Animal Cognition 1 Flashcards
How is cognition defined by Shettleworth?
The mechanisms by which animals acquire, process, store, and act on information from the environment
Why should we study animals?
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
What is Darwin’s mechanism for evolution?
A repeating pattern of variation (offspring are variable) and selection (not all offspring go on to reproduce
What is the outcome of evolution?
Adaptation
What else is subject to evolution?
Behaviour and psychology
Which book did George Romanes write and why was it criticised?
Animal Intelligence, 1882
Anecdotal accounts of intelligence - not scientific
What is anthropomorphism?
Attributing human characteristics to animals
What is anthropocentrism?
Viewing animals from our own human perspective
Perceptions of intelligence - Nakajima, Arimitsu, & Lattal (2002)
Study of Japanese and American university students
Perceptions of intelligence generally correspond to phylogenetic scale
What are some definitions of intelligence?
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
What is the cephalization index?
Size of brain relative to body size
Higher values mean a larger than average brain for body size
What are some values from the cephalization index?
Rats = 0.1
Primates and whales = 0.2-0.3
Dolphins = 0.64
Humans = 0.89
What are some issues with cephalization index as a measure of intelligence/
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
What might be a better measure than brain size?
Number of neurons/ neuron density
If we can’t directly measure intelligence, what can be measured?
Learning
How does cephalization index correlate with rewards to criterion?
Number of rewards needed before criterion was reached seems independent to cephalization index
Wynnes and Udell - 2013
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?
What did Bitterman (1965) introduce?
Contextual factors
Sensory, motivational, and motor processes that influence learning
What is systematic variation?
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
Why is systematic variation difficult to implement?
Takes time, number of subjects, facilities…
Who was Conwy Lloyd Morgan?
A critic of George Romanes
Observed the behaviour of his dog
Concluded that learning took place by trial and error
Look for simplest explanation
What are Tinbergen’s (1963) 4 questions?
Function
Phylogeny (evolution)
Ontology (development) - behaviour across lifetime
Mechanism
Who/what was ‘Clever Hans’?
A horse that seemed to have the ability to answer a range of questions
Who studied Clever Hans and what did they find?
Pfungst - Hans responded to involuntary movements of persons involved
