WHY are people brighter than chimps? Many think it’s because the part of the
brain linked to intelligence, the frontal cortex, is much bigger in people than
in apes when compared to overall brain size. But now it turns out this isn’t
true at all: that part of our brains is actually about the same relative
size.
Two key reports published in 1912 and 1968 suggested that people have larger
frontal cortices relative to their overall brain size than monkeys or other
mammals. Because the frontal cortex turned out to be a key centre for
problem-solving, planning and general intelligence,…
