Animal cognition Flashcards
what do crows behaviour show us?
- are crows smarter than us
- crows in Arne RSPB nature reserve using rocks to crack open oyster shells
- what is the reinforcing event
- what behaviours are reinforced
- what stimuli guide behaviour
- what is Morgan’s cannon
- “In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development.”
what are learnt behaviours?
- sometimes behaviour is controlled by stimuli
- pavlovian conditioning - birds see water change -> flies to beach (eventually gets rewards)
- S-S* S-R-S* - sometimes behaviour is elicited voluntarily
- instrumental conditioning - bird flies high, drops whelk -> gets reward
- R-S*
what’s the difference between pavlovian and instrumental conditioning?
- all learnt behaviours are dirven by stimuli in the environment and responses for meaningful consequences
- a child crying and getting parents attention
- an addict taking drugs to get high - in the lab they can be separated to examine aspects of behaviour
where does the complex behaviour start?
- birds don’t often drop food from great heights
- rats don’t press levers naturally
- the final behaviours can often look remarkable
- we need to consider its origin
what is shaping?
- successive reinforcement of relevant behaviours (teaching)
- reinforce behaviour approaching the target behaviour
- in the natural world there is no teacher
what is the stimulus control of behaviour?
- the stimuli play a key role in controlling behaviour
- pigeon stimulus discrimination
- pigeons have an incredible memory
- ~800+ images (Cook et al., 2005)
- benefits of categorisation
what is discrimination?
- this elaborate demonstration shows a powerful ability
- stimuli have come to control behaviour
- learning what is a predator and what is not
- learning where food might be found
- learning the call of a potential mate - it’s important this behaviour isn’t too rigid
- only eating one type of seed
- only fearing one type of pred
what is generalisation?
- new instances are responded to in a manner similar to old instances
- this occurs because they share properties (stimulus features)
what is category representation?
- theories are similar to those explaining human categorisation
- exemplar theory
- prototype theory - like humans animals use past knowledge to generalise to novel situations
what are adaptive learners?
- so animals can learn remarkable behaviours finely tuned for their benefit
- sometimes generalisations needs to be broad
- shape and size of seeds
- shape of the fields in which they forage - sometimes highly tuned
- a mates call
- discriminate predator eyes from prey eyes
what is voluntary action?
- skinner was one of the first to effectively study action-outcome learning in the lab
- discovering how powerful reinforcement was
- behaviour reoccurs if reinforced
what are the schedules of reinforcement?
- reinforcement doesn’t always occur
- if the addict gets a bad batch their habit is maintained
- the gambler only wins so often - sometimes we see partial reinforcement
- e.g., gambler wins every 10 - how does affect conditioning
what is pavlovian instrumental transfer?
- procedure demonstrates how learnt actions can be cued by stimuli
- the presence of relevant stimuli can have a dramatic effect on responding
- recent work looks at devaluation of the outcomes (making them less appealing)
- some evidence to suggest cues can reinstate a response (that’s bad for curing addiction)
what are the ethical concerns?
- studying animal cognition involves the housing, testing and often the sacrifice of animals for scientific benefit
- animal research requires licences from the HO ensuring rigorous protocols are maintained to ensure the welfare of animals
- funding for research on animals is extremely competitive
- must have clinical relevance and/or lead to ground-breaking theoretical developments
what is comparative cognition?
- humans are a particular case of animals
- cognition is central for survival
- mental processes cannot be obseved
why do we misunderstand animal behaviour?
- anthropomorphism
- anthropocentrism
- anecdotal evidence
- cognition needs to be understood in its context
- evolution is not a scale its a tree
what is causation?
- Physiology plays a great role
- Sensory systems
- Musculoskeletal system
- Nervous system
- Endocrine system - Cognition is equally important
- Perception and attention
- Learning
- Memory
what is ontogeny?
Innate behaviour?
There’s not a direct, one-to-one effect of genes in behaviour
But there is an effect
Predispositions
Sensitive periods
Circular reaction:
Starts with innate sensory-motor coordinations
New experiences lead to new adaptive behaviours
This achievements are integrated in complex systems and transform how the organism faces reality
what is survival value
The problem with the idea of fitness:
Natural selection as “the designer”
Disregard to the individual’s life
Selection is performed by intelligent beings
Organisms adapt their behaviour
Cultural transmission and selection of structures that favour certain behaviours
what is evolution?
Evolution can be inferred by natural observation
Comparing different species give us insight on how behaviours and cognitive processes evolved
An example from evolution of conciousness
why do we study animal cognition?
Human cognition is a particular case of animal cognition
It can benefit humans
Pest control
Domestication
Animal training
Animal welfare and ethics
Conservation
