A new study (2026) led by Duke University researchers, recently published in Science, challenges a long-held explanation regarding primate brain evolution.
Richard Key is leading the new hypothesis (Kay is a professor of evolutionary anthropology).
The prevailing consensus held that the massive expansion of the neocortex—particularly the frontal regions—was linked to the development of higher cognitive abilities.
In other words: more frontal brain → greater thinking capacity
(I'm guilty of repeating this point to my students!) 😡
The Duke University research team virtually reconstructed the brains of various fossil primates based on the spaces left inside their skulls. By comparing living and fossil species, they found that neocortical expansion correlated more closely with reliance on vision than with disproportionate frontal lobe expansion.
In other words, a large brain did not necessarily evolve first to produce more complex cognition; it was linked to processing an increasingly demanding visual world.
Do you see the "causal fallacy"—confusing correlation with causation— at play here?
Shame? Not for the skeptic! 😉
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