I didn't see in the article any evidence for this shrinkage correlating with intelligence. It seems plausible that the initial adaptation is just raw, inefficie

I didn't see in the article any evidence for this shrinkage correlating with intelligence. It seems plausible that the initial adaptation is just raw, inefficient fast growth (ie, evolution solving intelligence the simplest possible way through raw unorganized volume), and the subsequent shrinkage is accompanied by internal structural improvements and optimization. In other words, like we often do in engineering, first we just throw more more hardware at it to fulfill demands, and then as we optimize algorithmic efficiency the extra hardware becomes unnecessary again.