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animal cognition Flashcards

1
Q

what is cognition (7)

A

basis for intelligent behaviour

core vs higher-order abilities

effort and attention required - no autopilot

top-down mental processes

controls sensory, memory, and motor systems

PFC in mammals

overrides reflexive, habitual response in favour of complex, long-term goals

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2
Q

core/basic cognitive abilities (3)

A

working memory

inhibitory control

cognitive flexibility

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3
Q

higher order/insight related cognitive abilities (5)

A

object permanence

self-recognition

mental time travel

ToM

tool use/causal reasoning

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4
Q

why study animal cognition

A

see if they have some abilities same as humans
then connect to neural mechanisms

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5
Q

scala naturae - what is it

A

aristotles ladder of being - hierarchical structure

degree of perfection – compare where we stand compared to other species to understand our cognitive ability
find the point at which animals stop being instinctual and become introspective

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6
Q

scala naturae order (5)

A

mammals
birds
reptiles
amphibians
fish

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7
Q

birds cognitive abilities

A

working memory - recognising images
very intelligent species

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8
Q

reptiles cognitive abilities

A

inhibitory control - stop response to gain things later on

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9
Q

amphibians cognitive abilities

A

cognitive flexibility - adapt to new rules
learned inhibition - stop responding to certain stimuli

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10
Q

fish cognitive abilities

A

working memory in zebra fish
- correctly select a previously shown colour in order to receive a food reward

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11
Q

what we learnt from animal studies of cognition

A

insight related cognition may not just be in mammals
underestimate other species as they are viewed as lower down the hierarchy

evolutionary distant birds and mammals share these abilities - must have similarities somewhere

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12
Q

lamination of mammal cortex

A

6 layers
differentiation of neocortex allows humans to perform cognitive skills

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13
Q

prefrontal cortex

A

association with core cognition and executive function
damage = deficits in executive function
can dissociate between EFs using localisation of lesions in patient studies

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14
Q

bird vs human brain

A

birds have no neocortex – supposedly cannot perform cognitions without it, so maybe it isn’t that special

humans are introspective on their own cognitions

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15
Q

define working memory

A

The representation of items held in consciousness during experiences or after retrieval of memories. Short-lasting and associated with active rehearsal or manipulation of information (Miller, 2000)

mammalian PFC for WM

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16
Q

how to study animal brains with electrodes

A

electrodes measure action potentials and depolarisation
invasive - in brain not just on surface

  • electrodes measure voltage changes in extracellular space around neurons
  • allows to measure frequency of spikes as action potentials
  • visualise with spike-trains - dots and dashes
  • precise timing of action potentials - spatial accuracy
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17
Q

delay response task in monkeys - Niki (1974)

A

method
* cue light illuminated (left or right), then 2-3 sec delay, then monkey has to choose left or right

results
directionally selective neurons:
* become active depending on which side the light was on
some are directionally selective during delay period
* activity spikes after cue and drops after choice was made
* sustained delay activity
* info is encoded until it is needed and then is abolished

some drop in activity during delay:
* spike at cue, then drop in delay, and increase again following behavioural response as choice is made
* inverse of delay selective neurons

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18
Q

delay response in monkeys - what is learnt from this

A

delay activity = neural basis for working memory
need to research what enables this delay activity

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19
Q

dopamine patterns and classical conditioning

A

before learning = DA increase with reward
after learning = DA increase with conditioned stimulus and at baseline with reward

with reward omission = DA increase with conditioned stimulus and then DA decreases when reward is meant to be

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20
Q

dopamine as a neuromodulator

A

responds to sensory stimuli which predicts future rewards

signal can be used to tag sensory cues as relevant and facilitate their entrance into working memory

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21
Q

DA and delay response task

A

cue left and right leads to response in DA neuron

this increases DA in PFC

this enables persistent delay activity in PFC

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22
Q

does delay activity show working memory

A

not quite - WM is not passive - info must be manipulated

therefore the cue light study in monkeys could be measuring STM not WM

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23
Q

cortex differences in human and birds

A

birds don’t have a neocortex - used for cognition in mammals

have subcortical structures - basal ganglia, globus pallidus etc
previously thought to be comprised of structures similar to basal ganglia - primitive structures
smaller areas said to be like human cortex

BUT change in opinions

larger areas now thought to be more similar to a human cortex → pallial area

from perspective of structural similarity
neural similarity - what regions do is more important in understanding brain differences

24
Q

NCL in birds

A

nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL)

  • pallium = term for grey and white matter covering cerebrum
  • nidopallium = nested pallium
  • previously thought of differently as more primitive
  • nidopallium has subregions - e.g. caudolateral
25
Q

avian NCL and mammals PFC similarities

A

analogue - same/similar function even if structure is different

26
Q

directed forgetting study in homing pigeons

A

Rose and Colombo (2005)

A = pigeon has to remember
ITI = inter trial interval
sample = stimuli presented - animal pecks cue
remember cue = audio indicates they need to remember the cue
3 second delay
test period = select sample from 2 choices - comparison
provided reward on correct selection

similar to STM tasks - more elaborate so choice is required here

B = pigeon has to forget
given auditory cue to forget the sample
need to discern whether to remember or forget

results:
A - remember
sustained activity
increase from sample - consistent from cue to end of delay
as the info is needed to make a choice in the task later on
robust across other findings

B = forget
delay activity is abolished after the cue
activity drops off after cue once they know they don’t need it anymore
evidence that NCL has delay activity → participating in working memory

27
Q

limitations of homing pigeons delay activity study (3)

A
  1. careful with interpretation
  2. reward prediction, not delay activity
  • abolished delay activity could be linked with reward prediction - food reward given
  • no activity as they realise they wont get a reward for it
  • discern between WM and reward prediction → same neurons could be involved in both of these - not purely discrete from each other
  1. motor prep to get food, not WM
  • activity seen could just be preparation of motor control in response to task to get food reward - not necessarily working memory
28
Q

working memory in crows study methods

A

delayed match-to-sample task (MTS)

method:
go stimuli
pre-sample delay
sample presented (image) in centre of screen
delay
choice made between images on different corners of screen

allows insight into WM:
* disentangle WM from motor preparation - location of stimulus changes randomly
* reward not always given → chance of reward was equal for all match items and randomised → therefore reward expectation negated

crows are very good at this task - cognitive task

29
Q

working memory in crows - sample-selective neurons

A

each neuron represents one of the 4 images presented

different levels of activation for different stimulus → distinguished 4 sample stimuli with firing rate

therefore are manipulating info → different processing of each → this is working memory

response of neuron = active during selection period

selective discrimination of stimuli - non-arbitrary

30
Q

working memory in crows - delay-selective neurons

A

response of neuron is selective during delay period

not distinguished in sample period

lower activity in S4 here

more than half of the recorded neurons are either sample or delay selective or both (shown above)

relation between neural activity and task performance

perform task very well overall

error trials → firing rate does not distinguish the different stimuli as well as in correct trials

true for both sample and delay selective neurons

31
Q

evaluation of methods for studying working memory in crows

A

advantages

allow direct recordings of action potentials – single cell recordings

not usually possible in humans - invasive

spatial and temporal accuracy can’t get from EEG, fMRI

insights into the nature of cognition, analogues of cognition in different species – basis of intelligence

limitations

invasive – can be stressful for animals

animals cannot self-report, have to be trained on tasks - operant conditioning

therefore tasks do not reflect ‘typical’ behaviour → do they actually have abilities or have they been trained to respond to tasks

difficult to design tasks to remove confounds – reward anticipation, motor preparation, STM vs WM?

32
Q

bee brains

A

only 1 million neurons

large compared to fruit flies

not simple, hard-wired structure

honey-bee physiology, navigation, and communication

33
Q

working memory in bees study

A

Zhang et al (2005)* - visual working memory in decision making

delayed match-to-sample task

method:
* bees fly into a tunnel
* part way through they see a target sample (square pattern)
* then fly to the end of the tunnel where square patterns are presented where they need to choose the target response
* correct response = reward
* distance between sample and choice can be manipulated to understand working memory
* varied time interval = varied difficulty

results:

short delay (1.24s) = high performance (75% correct)

performance showed working memory of up to 6.5secs

34
Q

transfer studies of working memory in bees

A

presenting incorrect patterns in the tunnel
either before or after sample stimulus

transfer means using the rule e.g. “correct pattern first” when encountering novel stimuli

correct pattern is always presented at same distance from entrance

baseline = without incorrect patterns
transfer 1 = present incorrect before correct
transfer 2 = present incorrect after correct
- do well in all these

transfer 3 = correct pattern moved to IP1 and IP2 position
- do worse in this

35
Q

inferences from bees working memory

A

potentially shows working memory - could be short term memory → no info manipulation needed, so is it just passive STM

bees have cognitive abilities despite small brain size

bees may have working memory of 6-7s → unclear to what degree active memory content can be manipulated

36
Q

cognitive flexibility experimental measures (3)

A

ability to perform a large range of behaviours and tasks

select flexibly to suit different contexts → adapt to new rules to achieve goals

experimentally:
* questionnaires
* response to sensory stimuli
* following and adapting to task rules

37
Q

crows cognitive flexibility studies

A

delayed match-to-sample task (Veit et al 2014)

present stimulus → delay → cue (visual or auditory - determines what is needed to be done with info) → select correct choice

trial type 1 = match-to-sample = pick stimulus that was shown

trial type 2 = non-match-to-sample = pick stimulus that was NOT shown

assume this requires core cognitive functions → PFC in humans and therefore NCL is used in birds (analogous)

crows performance is high on this task

38
Q

rule learning in crows

A

high firing rate in “non-match” rule trials

low firing rate in “match” rules

doesn’t matter if cue was auditory or visual

shows response to abstract rules on single cell level in NCL

supports cognitive flexibility in birds

supports NCL as analogue to PFC → is cortex actually special then

39
Q

cognitive flexibility in bees

A

experiment as above with bees flying through a tunnel

shown 2 patterns → some the first is the correct and others the second

both groups successfully learn which is correct and select correctly at the end of the tunnel

learning tests show bees learn the rule and perform well on trained stimuli

transfer tests introduce novel patterns (not known to bees) → still perform above chance levels, but not as well as in learned task

can transfer the cognitive learnt stimulus to learning the rule instead

indicates bees generalise from specific visual stimuli to more abstract tasks

40
Q

learning of abstract concepts in bees - training

A

bee has to navigate through a “maze” to the feeder

they are presented with an odour → lemon or mango

they must use this odour to navigate to the feeder - match to it

e.g. if they follow the lemon scent they’ll get to the feeder, mango would lead to nothing

41
Q

learning of abstract concepts in bees - transfer test

A

after training - odours replaced with colour

test if presented at first with a colour, will they know to generalise the odour rule to this and select the correct colour out of two presented later on

results

perform above chance level in delayed-match-to-sample task

can generalise from odours to visual stimuli

above chance level in cross-modal learning

shows abstract concept of “sameness”

further experiments by these people show bees understand “difference” too

42
Q

object permanence study in crows - 2 trial types

A

object permanence as a high order cognitive ability

Hoffman et al (2011)

trial 1:
present a meal worm to a crow then place a cloth over it
the crow knows to move the cloth to access the worm

trial 2:
180 degree displacement
worm placed behind one of two screens and then their positions are switched
therefore the worm that was put on the right is now on the left
the crow successfully go to the left screen to find the worm

43
Q

object permanence in macaques - method

A

single unit recordings in inferotemporal cortex of macaques

evolutionary similar to humans - less developed version of our brains

complete an object permanence task

match response - same object

object is shown, then a screen moves to cover it, then it emerges the other side

this is expected - same object should be there

surprise response - different object present

wall moves and the object would be something else

if it doesn’t understand object permanence - there would be no difference in neuronal firing

44
Q

object permanence in macaques results

A

selective firing for unexpected object emergence

some neurons respond higher to expected, others to surprise

suggests macaques have object permanence

neural representation of object permanence processing

remember this is intuited from the research - just an indication of this

45
Q

MSR in mammals (2)

A

mirror self recognition

dolphins
longitudinal study of one dolphin
approaches mirror in same way as a human child
engage in behaviours (very physical) as they move and attempt to understand how their own movement looks and what their body can do
also show other dolphins what they can do in the mirror

apes
baby initially fearful of what they see in mirror
then become curious - learn more about self and own bodily movements

46
Q

MSR in birds

A

magpies - demonstrate self recognition → without cortex

put a coloured dot on the magpie which it will see in the mirror

then it directs action towards itself to remove the spot → if they didn’t recognise themselves they would try and interact directly with the mirror

47
Q

mental time travel - scrub jays study

A

behaviour where they find and store foods for later → cache food

know that worms will go bad quickly so store them one way

also like peanuts - know they don’t go bad quickly so store another way

study

provide birds with meal worms and an ice cube tray full of sand

one half of tray is exposed (left) and other is covered (right)

they take the worm and stash it in the tray buried in the sand → on left side to come back for it later

then 5 days later covered the other side of the tray and gave them a peanut → cache these in the right hand side

tray is presented (but with worms removed) 120hrs later (time frame for worm to go bad)

results

bird will go back to the left side of the tray to look for the worm instantly → knowledge it would go bad soon

demonstrates episodic-like memory

remembering that they stashed the worms and where they did it and how long ago they did it

48
Q

theory of mind evidence in chimpanzees

A

show patience with others who are willing (but unable) to share food over those who are unwilling to share

discriminate between accidental and intentional actions → understanding of intent and therefore maybe understand others thoughts and feelings

follow/track gaze of others

gestural communication when facing another - will move to face if other is orientated away

49
Q

ToM task for chimps

A

engaging story for chimps → film a drama with a person dressed as a chimp

chimp will watch and engage with the story being shown - setting in the same enclosure they live in:
* man leaves building and sees where the chimp is
* chimp hits the man
* chimp hides behind one of two bales of hay
* man leaves and returns with a stick and tries to hit the bale with the chimp behind it

false belief condition = chimp moves and so man hits the wrong bale

eye tracking - see where chimps think the man would look

results
* if they look where the man would look - this shows ToM
* chimps perform well
* look toward target over distractor by significant margin
* demonstrate ToM - comparable with human studies

50
Q

tool use in animals - what is shows

A

causal reasoning

tool use requires manufacturing element - create to fit a purpose

cross cultural evidence and across species (insects to primates)

use in foraging behaviours - extend reach, digging

51
Q

dolphin tool use

A

sponges used as protection during foraging on the end of their faces

cultural transmission of tool use behaviour - show other dolphins how to do this

is this tool use? no manufacturing

52
Q

crow tool use

A

fish for long-horn beetles

manufacture a hook-tool from a stick

53
Q

tool use definition

A

tool use = employment of an unattached environmental object to alter another object or the user when they carry the tool. the user is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool

54
Q

tool kits/sets in chimps in gabon

A

use tool kits to access honey from underground hives → termites

modify tools - brush tools are better for harvesting insects

sequential tool use and tool specificity

55
Q

limited tool use evidence

A

most observable behaviours foraging (by extending reach) → no interaction between tool and other objects

not specifically manufactured for purpose

tools often serve only one purpose

not intrinsic part of life for species or defining characteristic of species that engage in tool use - only specific populations do use these tools

can still use animal tool behaviour to teach us about our own behaviour

56
Q

tool use in humans vs rhesus monkeys - fMRI

A

Peeters et al., (2009)

fMRI for observed actions and interactions with tool use to extend reach

similar activation for hand object interaction

unique inferior parietal lobe activation in humans for tool object interactions - left lateralised

anterior supramarginal gyrus (aSMG) - an area humans have that rhesus monkeys do not

57
Q

different streams for perception and action

A

Goodale and Milner (1992)

two streams for perception and action

ventral = what
dorso-dorsal = where
ventro-dorsal = how (added by Rizzolatti and Matelli, 2003)

macaques don’t have the how stream

one species of macaque has just entered the stone age - have hammers and anvils

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