RECONCILING THE OPTIMAL BRAIN WITH VARIABILITY
IN NEURAL ORGANIZATION AND COGNITION
Commentary on Worden on Optimal-Cognition

Abstract

The concept of an optimal brain which underlies an optimal cognitive strategy for a given species in a given situation is apparently at odds with the enormous within-species variation in cortical organization and cognitive function, and specifically with replicable group differences in brain organization and/or cognitive performance. One such example concerns sex differences in neural lateralization and spatial navigation strategy; differences which cannot be reconciled with the notion of an optimal evolutionary path. Moreover, on a more general level the term "optimal" seems impossible to define with respect to human cognitive behavior, since a specific outcome can rarely be defined as the "ideal" one.

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References

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