On some statistical and cerebral aspects of the limits of working memory capacity in anthropoid primates, with particular reference to Pan and Homo, and their significance for human evolution

Marín Manrique, Héctor (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Read, Dwight W. ; Walker, Michael J.

Resumen: Some comparative ontogenetic data imply that effective working-memory capacity develops in ways that are independent of brain size in humans. These are interpreted better from neuroscientific considerations about the continuing development of neuronal architecture in adolescents and young adults, than from one about gross brain mass which already is reached in childhood. By contrast, working-memory capacity in Pan never develops beyond that of three- or four-year-old children. The phylogenetic divergence begs the question of whether it is any longer plausible to infer from the fossil record, that over the past two million years, an ostensibly gradual increase in endocranial volumes, assigned to the genus Homo, can be correlated in a scientifically-meaningful manner with the gradual evolution of our effective executive working memory. It is argued that whereas Pan’s effective working-memory capacity is relatively similar to that of its storage working-memory, our working memory is relatively larger with deeper executive control.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105543

Año: 2024

Publicado en: NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS 158 (2024), 105543 [13 pp.]
ISSN: 0149-7634

Factor impacto JCR: 7.9 (2024)

Categ. JCR: NEUROSCIENCES rank: 21 / 314 = 0.067 (2024) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES rank: 3 / 57 = 0.053 (2024) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 3.076 - Behavioral Neuroscience (Q1) - Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology (Q1) - Cognitive Neuroscience (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Psicolog.Evolut.Educac (Dpto. Psicología y Sociología)