Convergent evolution of complex brains and high intelligence

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2015 Dec 19;370(1684):20150049. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0049.

Abstract

Within the animal kingdom, complex brains and high intelligence have evolved several to many times independently, e.g. among ecdysozoans in some groups of insects (e.g. blattoid, dipteran, hymenopteran taxa), among lophotrochozoans in octopodid molluscs, among vertebrates in teleosts (e.g. cichlids), corvid and psittacid birds, and cetaceans, elephants and primates. High levels of intelligence are invariantly bound to multimodal centres such as the mushroom bodies in insects, the vertical lobe in octopodids, the pallium in birds and the cerebral cortex in primates, all of which contain highly ordered associative neuronal networks. The driving forces for high intelligence may vary among the mentioned taxa, e.g. needs for spatial learning and foraging strategies in insects and cephalopods, for social learning in cichlids, instrumental learning and spatial orientation in birds and social as well as instrumental learning in primates.

Keywords: brain evolution; cerebral cortex; intelligence; mesonidopallium; mushroom bodies; vertical lobe.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Brain / anatomy & histology*
  • Intelligence / genetics*