Onur Güntürkün, Roland Pusch, Jonas Rose

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Many cognitive neuroscientists believe that both a large brain and an isocortex are
crucial for complex cognition. Yet corvids and parrots possess non-cortical brains
of just 1–25 g, and these birds exhibit cognitive abilities comparable with those
of great apes such as chimpanzees, which have brains of about 400 g. This opinion
explores how this cognitive equivalence is possible. We propose four features that
may be required for complex cognition: a large number of associative pallial neurons,
a prefrontal cortex (PFC)-like area, a dense dopaminergic innervation of association
areas, and dynamic neurophysiological fundaments for working memory. These four neural
features have convergently evolved and may therefore represent ‘hard to replace’ mechanisms
enabling complex cognition.

Read the full article at: www.cell.com

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