Big Brains and Changing Environments: Cause or Consequence?

2026-09-14

AI Summary

研究通过人工季节性觅食任务，对比了在稳定与变化环境中进化的代理，挑战了认知缓冲假说，表明大神经网络主要源于先前的静态进化。

Abstract

Large brains are metabolically costly, and associations with changing environments do not imply they evolved there, as the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH) would suggest. They may instead evolve in stable conditions and later facilitate colonization of changing environments. Using neuro-evolution in an artificial seasonal foraging task, we compared agents evolving exclusively in changing environments to agents first evolved in static environments before transitioning. Results show that larger neural networks in dynamic environments arise mainly from prior static evolution, achieving superior performance under unpredictable changes. Our results challenge strict CBH predictions, provide agent-based (computational) support for a colonization-based account and highlight the role of evolutionary history in brain size evolution.

Problem

• Large brains
• changing environments
• Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis
• evolutionary history

Innovation

• neuro-evolution
• artificial seasonal foraging task
• Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH)
• evolutionary history