoini]

When my soul enters a new body and then its a new life...


DUH!:sarcastic:

 

[Super Universe]

Rapid growth in brain size was caused by the insertion of Adam and Eve's genes into the primitive human gene pool.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Rapid growth in brain size was caused by the insertion of Adam and Eve's genes into the primitive human gene pool.

... just pitiful ...

 

[Sunstone]

... just pitiful ...

Wasn't he making a joke?

 

[Sunstone]

So what advantages did larger brains have that offset their disadvantages?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

"Big brains are related to strong social bonds, high levels of intelligence, intense parenting, long periods of learning, and ability to deal with volatile environments," added Zhang. "Exactly which one was the initial force driving the human brain expansion is unknown. In comparison to the great apes, early hominids lived in more open and dry areas, which made it difficult to escape from predators and find water. Thus, the brain size expansion may be related to the ability to cope with volatile environments, as some people believe. But, there is no definite answer yet." [source]

So, my guess as to what fueled (better, enabled) brain growth would be: Panama.

 

[painted wolf]

well, it isn't simply a question of size as it is of wiring.

Larger well connected brains allow for greater information processing. Problem solving, abstract thinking, and so on... more complex tools, more complex social structures and so on.

wa:do

 

[logician]

The jury is still out as to whether "large brains" are a successful long-term survival strategy for a species. It could be that easy domination of other life leads to the death of many species, ultimately doing in the "intelligent" species who did not foresee the dangers of causing things likke global warming, populaton explosion leading to depletion of natural resources, etc.

If we had a 100 million years under out belts, instead of a million I would feel more comfortable about our chances.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The jury is still out as to whether "large brains" are a successful long-term survival strategy for a species.

Evolution is not a "survival strategy".

 

[Valjean]

I suspect a chance mutation produced a brain with extra copies of mirror neurons, paving the way for increased learning, opening an opportunity for "educated" individuals, and giving a reproductive advantage to individuals born with high RAM.

Hugely advantageous in the short run, but, alas, the species is now on the verge of extincting itself and taking down the whole ecosystem with it.

Bright but not wise...

 

[painted wolf]

Species only have an average run of 2 million years to begin with.

There are several intelligent species besides humans... we just have the inclination and ability to produce wide scale change.

wa:do

 

[neves]

If one subscribes to evolutionary theory… I heard somewhere that it was eating meat….

 

[logician]

Species only have an average run of 2 million years to begin with.

There are several intelligent species besides humans... we just have the inclination and ability to produce wide scale change.

wa:do

Maybe individuals species do, but crocodiles as a group, for example, have been around for hundreds of millions of years in more or less the same basic form, because it is a very successful survival strategy(although we still could do them in).
We'll have to see if having big brains (groupwise) is as successful on a long term basis.