The evolution of self-control

Cognition presents evolutionary research with one of its greatest challenges. Cognitive evolution has been explained at the proximate level by shifts in absolute and relative brain volume and at the ultimate level by differences in social and dietary complexity. However, no study has integrated the experimental and phylogenetic approach at the scale required to rigorously test these explanations. Instead, previous research has largely relied on various measures of brain size as proxies for cognitive abilities. We experimentally evaluated these major evolutionary explanations by quantitatively comparing the cognitive performance of 567 individuals representing 36 species on two problem-solving tasks measuring…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: EF-0905606, 0923791, FP/2007-2013, 220020242, 1106401, NSF-BCS-25172, 1028319, BCS-0923791, 0905606, DGE-1106401
• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• AP
  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• JS
  James S. McDonnell Foundation

  Award: 220020242
• NE
  National Evolutionary Synthesis Center

  Awards: 0905606, EF-0905606
• EC
  European Commission

  Awards: FP/2007-2013, 012-984, 2007-2013, 311870
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: FP/2007-2013, 31170995
• VS
  Vienna Science and Technology Fund

  Award: CS11-026
• AS
  Austrian Science Fund

  Award: P21244-B17
• RC
  Royal Canin

  Award: 311870
• CN
  Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: 5 R03 HD070649-02, DGE-1106401, 1106401, R01-MH096875, FP/2007-2013
• JS
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

  Awards: 20220004, 10J04395
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2010CB833904
• NW
  National Wildlife Research Center