Animal Cognition 1

Question 1

How is cognition defined by Shettleworth?

Answer 1

The mechanisms by which animals acquire, process, store, and act on information from the environment

Question 2

Why should we study animals?

Answer 2

Psychology is the science of mental life (James, 1890) -> not just humans
Helps us to understand humans and evolutionary development through comparative psychology
Animal welfare

Question 3

What is Darwin’s mechanism for evolution?

Answer 3

A repeating pattern of variation (offspring are variable) and selection (not all offspring go on to reproduce

Question 4

What is the outcome of evolution?

Answer 4

Adaptation

Question 5

What else is subject to evolution?

Answer 5

Behaviour and psychology

Question 6

Which book did George Romanes write and why was it criticised?

Answer 6

Animal Intelligence, 1882

Anecdotal accounts of intelligence - not scientific

Question 7

What is anthropomorphism?

Answer 7

Attributing human characteristics to animals

Question 8

What is anthropocentrism?

Answer 8

Viewing animals from our own human perspective

Question 9

Perceptions of intelligence - Nakajima, Arimitsu, & Lattal (2002)

Answer 9

Study of Japanese and American university students

Perceptions of intelligence generally correspond to phylogenetic scale

Question 10

What are some definitions of intelligence?

Answer 10

General problem solving - MacPhail 1987
Cannot use intelligence when talking about animals - need correlation of tests - Eysenck, 1987
Abandon general intelligence and concentrate on specific abilities - Hodos, 1987
It is anthropocentric to think about intelligence - Shettleworth, 1987 - animals are as intelligent as they need to be for their environment

Question 11

What is the cephalization index?

Answer 11

Size of brain relative to body size

Higher values mean a larger than average brain for body size

Question 12

What are some values from the cephalization index?

Answer 12

Rats = 0.1
Primates and whales = 0.2-0.3
Dolphins = 0.64
Humans = 0.89

Question 13

What are some issues with cephalization index as a measure of intelligence/

Answer 13

Does weight of brain = more intelligent?
Weight of brain may be dependent on environment e.g. birds need lighter brain to fly, dolphins can have larger brains due to being underwater

Question 14

What might be a better measure than brain size?

Answer 14

Number of neurons/ neuron density

Question 15

If we can’t directly measure intelligence, what can be measured?

Answer 15

Learning

Question 16

How does cephalization index correlate with rewards to criterion?

Answer 16

Number of rewards needed before criterion was reached seems independent to cephalization index

Question 17

Wynnes and Udell - 2013

Answer 17

Look at learning on trial 2 after a number of problems - monkeys generally perform better than rodents
But, dependent on lifestyle - dunnarts reach 90% after 12 tests - due to their environment?

Question 18

What did Bitterman (1965) introduce?

Answer 18

Contextual factors

Sensory, motivational, and motor processes that influence learning

Question 19

What is systematic variation?

Answer 19

Training on a task across a range of conditions - stimuli, rewards size, hunger levels…
If it never learns under any condition - probably can’t learn

Question 20

Why is systematic variation difficult to implement?

Answer 20

Takes time, number of subjects, facilities…

Question 21

Who was Conwy Lloyd Morgan?

Answer 21

A critic of George Romanes
Observed the behaviour of his dog
Concluded that learning took place by trial and error
Look for simplest explanation

Question 22

What are Tinbergen’s (1963) 4 questions?

Answer 22

Function
Phylogeny (evolution)
Ontology (development) - behaviour across lifetime
Mechanism

Question 23

Who/what was ‘Clever Hans’?

Answer 23

A horse that seemed to have the ability to answer a range of questions

Question 24

Who studied Clever Hans and what did they find?

Answer 24

Pfungst - Hans responded to involuntary movements of persons involved

Question 25

What can be concluded from Clever Hans?

Answer 25

Important to consider the presence of experimenters in animal studies - issues of blinding, etc.

Question 26

What is important to consider about perception?

Answer 26

Perceptual abilities vary between species
World you experience is due to the processing ability of your brain
Stimuli look different to humans than to other species

Question 27

How do bees differ to humans in terms of vision?

Answer 27

They have green, blue, and UV receptors

Question 28

How do birds differ to humans in terms of vision?

Answer 28

Blue tits can see UV - males have brighter crests
Pigeons have at least 6 colour receptors - can tell the difference between pure green and green made from a mix of blue and yellow

Question 29

How is smell used?

Answer 29

For survival - finding food and avoiding predators

Comunication - define home range, mate attraction, recognising individuals

Question 30

How good is smell in dogs?

Answer 30

Can identify an individual odour in a mix of odours - 100% success up to 11 odours in a mix

Question 31

What is dogs smell used for?

Answer 31

Detection of illegal substances, food, explosives, disease

Question 32

What are smell chemicals called?

Answer 32

Pheromones

Question 33

How does hearing differ in other animals?

Answer 33

Bats can use echoloation for navigation and catching prey

Question 34

What other senses do animals have?

Answer 34

Many have magnetic sensitivity - birds, bats, fish, ants, cattle, turtles….