The evolution of self-control

Authors

• Evan L. MacLean, Duke UniversityFollow
• Brian Hare, Duke University
• Charles L. Nunn, Duke University
• Elsa Addessi, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
• Federica Amici, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• Rindy C. Anderson, Duke University
• Filippo Aureli, Universidad Veracruzana
• Joseph M. Baker, Stanford University
• Amanda E. Bania, Center for Animal Care Sciences
• Allison M. Barnard, University of Rochester
• Neeltje J. Boogert, University of St. Andrews
• Elizabeth M. Brannon, Duke University
• Emily E. Bray, University of Pennsylvania
• Joel Bray, Duke University
• Lauren J. N. Brent, Duke University
• Judith M. Burkart, University of Zurich
• Josep Call, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• Jessica F. Cantlon, University of Rochester
• Lucy G. Cheke, University of Cambridge
• Nicola S. Clayton, University of Cambridge
• Mikel M. Delgado, University of California
• Louis J. DiVindenti, University of Rochester
• Kazuo Fujita, Kyoto University
• Esther Herrmann, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• Chihiro Hiramatsu, Kyoto University
• Lucia F. Jacobs, University of California
• Kerry E. Jordan, Utah State University
• Jennifer R. Laude, University of Kentucky
• Kristin L. Leimgruber, Yale University
• Emily J. E. Messer, University of St. Andrews
• Antonio C. de A. Moura, Universidade Federal da Paraiba
• Ljerka Ostojic, University of Cambridge
• Alejandra Picard, University of York
• Michael L. Platt, Duke University
• Joshua M. Plotnik, University of York
• Friederike Range, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
• Simon M. Reader, McGill University
• Rachna B. Reddy, University of Michigan
• Aaron A. Sandel, University of Michigan
• Laurie R. Santos, Yale University
• Katrin Schumann, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• Amanda M. Seed, University of St. Andrews
• Kendra B. Sewall, Duke University
• Rachael C. Shaw, University of Cambridge
• Katie E. Slocombre, University of York
• Yanjie Su, Peking University
• Ayaka Takimoto, Kyoto University
• Jingzhi Tan, Duke University
• Ruoting Tao, University of St. Andrews
• Carel P. van Schaik, University of Zurich
• Zsofia Viranyi, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
• Elisabetta Visalberghi, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
• Jordan C. Wade, University of Kentucky
• Arii Watanabe, University of Cambridge
• Janes Widness, Yale University
• Julie K. Young, Utah State UniversityFollow
• Thomas R. Zentall, University of Kentucky
• Yini Zhao, Peking University

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2014

Citation

MacLean, Evan L., et al. "The evolution of self-control." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.20 (2014): E2140-E2148.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

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 self-control. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that absolute brain volume best predicted performance across species and accounted for considerably more variance than brain volume controlling for body mass. This result corroborates recent advances in evolutionary neurobiology and illustrates the cognitive consequences of cortical reorganization through increases in brain volume. Within primates, dietary breadth but not social group size was a strong predictor of species differences in self-control. Our results implicate robust evolutionary relationships between dietary breadth, absolute brain volume, and self-control. These findings provide a significant first step toward quantifying the primate cognitive phenome and explaining the process of cognitive evolution.