Mensa brain or monkey brain: What makes us different and how did that happen?

Scientists have long tried to understand the human brain by comparing it to other primates. Researchers are still trying to understand what makes our brain different to our closest relatives. Our recent study may have brought us one step closer by taking a new approach — comparing the way brains are internally connected.

[T]he main differences we found were not in the prefrontal cortex. They were in the temporal lobe, a large part of cortex located approximately behind the ear. In the primate brain, this area is devoted to deep processing of information from our two main senses: vision and hearing. One of the most dramatic findings was in the middle part of the temporal cortex.

In humans, this brain area has much more extensive connections to other parts of the brain processing complex visual information, such as facial expressions and behavioural cues. This suggests that our brain is wired to handle more intricate social processing than those of our primate relatives. Our brain is wired up to be social. These findings challenge the idea of a single evolutionary event driving the emergence of human intelligence. Instead, our study suggests brain evolution happened in steps.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here