Re: Brain size does not = intelligence in humans?

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Quoting David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>:

> > "[Our brains] have got bigger but they're not getting bigger," he says.
> > "In fact since the late Pleistocene in general they've got smaller."
>
> I think this is taking the Neandertalers into account, which had -- on
> average -- bigger brains, both in absolute and relative measures, than
> us.

Neanderthal brains differed from those of H.sapiens in having a much  
larger occipital region at the back. Since the occipital region of the  
brain tends to be involved in sensory processing, the 'larger' brains  
of Neanderthals needn't have made them more intelligent than us  
sappies - it probably just gave them much keener senses than us.

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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
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