New research by British scientists on the evolutionary origins of the brain has suggested that having a big brain does not necessarily make you more clever.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found that during evolution, increasingly sophisticated molecular processing of nerve impulses, notably by providing more connections in the brain, allowed development of animals with more complex behavior, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.
The research by Seth Grant, head of the Genes to Cognition Program at the institute, with colleagues at Edinburgh and Keele universities, challenged current thinking that suggests the protein components of nerve connections, called synapses, are similar in most animals, from humble worms to humans, and it is the increase of the number of synapses in larger animals that allows more sophisticated thought.
"Our simple view that 'more nerves' are sufficient to explain 'more brain power' is simply not supported by our study," Grant was quoted as saying.
It is not size alone that gives more brain power, he said, adding "we are one step closer to understanding the logic behind the complexity of human brains."
The researchers studied around 600 proteins found in mammalian synapses and found dramatic differences in the numbers of proteins in the synapses between different species, with only 50 percent of these found in invertebrate synapses, and about 25 percent in single-cell animals which obviously don't have a brain.
"The number and complexity of proteins in the synapse first exploded when multi-cellular animals emerged some billion years ago. A second wave occurred with the appearance of vertebrates, perhaps 500 million years ago," Grant said.
Since the evolution of complex, 'big' synapses occurred before the emergence of large brains, it may be that these molecular evolutionary events were necessary to allow evolution of the human brain, he said.
He said the molecular evolution of the synapse was like the evolution of computer chips, the increasing complexity has given them more power and those animals with the most powerful chips can do the most.
Synapses are the junctions between nerves where electrical signals from one cell are transferred through a series of biochemical switches to the next. However, synapses are not simply soldered joints, but mini-processors that give the nervous systems the property of learning and memory.
Source: Xinhua
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