Problems with using comparative analyses of avian brain size to test hypotheses of cognitive evolution.
Problems with using comparative analyses of avian brain size to test hypotheses of cognitive evolution.
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0270771
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Thornton, Alex
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hooper, Rebecca;Brett, Becky;Thornton, Alex
关于认知的进化有多种假设。最突出的假设是社会智力假说（SIH）和生态智力假说（EIH），这两个假说经常相互对立。这些假设往往通过大脑大小的大规模比较研究来检验，其中大脑大小被用作认知能力的代表，并且各种社会和/或生态变量被包括作为预测因子。在这里，我们测试从此类分析中得出的结论的稳健性。首先，我们研究了超过 1000 种鸟类的大脑和身体尺寸测量值的差异。我们证明，不同数据集的大脑和身体大小估计存在很大差异，这表明从比较大脑大小模型得出的结论可能会根据数据来源的不同而有所不同。接下来，我们将数据子集到 Corvides 基础设施中，并询问建模决策如何影响结果。我们表明，模型结果会根据变量包含、来源和分类而发生很大变化。事实上，我们可以就大脑尺寸进化的主要驱动因素得出多个相互矛盾的结论。这些结果反映了越来越多的研究人员的担忧，即从大脑大小比较研究中得出的结论可能并不可靠。我们建议，要质疑认知进化的假设，一个富有成效的方法是专注于测试密切相关的分类单元内部和之间的认知表现，重点是理解信息不确定性与认知进化之间的关系。
There are multiple hypotheses for the evolution of cognition. The most prominent hypotheses are the Social Intelligence Hypothesis (SIH) and the Ecological Intelligence Hypothesis (EIH), which are often pitted against one another. These hypotheses tend to be tested using broad-scale comparative studies of brain size, where brain size is used as a proxy of cognitive ability, and various social and/or ecological variables are included as predictors. Here, we test how robust conclusions drawn from such analyses may be. First, we investigate variation in brain and body size measurements across >1000 bird species. We demonstrate that there is substantial variation in brain and body size estimates across datasets, indicating that conclusions drawn from comparative brain size models are likely to differ depending on the source of the data. Following this, we subset our data to the Corvides infraorder and interrogate how modelling decisions impact results. We show that model results change substantially depending on variable inclusion, source and classification. Indeed, we could have drawn multiple contradictory conclusions about the principal drivers of brain size evolution. These results reflect concerns from a growing number of researchers that conclusions drawn from comparative brain size studies may not be robust. We suggest that to interrogate hypotheses of cognitive evolution, a fruitful way forward is to focus on testing cognitive performance within and between closely related taxa, with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between informational uncertainty and cognitive evolution.
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影响因子：
64.8
作者：
Ashton BJ;Ridley AR;Edwards EK;Thornton A
通讯作者：
Thornton A
DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2016.0244
发表时间：
2017-08-19
期刊：
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
影响因子：
--
作者：
Dunbar RIM;Shultz S
通讯作者：
Shultz S
DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2017.0288
发表时间：
2018-09-26
期刊：
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
影响因子：
--
作者：
Ashton BJ;Thornton A;Ridley AR
通讯作者：
Ridley AR
影响因子：
3.7
作者：
Chambers HR;Heldstab SA;O'Hara SJ
通讯作者：
O'Hara SJ
影响因子：
2.5
作者：
Bond, AB;Kamil, AC;Balda, RP
通讯作者：
Balda, RP