Events & News
Cog Sci Brown Bag Seminar
| Category | Lecture |
| Date | Friday, March 27, 2009 |
| Time | 12:00 pm |
| Location | GS 906 |
| Speaker | Kay Holecamp |
| Title | Professor |
| Affiliation | Dept of Zoology, Michigan State University |
Selective Forces Shaping the Evolution of Intelligence
If the large brains and great intelligence typical of primates were favored by selection pressures associated with life in complex societies, then cognitive abilities and nervous systems with primate-like attributes should have evolved convergently in non-primate mammals living in large, elaborate societies in which social dexterity enhances individual fitness. The societies of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are remarkably like those of cercopithecine primates with respect to size, structure, and patterns of competition and cooperation. These similarities set an ideal stage for comparative analysis of social intelligence and nervous system organization. As in cercopithecine primates, spotted hyenas use multiple sensory modalities to recognize their kin and other conspecifics as individuals, they know that some group-mates are more valuable social partners than others, they recognize third party kin and rank relationships among their clan-mates, and they use this knowledge adaptively during social decision-making. The data accrued to date strongly suggest convergent evolution of intelligence between spotted hyenas and primates. Evidence that less gregarious members of the family Hyaenidae lack some of the cognitive abilities found in Crocuta provide further support for the idea that social complexity favors enhancement of intelligence in mammals.