Barton R A
Department of Anthropology, University of Durham.
Proc Biol Sci. 1996 Feb 22;263(1367):173-7. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1996.0028.
The neocortex is widely held to have been the focus of mammalian brain evolution, but what selection pressures explain the observed diversity in its size and structure? Among primates, comparative studies suggest that neocortical evolution is related to the cognitive demands of sociality, and here I confirm that neocortex size and social group size are positively correlated once phylogenetic associations and overall brain size are taken into account. This association holds within haplorhine but not strepsirhine primates. In addition, the neocortex is larger in diurnal than in nocturnal primates, and among diurnal haplorhines its size is positively correlated with the degree of frugivory. These ecological correlates reflect the diverse sensory-cognitive functions of the neocortex.
新皮层被广泛认为是哺乳动物大脑进化的焦点，但究竟是什么选择压力导致了其在大小和结构上呈现出的多样性呢？在灵长类动物中，比较研究表明新皮层的进化与社会性的认知需求有关，在此我证实，一旦考虑到系统发育关联和整体脑容量，新皮层大小与社会群体大小呈正相关。这种关联在类人猿灵长类动物中存在，但在原猴亚目灵长类动物中不存在。此外，昼行性灵长类动物的新皮层比夜行性灵长类动物的更大，并且在昼行性类人猿灵长类动物中，其大小与食果程度呈正相关。这些生态关联反映了新皮层多样的感觉认知功能。
