12-ComparativeCognition Flashcards
What features make primates different to other mammals?
Reliance on vision rather than smell (stereoscopic 3D & colour vision); loss of wet, naked nose & whiskers & reduced relative size of olfactory brain; encephalised (larger brain relative to body size); five separate digits, fingernails & opposable thumbs; mainly omnivorous
Darwin originally made the suggestion that we descended from African apes. What evidence shows he may be correct?;
Though we’re not descended from chimpanzees, what do we share?
Chimpanzees share 99.4% of tested coding DNA base pairs; we’re closer related to chimpanzees than chimpanzees are to gorillas;
A common ancestor
Which great apes are the most similar to humans, in that they walk more upright, are less aggressive & more attractive & well kempt?
Bonobos
What were Darwin’s greatest challenges in convincing people about similarities between humans & apes?
Physical evolution – continuity of anatomy, nervous & vascular systems (though we share the same flesh & blood, genetic composition is slightly different over generations & between species); & Evolution of mind – continuity of or similarities between mental capacities
Controversies about gradation still continue, questioning the precise mental powers of other primates & what are uniquely human traits. Describe the two biases in the literature
Emphasising discontinuity - to justify religious beliefs about human’s special status & to justify human treatment of animals (e.g. investors in animal farms tend to play down animal capabilities); & emphasizing continuity – to show Darwin was right & humans are part of nature, & to show the animal one is working with has a capacity (those working with animals are more excited when they can do something)
Where do the difficulties lie in trying to identify the absence of a mental trait in animals?
Absence of evidence versus evidence of absence (it’s hard to conclude that a species doesn’t have a trait; may not be the right test or in the right circumstances)
Comparative analysis is important for making progress, as it can inform us about what?
The evolution of the human mind; the genetic & neurological basis of higher cognitive capacities (by knowing what we do & don’t share, we can narrow down the search space for commonality)
Rather than subscribing to the idea “I think, therefore I am”, Humphrey proposed that what you feel is more the point (e.g. if you feel pain it shows you are conscious). What did Bateson (1991) conclude about this in relation to animals?
If they have the same neuronal equipment to detect damage & show the same behaviour as humans, then it is likely they feel pain much like us
What experimental evidence did Colpaert (1980) find that suggests rats have the same neuronal architecture as humans, providing a sense of pain & pleasure?
Normal rats prefer sugar water over water containing analgesic. Rats with chronologically inflamed joints (which is painful for humans) prefer water containing analgesic (indicating they want to reduce the pain)
Romanes collated anecdotes about animals performing amazing feats & begun the field of comparative psychology. What was his main line of argument?
By analogy & anecdote – if an animal reacts the same way we do then maybe they feel the same (but they could act that way for other reasons)
What did Lloyd Morgan argue in relation to intelligence in animals?
The principle of parsimony – we should be open to the possibilities but use the simplest explanation rather than getting carried away
Explain the Clever Hans phenomenon
It appeared that Hans could solve mathematical & word answer problems by stomping his hoof the amount of times corresponding with the correct answer. It was finally discovered that when he arrived at the correct answer, the experimenter would stop watching his hoof & the behaviour was positively reinforced, so it was merely a conditioned response
Animals appear to behave intelligently, but we only tend to hear about their successes rather than their failures. What is more likely?
That it’s trial & error; we need to take their learning history into account
When Kohler (1917) examined chimps & found one was able to solve problems by stacking boxes on top of each other to reach a banana, he labeled this “insight”, but what did he & other behaviourists overlook?
He focused on stimulus response & neglected cognition; maybe the chimp could do trial & error in the mind rather than just actions
Describe the Means End reasoning, in regards to chimps & insight
They pick out appropriate length tools even when the problem (trying to get a banana from a high rope) is out of sight; suggests there’s some cognition happening & is more than just trial & error
