Many cognitive neuroscientists believe that both a large brain and an isocortex are crucial for complex cognition. Yet corvids and parrots possess non-cortical brains of just 1–25 g, and these birds exhibit cognitive abilities comparable with those of great apes such as chimpanzees, which have brains of about 400 g. This opinion explores how this cognitive equivalence is possible. We propose four features that may be required for complex cognition: a large number of associative pallial neurons, a prefrontal cortex (PFC)-like area, a dense dopaminergic innervation of association areas, and dynamic neurophysiological fundaments for working memory. These four neural features have convergently evolved and may therefore represent ‘hard to replace’ mechanisms enabling complex cognition.

中文翻译：

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为什么鸟类很聪明

许多认知神经科学家认为，大大脑和同皮质对于复杂认知至关重要。然而，鸦科动物和鹦鹉的非皮质大脑重量仅为 1-25 克，而这些鸟类的认知能力与黑猩猩等类人猿的大脑重量相当，后者的大脑重量约为 400 克。该观点探讨了这种认知对等如何成为可能。我们提出了复杂认知可能需要的四个特征：大量的联想大脑皮层神经元、类前额皮质（PFC）区域、关联区域的密集多巴胺能神经支配以及工作记忆的动态神经生理学基础。这四种神经特征已经趋同进化，因此可能代表了实现复杂认知的“难以替代”机制。