Did Neanderthals Think Like Us?

Possibly...and possibly not.

We've now found evidence of higher growth of neurons in the frontal neocortex in modern humans compared to Neanderthals. This is caused by one amino acid change, one silly little mutation.

This does imply that we may in fact be smarter than Neanderthals (although they were plenty smart and clearly sentient and conscious).

It's long been theorized that a cognitive edge is what allowed us to outcompete them, although there are other strong theories (I personally like the one that Neanderthal cold adaptation meant they required a lot more calories than we do, resulting in a lower carrying capacity for territory. They were fine until we went and invented clothes).

The frontal neocortex is where we keep our executive function, which manages things like task switching.

If Neanderthals had weaker executive function than we do, then they would have difficulty with emotional regulation, planning, and seeing the bigger picture. Which would explain why we "won".

(Oh, and there's also a semi-joke circulating that autistic people think like Neanderthals and that's why we don't get on with anyone else).

But without a Neanderthal to talk to we can't be sure whether we were and are "smarter" than them. I still like clothes.