Working together can hasten brain evolution, according to a new computer simulation.

When programmed to navigate challenging cooperative tasks, the artificial neural networks set up by scientists to serve as mini-brains “learned” to work together, evolving the virtual equivalent of boosted brainpower over generations. The findings support a long-held theory that social interactions may have triggered brain evolution in human ancestors.

It may take a big brain to handle a big group of friends.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Nicolas Rougier

via Cooperative Neural Networks Suggest How Intelligence Evolved: Scientific American.