The Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH) posits that larger brains evolved to enhance survival in changing conditions. However, larger brains also carry higher energy demands, imposing additional metabolic burdens. Alongside brain size, brain organization plays a key role in cognitive ability and, with suitable architectures, may help mitigate energy challenges. This study evolves Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) used by Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents to investigate how environmental variability and energy costs influence the evolution of neural complexity, defined in terms of ANN size and structure. Results indicate that under energy constraints, increasing seasonality led to smaller ANNs. This challenges CBH and supports the Expensive Brain Hypothesis (EBH), as highly seasonal environments reduced net energy intake and thereby constrained brain size. ANN structural complexity primarily emerged as a byproduct of size, where energy costs promoted the evolution of more efficient networks.

You see a cat chasing a mouse. You probably don't realize it, but as soon as you catch sight of this scene unfolding, your brain makes a key distinction between the cat and the mouse: It identifies who's chasing, and who's being chased. This capacity to distinguish between the "agent" (the entity performing an action) and the "patient" (the entity upon which that action is being performed) is called "event decomposition," and it's long been thought that it was unique to humans. However, a new study published in PLOS Biology on November 26 suggests that this is not the case: great apes (specifically gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans) also seem to track events in the way that we do, distinguishing between agent and patient. This finding is notable because scientists believe event decomposition lies at the heart of something that is unique to humans.

In the animal kingdom, having a big brain is usually linked with being smarter. But a new study by scientists in France shows this is not actually true when it comes to domestic dogs. They found that breeds with smaller brains respond best to training and have good short-term memory – two traits considered'clever' in dogs. Meanwhile, breeds with bigger brains scored higher for fear, aggression, attention-seeking behaviours and separation anxiety – traits linked with dimwittedness. So, if you've got a big dog such as a Retriever, Rottweiler or Siberian Husky, they're likely to have a smaller brain but higher brainpower.

With its ruthless ability to hunt down prey, there's no denying that Tyrannosaurus rex was a clever beast. But the famous dinosaur, which died out 66 million years ago, couldn't match today's primates for intelligence, a new study shows. Researchers have poured cold water on the claim by a neuroscientist last year that T.Rex possessed'baboon-like' cognitive abilities and was capable of problem-solving. The controversial claim, immediately greeted with skepticism in the scientific community, has now been debunked. Instead, T.Rex's brain power was more like that of today's reptiles, such as crocodiles and lizards, the researchers argue.

Between your ears sits perhaps the most complex piece of biological machinery on the planet: an all-in-one computer, simulator, and creation device that operates out of a squishy, folded gray mass. And scientists aren't quite sure how it works. Gül Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at the Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins, thinks that neuroscientists might need take a step back in order to better understand this organ, which evolved in various forms in nearly every species of animal on Earth. Slicing a few brains apart or taking a few MRIs won't be enough to get to the bottom of how these organs function. Instead, it might require a comparative approach; the most advanced catalog ever created.

People with larger brains also have better memory, logic and reactions, scientists have found. The major discovery follows 200 years of research which attempted to find a link between brain size and cognitive performance. MRI scans revealed the link as scientists studied 13,600 people in the largest study of its kind ever undertaken. Researchers from the US and Netherlands compared brain size from MRI scans with cognitive performance and educational achievements. The results of the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, are the most comprehensive example of this type of investigation and is the largest of its kind.

Human intelligence may have first evolved to help us work together, according to a new study. Research suggests that our ape-like ancestors boosted their brain size when they began to co-operate to hunt for food and shelter. Scientists said that the expanding intelligence of our ancestors in turn helped them better co-operate and take down larger prey, such as mammoths, that they could share with a bigger group. Human intelligence may have first evolved to help us work together, according to a new study. Research suggests that our ape-like ancestors boosted their brain size when they began to co-operate to hunt for food and shelter.

NEW YORK – Why do people have such big brains? Some researchers asked a really powerful brain -- a computer -- and got back a surprising answer. In relation to body size, our brains are huge, about six times larger than one would expect from other mammals. And this 3-pound organ sucks up fully 20 percent of the body's energy needs. Evolutionary theory says to build and maintain something that costly, there must have been a very good reason.

Coping with harsh conditions, rather than social challenges, was chiefly responsible for boosting the size of our brains, a new study has found. The research found'ecological' challenges like finding food and lighting fires boosted the capacity of our ancestors to think ahead. The finding may settle a decades-long debate on the origins of human intelligence and our social relationships, scientists said. The human brain got so big because life was tough on the African savannah around two million years ago, according to new research. The human brain has tripled in size compared to the white matter of our ancestor Australopithecus afarensis, which roamed the Earth more than 3 million years ago.

The debate over whether dogs or cats are the smartest pet has raged for decades, if not centuries. But in a twist that is sure to ruffle the fur of cat-lovers, new research shows that dogs are more intelligent than their feline foes after all. Experts showed that dogs have more than twice as many brain cells in a region linked with thinking, planning and other complex behaviours. The researchers say the number of neurons in an animal's cerebral cortex is a hallmark of intelligence. The cortex is the largest layer of the brain and is associated with thinking, planning and other complex behaviours.