Anthropologists found that the size of the brain in the modern human called Homo sapiens has decreased by about 10 percent from 1,500 to 1,359 cubic centimeters in the past 30 millenniums.
While the finding has amazed some scientists, others believe the reduction in the human’s body size during the time has lessened his need to have a bigger brain.
Furthermore, living in a safer environment and less hostile surroundings has decreased the human’s need to have a bigger body mass and brain’s gray matter for controlling the body and learning skills to survive in dangerous atmosphere.
Findings also suggest that the size of the human’s brain has decreased through its evolution as the population density increased.
“As complex societies emerged, the brain became smaller because people did not have to be as smart to stay alive,” said Psychology professor David Geary of the University of Missouri.
However, the decrease of the brain’s mass doesn’t mean that Homo sapiens are less smart than their ancestors but shows that they are developing their intelligence and skills in new and more sophisticated dimensions, said Brian Hare, an assistant professor of anthropology at Duke University.
A similar trend in the development of brain has been shown in domestic animals. While wolves have larger brains compared to their domestic relatives, dogs behave far more sophisticated, intelligent and flexible and even similar to small human babies.