Understanding the relationship between the social environment and cognition

关于智力进化的主要理论，社会智力假说(SIH)，假设群体内的社会互动推动认知进化。但SIH忽略了社会生活的一个主要组成部分：与同一物种的外来者的互动。利用元分析和实验方法的独特组合，DECRA项目将测试扩展的SIH的预测，纳入外来者提出的“拿破仑式”认知挑战。预计的结果是对哪些因素支配认知进化有了新的理解--这是进化生物学中持续时间最长的争论之一。

The predominant theory for the evolution of intelligence, the social intelligence hypothesis (SIH), posits that within-group social interactions drive cognitive evolution. But the SIH overlooks a major component of social life: interactions with outsiders of the same species. Using a unique combination of meta-analytical and experimental approaches, the DECRA project will test the predictions of an expanded SIH, incorporating the “Napoleonic” cognitive challenges posed by outsiders. The expected outcome is to gain a new understanding of which factors govern cognitive evolution – one of the longest-running debates in evolutionary biology.