2002, Number 5
<< Back Next >>
Salud Mental 2002; 25 (5)
La inteligencia maquiavélica de los primates y la evolución del cerebro social
Mondragón-Ceballos R
Language: Spanish
References: 86
Page: 29-39
PDF size: 386.67 Kb.
ABSTRACT
The selective pressures and type of selection from which the human brain arose have been a source of curiosity and controversy since the dawn of Darwin’s Evolution Theory. Since 1953 Chance and Mead suggested that the need to ensure a sexual partner was the selective pressure favoring neocortex size increase in primates. Later, Jolly in 1966 and Humphrey in 1976 acknowledged the complex social life of primates as the source of neocortex increase and improvement of higher cognitive processes. Yet, it is until 1988, with Whiten and Byrne’s Machiavellian Intelligence hypothesis when the idea that social living is the main force behind the evolution of the primates’ brain is established. The Machiavellian Intelligence hypothesis presumes that throughout evolution,primates have developed a set of social strategies by which individuals search to increase direct or indirect reproductive benefits, resorting to the profitable use of agonistic or cooperative behavior, according to the situation. Various complex social behaviors, such as reconciliation, alliances, and sabotage, are actually known in primates. Among these, the first two are well characterized, their distribution and variability being known among primate species, as well as the consequences of resorting or not tothem. On the other hand, the vocalization studies have shown that, besides having a vast diversity of calls, primates are able to distinguish kinship and dominance relationships, relying solely on vocalizations. The aforesaid implies a positive correlation between neocortex size and complex social behavior variety. Although this particular correlation has proven difficult to test, comparative analyses have shown that neocortical size varies as a function of certain socioecological variables. In one of the first works controlling phylogenetic inertia, Dunbar showed that neocortex size changes in relation to average group size of free-ranging primates: the larger the group, the larger neocortical size is. Moreover, it has been found that neocortex size increases along with the mean number of females within the species’ typical group size. Yet, there is no covariation between neocortical size and mean number of males. More detailed analyses have shown that along with neocortex size, other brain areas, such as the striatumor the amygdala, respectively, increase along with the number of females per group or group size. Another finding has shown that the number of neurons in the parvocellular lamina increases along with mean group size, and only marginally in relation to the proportion of fruit ingested. As such, it stands that social living exerted a major effect in the increase of the parvocellular lamina,than ecological pressures such as food quality. Similarly, neurophysiology has also provided data likely related to primates’ social living, particularly in regard to the need to deal with the future and to make decisions. The intense social apathy elicited in primates by prefrontal cortex lesions is well known. Recently it has been shown that certain regions of the primate’s prefrontal cortex respond to past or future stimuli, rather than to the stimuli being currently perceived. The activation of posterior parietal cortex neurons increases as the profit and the probable occurrence of stimuli associated to such profit increase. Such finding suggests that the posterior parietal cortex performs econometric analyses to maximize decisions. In summary, during the past twelve years, the increasing knowledge of primates’ ethology, socioecology, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology allows stating that the human brain has been designed mainly to contend with complex social living. Such knowledge, besides from its inherent interest, might support a Natural History of mental illness.
REFERENCES
AIELLO LC, DUNBAR RIM: Neocortex size, group size, and the evolution of language. Current Anthropology, 34:184- 193, 1993.
ALTMANN J, SAPOLSKY R, LICHT P: Baboon fertility and social status. Nature, 377:688-689, 1995.
ARMSTRONG E, CLARKE MR, HILL EM: Relative size of the anterior thalamic nuclei differentiates anthropoids by social system. Brain Behavior Evolution, 30:263-271, 1987.
BARTON RA : Evolutionary ecology of the primate brain. En: Lee PC (eds.). Comparative Primate Socioecology. Cambridge University Press, pp. 167-203, Cambridge, 1999.
BARTON RA, DUNBAR RIM: Evolution of the social brain. En: Whiten A, Byrne RW (eds.). Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations. Cambridge University Press, pp. 240-263, Cambridge, 1997.
BARTON RA, HARVEY PH: Mosaic evolution of brain structure in mammals. Nature, 405:1055-1058, 2000.
BOSSONG B: Gender and age differences in inheritance patterns. Why men leave more to their spouses and women more to their children: an experimental analysis. Human Nature,12:107-122, 2001.
BROTHERS L : Neurophysiology of the perception of intentions by primates. En: Gazzaniga MS (eds.). The Cognitive Neurosciences. The MIT Press, pp. 1107-1116, Cambridge, 1995.
BROTHERS L, RING B: A neuroethological framewoork for the representation of minds. J Cognitive Neuroscience, 72:132-144, 1992.
BYRNE RW, WHITEN A : Machiavellian intelligence. En: Whiten A, Byrne RW (eds.). Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-23, Cambridge, 1997.
CALL J, AURELI F, DE WAAL FBM: Reconciliation patterns among stumptailed macaques: a multivariate approach. Animal Behaviour, 58:165-172, 1999.
CALL J, HARE B, TOMASELLO M: Chimpanzee gaze following in an object choice task. Animal Cognition, 1:89- 100, 1999.
CHANCE MRA: Attention structure as the basis of primate rank orders. Man, 2:503-518, 1967.
CHANCE MRA, MEAD AP: Social behavior and primate evolution. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology Evolution, 7:395-439, 1953.
CHENEY DL, SEYFARTH RM: Vocal recognition in freeranging vervet monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 28:362-367, 1980.
CHENEY DL, SEYFARTH RM: Recognition of other individuals’ social relationships by female baboons. Animal Behaviour, 58:67-75, 1999.
CHENEY DL, SEYFARTH RM, SILK JB: The role of grunts in reconciling opponents and facilitating interactions among adult female baboons. Animal Behaviour, 50:249-257, 1995.
CORDS M: Resolution of aggressive conflicts by immature male long-tailed macaques. Animal Behaviour, 36:1124-1135, 1988.
CORDS M: Post-conflict reunions and reconciliation in longtailed macaques. Animal Behaviour, 44:57-61, 1992.
DAMASIO AR: Descarte’s Error. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Nueva York, 1994.
DARWIN C: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. John Murray, Londres, 1871.
DAVIES NB: Mating systems. En: Krebs JR, Davies NB (eds.). Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 263-294, Oxford, 1993.
DAWKINS R: The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1976.
DE WAAL FBM: Straight-aggression and appeal-aggression in Macaca fascicularis. Experientia, 32:1268-1270, 1976.
DE WAAL FBM: Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes. Harper and Row, Nueva York, 1982.
DE WAAL FBM: Coping with social tension: sex differences in the effect of food provision to small rhesus monkey groups. Animal Behaviour, 32:765-773, 1984.
DE WAAL FBM : Deception in the natural communication of chimpanzees. En: Mitchell RW, Thompson NS (eds.). Deception. State University of New York Press, pp. 221-244, Albany, 1985.
DE WAAL FBM: Dynamics of social relationships. En: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds.). Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press, pp. 421-430, Chicago, 1987.
DE WAAL FBM: Tension regulation and nonreproductive functions of sex among captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). National Geographic Research, 3:318-335, 1987.
DE WAAL FBM, REN R: Comparison of the reconciliation behaviour of stumptail and rhesus macaques. Ethology, 78:129- 142, 1988.
DE WAAL FBM, VAN ROOSMALEN A: Reconciliation and consolation among chimpanzees. Behavioral Ecology Sociobiology, 5:55-66, 1979.
DENNETT DC: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. Simon & Schuster, Nueva York, 1995.
DOLBY GR: The ultrastructural relation: a synthesis of the functional and structural relations. Biometrika, 63:39-50, 1976.
DUNBAR RIM: Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral Brain Sciences, 11:681-735, 1993.
DUNBAR RIM: Neocortex size and group size in primates: a test of the hypothesis. J Human Evolution, 28:287-296, 1995.
DUNBAR RIM: The mating system of callithricid primates: I. Conditions for the coevolution of pair bonding and twinning. Animal Behaviour, 50:1057-1070, 1995.
DUNBAR RIM: Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1997.
DUNBAR RIM: The social brain hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology, 6:178-190, 1998.
FOLEY RA, LEE PC: Finite social space, evolutionary pathways and reconstructing hominid behavior. Science, 243:901-906, 1989.
FUTUYMA DJ: Evolutionary Biology. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, 1986.
GOODALL J: The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Belknap, Cambridge, 1986.
HARE B, CALL J, AGNETTA B, TOMASELLO M: Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Animal Behaviour, 59:771-785, 2000.
HARIRI AR, MATTAY VS, TESSITORE A, KOLACHANA B, FERA F, GOLDMAN D, EGAN MF, WEINBERGER DR: Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala. Science, 297:400-403, 2002.
HASEGAWA RP, BLITZ AM, GELLER NL, GOLDBERG ME: Neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex that track past or predict future performance. Science, 290:1786-1789, 2000.
HEYMAN EC, SOINI P: Offspring number in pygmy marmosets, Cebuella pygmaea, in relation to group siza and the number of adult males. Behavioral Ecology Sociobiology, 46:400-404, 1999.
HUMPHREY NK: The social function of intellect. En: Bateson PPG, Hinde RA (eds.). Growing Points in Ethology. Cambridge University Press, pp. 303-317, Cambridge, 1976.
JOFFE TH, DUNBAR RIM: Visual and socio-cognitive information processing in primate brain evolution. Proceedings Royal Society London B, 264:1303-1307, 1997.
JOLLY A: Lemur social behavior and primate intelligence. Science, 153:501-506, 1966.
KAMIL AC: Optimal foraging theory and the psychology of learning. American Zoologist, 23:91-302, 1983.
KEVERNE EB, MARTEL FL, NEVISON CM: Primate brain evolution: genetic and functional considerations. Proceedings Royal Society London B, 263:689-696, 1996.
KUMMER H: Tripartite relations in hamadryas baboons. En: Altmann SA (eds.). Social Communication Among Primates. Chicago University Press, pp. 63-71, Chicago, 1967.
LUMSDEN CJ, WILSON EO: Genes, Mind, and Culture. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1981.
MCGUIRE M, TROISI A: Darwinian Psyachiatry. Oxford University Press, Nueva York, 1998.
MENZEL CR: Pritmates’ knowledge of their natural habitat: as indicated by foraging. En: Whiten A, Byrne RW (eds.). Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations. Cambridge University Press, pp. 207-239, Cambridge, 1997. 55. MILLER G: The Mating Mind. Anchor Books, Nueva York, 2001.
MILLER GF: Protean primates: the evolution of adaptive unpredicatiblity in competition and courtship. En: Byrne RW, Whiten A (eds.). Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations. Cambridge University Press, pp. 312-340, Cambridge, 1997.
MILTON K: Distribution patterns of tropical plant foods as an evolutionary stimulus to primate mental development. American Anthropologist, 83:534-548, 1981.
MONDRAGON-CEBALLOS R: Interfering in affiliations: sabotaging by stumptailed macaques, Macaca arctoides. Animal Behaviour, 61:1179-1187, 2001.
MOORE T, HAIG D: Genomic imprinting in mammalian development: a parental tug of war. Trends in Genetics, 7:45- 49, 1991.
NÖE R, DE WAAL FBM, VAN HOOFF J: Types of dominance in a chimpanzee colony. Folia Primatologica, 34:90- 110, 1980.
PEREZ-RINCON H: La anticipación. Fenomenología y clínica. Salud Mental, 5:53-58, 1994.
PEREZ-RUIZ A, MONDRAGON-CEBALLOS R: Rates of reconciliatory behaviors in stumptail macaques: effects of age, sex, rank and kinship. En: Roeder JJ, Thierry B, Anderson JR, Herrenschmidt N (eds.). Current Primatology. Volume II. Social Development, Learning and Behaviour. Université Louis Pasteur, pp. 147-155, Estrasburgo, 1994.
PLATT ML: Neural correlates of decisions. Current Opinion Neurobiology, 12:141-148, 2002.
PLATT ML, GLIMCHER PW: Neural correlates of decision variables in parietal cortex. Nature, 400:233-238, 1999.
POSNER MI: Foundations of Cognitive Science. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1989.
PREUSS TM: The role of the neurosciences in primate evolutionary biology. En: Macphee RSDE (eds.). Primates and their Relatives in Phylogenetic Perspective. Plenum Press, pp. 333-362, Nueva York 1993.
PUSEY AE, PACKER C: Dispersal and philopatry. En: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds.). Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press, pp. 250-266, Chicago, 1987.
RENDALL D, RODMAN PS, EMOND RE: Vocal recognition of individuals and kin in free-ranging rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) vocalizations. Animal Behaviour, 51:1007- 1015, 1996.
SAWAGUCHI T: Possible involvment of sexual selection in neocortical evolution of monkeys and apes. Folia Primatologica, 68:95-99, 1997.
SEARLE JR: The Rediscovery of Mind, New York Review Books, Nueva York, 1988.
SEYFARTH RM, CHENEY DL: Grooming, alliances, and reciprocal altruism in vervet monkeys. Nature, 308:541-543, 1984.
SEYFARTH RM, CHENEY DL, MARLER P: Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence for predator classification and semantic communication. Animal Behaviour, 28:1070-1094, 1980.
SHERRINGTON C: The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1906.
SILK JB: Social behavior in an evolutionary perspective. En: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds.). Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press, pp. 318-329, Chicago, 1987.
SILK JB: Does participation in coalitions influence dominance relationships among male bonnet macaques? Behaviour, 126:171-189, 1993.
SILK JB: Male bonnet macaques use information about thirdparty rank relationships to recruit allies. Animal Behaviour, 58:45-51, 1999.
STEPHENS DW, KREBS JR : Foraging Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1986.
STEVENS A, PRICE J: Evolutionary Psychiatry. Routledge, Londres, 2000.
TATTERSALL I: Becoming Human. Harcourt Brace and Co., San Diego, 1998.
TOMASELLO M, CALL J, HARE B: Five species of nonhuman primates follow the visual gaze of conspecifics. Animal Behaviour, 55:1063-1069, 1998.
WALTERS JR, SEYFARTH RM: Conflict and cooperation. En: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds.). Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press, pp. 306-317, Chicago, 1987.
WASHBURN SL, HAMBURG DA: The implications of primate research. En: Devore I (eds.). Primate Behavior: Field Studies of Monkeys and Apes. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp. 607-622, Nueva York, 1965.
WATTS I: The origin of symbolic culture. En: Dunbar RIM, Knight C, Power C (eds.). The Evolution of Culture. Rutgers University Press, pp. 113-146, New Brunswick, 1999.
WHITEN A, BYRNE RW: The manipulation of attention in primate tactical deception. En: Byrne RW, Whiten A (eds.). Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans. Clarendon Press, pp. 211-223, Oxford, 1988.
WILLIAMS PL, WARWICK R: Functional Neuroanatomy of Man. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1975.
WILSON DS, NEAR D, MILLER RR: Machiavellianism: a synthesis of the evolutionary and psychological literatures. Psycholgical Bulletin, 119:285-299, 1996.
WRANGHAM R: Evolution of Social Structure. En: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds.). Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press, pp. 282-295, Chicago, 1987.
Full text