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Updated: Apr 7, 2026

A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains
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Paleoclimatic Variation and Brain Expansion during Human Evolution.

Jessica Ash1, Gordon G Gallup2

  • 1Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY, 12222, USA.

Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
|July 17, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human brain evolution shows a strong link to temperature changes. Fossil skull analysis reveals temperature variations explain up to 52% of cranial capacity differences over long periods.

Keywords:
Cranial capacityHomoPaleoclimatic variabilitySea-surface temperatureSeasonal variabilityVariability selection

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Area of Science:

  • Paleoclimatology
  • Human Evolution
  • Paleoanthropology

Background:

  • Brain size increased significantly during Homo sapiens evolution.
  • Environmental factors are hypothesized to influence hominid brain evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the correlation between temperature changes and hominid brain size variation.
  • To quantify the proportion of cranial capacity variance attributable to temperature.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 109 fossilized hominid skulls.
  • Correlation with paleoclimatic data, including oxygen isotopes and sea-surface temperatures.
  • Examination of skull origin latitude as an index for seasonal temperature fluctuations.

Main Results:

  • Cranial capacity showed a high correlation with paleoclimatic temperature changes.
  • Temperature variations accounted for up to 52% of cranial capacity variance at 100,000-year intervals.
  • Equatorial distance explained over 22% of cranial capacity variance, indicating a link to seasonal temperature fluctuations.

Conclusions:

  • Temperature fluctuations are a significant factor influencing hominid brain size evolution.
  • Both long-term and short-term temperature changes correlate with cranial capacity variation.
  • Environmental temperature should be considered a key driver in human brain evolution.