Who knows? I'd still rather over-estimate their abilities than to under-estimate them...wouldn't you?
While apparently they have a small brain, they also don't need as large a brain to control as many things (like arms & legs & speech, for example). But they do
have enough of a brain to learn and remember their way around.
There have been so many cases where we "think" we have all the answers when we actually don't...look how much our knowledge of other animals has changed
over the years, & how much better we treat certain species (like dogs) because of that. We're still learning incredible things about squids & eels & all sorts of life-
forms...but society has it in their head to hate snakes, so they're not high on the research list, & it's also a challenge to find ways of testing them.