Species-level data on five cognitive ability measures from 69 primate species are used in conjunction with comparative phylogenetic methods to test for the existence of primary and secondary modules. The former are ‘hard wired’, and solve phylogenetically recurrent problems, whereas the latter are a function of domain general problem-solving mechanisms being applied to solving narrower problems, which yields the ability to spontaneously solve those problems once the solutions are learned. It is found that these abilities exhibit affinities for different macroevolutionary patterns relative to ‘Big G', and positive associations with dietary breadth and brain size. The analyses were also conducted using each ability residualised for G. It was found that the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) model best captured the macroevolution of residual tactical deception, and White Noise (WN) best fit the remainder. Residual tactical deception positively associates with brain volume, whereas the extractive foraging and innovation residuals negatively associate with this and the innovation residual negatively associates with social group size. The affinity of residual tactical deception for the OU model indicates that it may be a primary module under adaptive optimization selection. The predominance of WN in characterizing the macroevolution of the remaining residuals indicates that they may be secondary modules, under the influence of developmental and ecological (rather than phylogenetic) factors. Negative associations involving brain size (in two cases) and social group size (in one) suggest that the optimal conditions for cultivating these modules exist when these parameters are low.

来自 69 种灵长类动物的五种认知能力测量的物种水平数据与比较系统发育方法结合使用，以测试主要和次要模块的存在。前者是“硬连线”，解决系统发育上反复出现的问题，而后者是应用于解决更窄问题的领域一般问题解决机制的功能，一旦学习了解决方案，就有能力自发解决这些问题。研究发现，这些能力表现出与“大G ”相关的不同宏观进化模式的亲和力，并与饮食广度和大脑大小呈正相关。还使用针对G残差的每个能力进行分析. 发现 Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) 模型最能捕捉残余战术欺骗的宏观演化，而白噪声 (WN) 最适合剩余。残余战术欺骗与脑容量呈正相关，而提取性觅食和创新残余与此呈负相关，而创新残余与社会群体规模呈负相关。OU模型的残余战术欺骗的亲和力表明它可能是自适应优化选择下的主要模块。WN 在表征剩余残差的宏观演化方面的优势表明它们可能是二级模块，受发育和生态（而不是系统发育）因素的影响。