Assessing sources of error in comparative analyses of primate behavior: Intraspecific variation in group size and the social brain hypothesis.

ABSTRACT: Phylogenetic comparative methods have become standard for investigating evolutionary hypotheses, including in studies of human evolution. While these methods account for the non-independence of trait data due to phylogeny, they often fail to consider intraspecific variation, which may lead to biased or erroneous results. We assessed the degree to which intraspecific variation impacts the results of comparative analyses by investigating the "social brain" hypothesis, which has provided a framework for explaining complex cognition and large brains in humans. This hypothesis suggests that group life imposes a cognitive challenge, with species living in larger social groups having comparably larger neocortex ratios than those living in smaller groups. Primates, however, vary considerably in gr

SUBMITTER: Sandel AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5436711 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature