According to Finlay & Darlington (1995) humans have larger brains than apes because:

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Question: According to Finlay & Darlington (1995) humans have larger brains than apes because:

Option A: Of their larger body size. This is a common misconception; although body size correlates with brain size across species, brain size does not scale directly with body size within mammals. Humans do have larger bodies than many apes, but the primate brain-to-body size relationship is more nuanced, and this option oversimplifies the issue.

Option B: They eat more meat than chimpanzees and gorillas. Diet, including meat intake, can influence brain energy availability historically, but Finlay & Darlington emphasize developmental timing and protracted growth rather than diet alone. This statement misattributes the primary reason to diet differences, which is not the central claim of their argument.

Option C: Of the slow rate of body development that characterises all great apes. While slower somatic development in great apes is a factor in life-history traits, the specific claim by Finlay & Darlington centers on the duration of brain growth relative to body growth, not a blanket statement about slow development across all great apes. This option mischaracterizes the proposed mechanism.

Option D: Human brains grow for a longer period of time. This aligns with Finlay & Darlington’s view that extended periods of brain growth and development in humans relative to other apes allow for prolonged neuronal maturation, connectivity, and cortical development, leading to larger adult brain size. The extended growth period is a key point in their explanation for why humans end up with larger brains.

Summary of why the incorrect options are not supported:
- Option A misattributes brain size differences to body size alone, ignoring protracted brain development and energetic trade-offs.
- Option B overemphasizes diet as the primary driver without addressing extended brain growth trajectories.
- Option C incorrectly generalizes slow body development as the main mechanism, whereas the critical factor discussed by Finlay & Darlington is the duration of brain growth, not universal body development rates across all great apes.

In contrast, Option D captures the central mechanism proposed by Finlay & Darlington: that a longer period of brain growth in humans leads to larger adult brain size, distinguishing humans from other apes in terms of ontogenetic timeframe and developmental investment.

DEV3022 S2 2025 Revision Quiz - Environment, Evolution and GI

According to Finlay & Darlington (1995) humans have larger brains than apes because:

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