PSYC 280 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Resting Potential, Olfactory Bulb, Homo Sapiens
22 Feb 2018
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Individuals of a given species are not identical: reproduction will increase a population unless factors limit it, some of the variation among individuals is inherited, not all offspring of a given generation survive to reproduce. The inference of dar(cid:449)i(cid:374)"s o(cid:271)ser(cid:448)atio(cid:374)s: variation among individuals affect the probability of their survival/ability to pass on their genes to offspring. The encephalization factor is a measure of brain size compared to body size. The human encephalization factor is quite a high value, showing our brains are quite large compared to the mathematical prediction for our body size. It has been suggested that our nervous systems have developed this way due to the social brain hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that a large cortex is needed to handle complex tasks, such as keeping social relationships, this could explain why brain size increased dramatically over as homonins evolved from early australopithecines to homo sapiens.
