eli5:Why brain size doesnt actually matter?
In: Biology
It doesn’t, not really. We used to think this was all-important, but clues started arising that made us think differently. The obvious clue was that we saw evidence that other humanoid species had larger brains than modern humans, one of the ideas behind our evolution was that we were able to ‘outsmart’ other human populations and that was our main evolutionary advantage to dealing with a hostile environment. It is hard to hold the idea that bigger = better when our ancestors died out and had larger brains than we did.
Then there is the other obvious problem, there are some massively high IQ people with relatively small craniums.
Further research shows us that animals that have very small brains can be extremely intelligent. The Raven (or crow), has started to be seriously studied because it can do so well on intelligence tests originally designed for mammals.
[https://www.sustainability-times.com/environmental-protection/ravens-possess-human-like-features-of-intelligence/#:~:text=Recently%20scientists%20confirmed%20something%20even,by%20humans%20and%20possibly%20chimpanzees.&text=In%20other%20words%2C%20a%20raven,another%20animal%20might%20be%20thinking](https://www.sustainability-times.com/environmental-protection/ravens-possess-human-like-features-of-intelligence/#:~:text=Recently%20scientists%20confirmed%20something%20even,by%20humans%20and%20possibly%20chimpanzees.&text=In%20other%20words%2C%20a%20raven,another%20animal%20might%20be%20thinking).
[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/07/ravens-problem-solving-smart-birds/](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/07/ravens-problem-solving-smart-birds/)
So modern thought tells us it isn’t really about the *size,* rather it is about the *configuration* of the neurons. This leads us to rethink intelligence in animals like octopuses (yes, that is the correct plural form of octopus) who have **more than one brain.**
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