Researchers at Cardiff University have made an evolutionary discovery about the ever growing human Brain
Orange County, CA - September 21st 2016 - A research group led by Computer scientists at Cardiff University recently found evidence that the human ability to decide in helping others is the result of a disproportionately expanding brain. Not in terms of neural plasticity, but in the up-down, down-up processing used when humans, “size each other up.”
Inspiration for this research emanated from questioning the motivation of humans to help others without reciprocity. This prosocial behavior influences things such as culture, morality, economics, and technology, but scientists wished to understand it further. To study the cognitive characteristics of prosocial decision making, scientists created an experiment using computer modelling to simulate an interaction between two people in which the sender would choose to donate or not based on the reputation of the receiver.
The simulation was run hundreds of thousands of times and at the conclusion of each simulation, the player’s reputation would fluctuate depending on if they donated, failed to donate, or received something. Findings showed evolution favors those who would rather help others who are at the same level of socio-economic status as themselves.
Humans have the largest cerebral cortex of all mammals. The cerebral cortex is subdivided into hemispheres which handle aspects of memory, communication and critical thinking. The research team proposed that the decision to help another being is influenced by survival instincts. This intricate assessment of peers has led to the expansion of the brain over many generations of human reproduction.
Co-author Robin Dunbar stated this research reinforces her previous social brain hypothesis in that it, "offers an insight into the way cooperation and reward may have been instrumental in driving brain evolution, suggesting that the challenge of assessing others could have contributed to the large brain size in humans."
Furthermore, the team believes their research has promising implications in the field of engineering. Claiming that in the future, autonomous machines will need to be able to make conjectures about others through interaction. Meaning as they self-manage their own systems, they will simultaneously need adroitness in cooperation. Real world applications include driverless cars understanding the necessary actions to take at a 4 way stop sign.
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Researchers at Cardiff University have made an evolutionary discovery about the ever growing human Brain Orange County, CA – September 21st 2016 – A research group led by Computer scientists at Cardiff University recently found evidence that the human ability to decide in helping others is the result of a disproportionately expanding brain. Not in terms of […]