Neanderthal brain study suggests comparable intelligence to modern humans

A study using digital reconstructions of Neanderthal crania finds that the volume of several brain regions falls within the variation observed among modern humans, implying similar cognitive capacities. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, applied deformation mapping to estimate the size of more than a dozen brain areas in Neanderthals and compared them with those of Han Chinese and European individuals.

"I don’t think we would detect a difference if they were around today," said Tom Schoenemann, an anthropologist at Indiana University Bloomington and lead author of the paper. "I think they would fit comfortably within the range of cognitive functioning that we see among modern humans."

The authors note that differences in brain region volume do not directly translate to differences in intelligence, and that the variation between modern populations exceeds that between Neanderthals and modern humans. The study builds on earlier deformation-mapping work that reported a smaller cerebellum in Neanderthals, a finding the authors argue does not imply a substantial cognitive gap when viewed alongside contemporary human variation.

Co-author Naomichi Ogihara of the University of Tokyo acknowledges that even a modest average difference in cognition could have evolutionary effects, but emphasizes that genetic assimilation through interbreeding likely played a major role in the disappearance of Neanderthals.