ArticlePLoS biology2023
Extended parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes.
Article in PLoS biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Breastfeeding in a Polluted World: Perspective on the Properties of Breast Milk and the Need for Protection.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Parental investment and body temperature explain encephalization in vertebrates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Sensory Enrichment and Deprivation During Development: Limited Effects on the Volumes of CNS Neuropils in Two Spiders With Different Ecology.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Article
- Slowly but Surely: Larger Brains Improve Immature Survival in Primates.American journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Proximate mechanisms underlying the coevolution of diet quality and relative brain size in primates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Relative Brain Size and Avoidance of Vehicular Collisions in Birds is Subtle.Zoological studies · 2025Article
- Article
- A valuation based theory of learning's origin and development.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2025Article
- Does the expensive brain hypothesis apply to amphibians and reptiles?BMC ecology and evolution · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Large brains provide adaptive cognitive benefits but require unusually high, near-constant energy inputs and become fully functional well after their growth is completed. Consequently, young of most larger-brained endotherms should not be able to independently support the growth and development of their own brains. This paradox is solved if the evolution of extended parental provisioning facilitated brain size evolution. Comparative studies indeed show that extended parental provisioning coevolved with brain size and that it may improve immature survival. The major role of extended parental provisioning supports the idea that the ability to sustain the costs of brains limited brain size evolution.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.