External measures of cognition.

Osvaldo Cairό

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00108

Abstract

The human brain is undoubtedly the most impressive, complex, and intricate organ that has evolved over time. It is also probably the least understood, and for that reason, the one that is currently attracting the most attention. In fact, the number of comparative analyses that focus on the evolution of brain size in Homo sapiens and other species has increased dramatically in recent years. In neuroscience, no other issue has generated so much interest and been the topic of so many heated debates as the difference in brain size between socially defined population groups, both its connotations and implications. For over a century, external measures of cognition have been related to intelligence. However, it is still unclear whether these measures actually correspond to cognitive abilities. In summary, this paper must be reviewed with this premise in mind.

Highlights

Osvaldo Cairó*Reviewed by: Lutz Jäncke, University of Zurich, Switzerland Shozo Tobimatsu, Kyushu University, Japan
The relationship between brain size and intelligence has been sustained and documented since the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Morton, 1839; Broca, 1861; Galton, 1889; Terman, 1926; Sorokin, 1927; Hooton, 1939)
In a study involving 1,000 male college students, Galton showed that cranial capacity continues to grow after the age of 19, and those individuals who graduated with honors at the University of Cambridge had a brain size between 2 and 5% larger than those who did not obtain such distinction

Summary

Osvaldo Cairó*

Reviewed by: Lutz Jäncke, University of Zurich, Switzerland Shozo Tobimatsu, Kyushu University, Japan. The human brain is undoubtedly the most impressive, complex, and intricate organ that has evolved over time It is probably the least understood, and for that reason, the one that is currently attracting the most attention. The number of comparative analyses that focus on the evolution of brain size in Homo sapiens and other species has increased dramatically in recent years. No other issue has generated so much interest and been the topic of so many heated debates as the difference in brain size between socially defined population groups, both its connotations and implications. This paper must be reviewed with this premise in mind

INTRODUCTION

Balaenoptera musculus

Findings

CONCLUSION