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Evolution: Eating away at the social brain

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0122 (2017) Cite this article

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Primates, especially humans, have large brains and this is thought to reflect our level of cognitive complexity or ‘intelligence’. Could this all be down to what we eat?

Humans exist in a complex social world, far more complex than any other primate, as the late American singer–songwriter Lou Reed describes in just two lines of his song ‘New York Telephone Conversation’: “Did you see what she did to him, did you hear what they said. Just a New York conversation, rattling in my head.” Humans have developed such extraordinary cognitive complexity that we even have the intelligence to write songs about the familiar situation where two people are talking about what numerous other people have said and done, using a device specifically invented to communicate with people who are far away.

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Figure 1

Photo credits: Mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo (top), and Diana Rebman / Alamy Stock Photo (bottom).

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  1. Chris Venditti is in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AS, UK.,

    Chris Venditti

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  1. Chris Venditti
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Correspondence to Chris Venditti.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Venditti, C. Evolution: Eating away at the social brain. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0122 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0122

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0122

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