For Patel, the study shows that there are some aspects of human cognition that "we'll just have to study in humans," instead of monkeys. He also hopes that this work will push scientists to try to understand more about the macaque brain and how it's adapted to its environment. Focusing on the macaque brain could reveal a lot about "what the human brain has done to adapt to its own environment" during the past 25 million years, he says.