Animal Cognition and Communication (9,10) Flashcards
Shettleworth defined cognition as the process by which animals _________, _________, _______ and ______ __ information in their environment
cognition = acquiring, processing, storing and acting on info in the environment
What are two important reasons in studying animals?
To help understand ourselves (humans )
Animal welfare
What is the difference between anthropomorphism and anthropocentricism?
Anthropomorphic = giving animals human characteristics
is an effect
anthropocentricism , which is the tendency to always view animals, animal behavior form a human perspective
Darwin’s 2 mechanisms for evolution/natural selection were what, explain them?
variation - animals in a species vary, in certain characteristics
Selection - some characteristics make animal more suitable from survival in their environment, these offspring reproduce
Just as physical characteristics are, ___________ and ___________ are also subject to evolution.
behavior and characteristics also subject to evolution
Which philosopher/ psychologist wrote the book ‘Animal Intelligence’?
A George Romanes
B Edward Thorndike
C Conwy Lloyd Morgan
D Charles Darwin
A George Romanes
Conwy Morgan’s example of tony the dog opening the gate is _______ and _____ learning, where the first successful attempt was _______, and performance_________ over time
Tony the tog opening gate = trial and error learning
first successful attempt = luck/random
performance improved over time
Morgan’s canon suggests that we should do what?
explain animal behavior processes in the simplest ways possible
Thorndike improved on Morgan’s example of trial and error learning by doing what?
Using an experimental procedure - more scientific
What were Tinbergen’s four questions for behaviour, explain them?
Function- what is the purpose of behavior
Phylogeny - evolution, how did it evolve
Ontogeny - development of behavior in individuals lifetime
Mechanism- How does the animal perform the behavior
What was one issue with using just brain size to compare intelligence in different animals?
Larger animals generally have larger brains whcih doesnt necessarily predict intelligence
Instead of comparing brain size in animals to predict intelligence, we compare _______ to ______ ______ ratio, also known as the ______________ index.
we compare brain weight to body weight ratio
also known as cephalization index
Instead of brain to body weight ratio, what are 2 other ways we can measure/compare intelligence in animals?
learning speed
learning of different concepts
What does learning speed measure? And what is one issue of using it to predict intelligence?
An instrumental learning task where number of rewards measured before response criteria met
doesn’t correlate with cephalization index
Learning of concepts measures the percentage of __________ solved on the _________ _______. This may not predict general intelligence well, as some animals, such as _________, who had a 90% score, need to learn quickly about their _________ to survive, taking shortcuts
Concept learning measures % of problems solved after trial 2
Dunnarts for example, had a 90% score- in their environmets they need to learn quickly to survive
What are two other issues with testing learning speed and concepts in animals?
Some animals respond quicker to certain stimuli than others - i.e. food
Contextual factors
Bitterman’s solution to learning paradigms used to test animals was ___________ __________, of stimuli, task type, reward, hunger etc. However this task type may be difficult to implement due to _____ and _______ constraints.
Bitterman’s solution - systematic variation of reward, stimuli etc
however, difficult to use irl due to time and faculty constraints
Clever Hans was a ______ that had been claimed to solve ___________. In reality he was simply observing the ____________ ___________. This is an example of what to avoid in animal research
Clever Hans was a horse who was supposedly able to do arithmetic
However, he was simply observing the researchers reactions
example of bad animal learning
True or false, perceptual abilities stay the same across all species.
False, they vary
What are four ways in which animal perceptions can vary?
Vision/colour vision
Smell
Hearing
Magnetic sensitivity
Humans only have __ colour receptors, whereas other species can see a _________ and even _______ range of colours. For examples bees can see blue, green and ___________, and birds like pigeons are known to have more than __ colour receptors.
Humans only have 3 color receptors
Other species can see different or wider range of colors
bees can see blue, green and ultraviolet
pigeons have >6 color receptors
A wide range of smells can be useful in ________, such as detecting ______ and avoiding ________, as well as __________ skills, such as in communication or attracting a _______.
Wide range of smells helps with:
survival - finding food, avoiding predators
as well as social skills- communication and mating
Give one example of how humans utilize the wider range of smells in an animal.
Dogs - used to sniff for drugs at airports, borders etc
as well as detect potential diseases
What is one example of adapted hearing in animals? (Batman)
Bats have the ability of echolocation - helps navigate, communicate, as well as detect prey
Which of these animals has been found to be sensitive to Magnetic fields?
A Pigeons
B Bats
C Fish
D All of the above
D all of the above
It was found that ____ ______ use their magnetic ________ to determine __________.
sea turtles use magnetic sensitivity to determine location
Communication requires what 3 things?
A signal - sound, movement
A signaler
A receiver
Communication may be used in the ______ _______, such as to alarm others, mate, and find food, as well as having _______ _______ adaptations, such as to survive and reproduce.
can be short term - mate, find food, and alarm others
long term - reproduce and survive
Karl von Frisch won the nobel prize for what finding?
the honeybee dance
In the honeybee dance, for ______sources more than ______ away, bees would waggle side to side whilst running forward, turn left, return, waggle again whilst running forward, turn right and then return, forming a _______ of __.
Honeybee dance - food sources more than 100m away they would complete this complex dance
which completed a figure of 8 shape
In the honeybee dance, what is the distance and bearing of the food indicated by?
distance indicated by duration of the dance
bearing indicated by the angle of the waggle run
Prior to Von Frisch’s theory, it was thought by Werner and Wells that bees only used what to communicate?
A Defecating
B Buzzing
C Odor
D barrel rolling
A Odor
Michelsen et al (1992) supported Von Frisch’s findings by using a _________ _____, and Riley et al (2005) supported Von Frisch’s findings by corresponding the __________ _____ with _____ _____ using transponders.
Michelsen et al 1992 - used a mechanical bee
Riley et al 2005 - corresponded honeybee dance info with flight paths
Cheney and Seafarth (1967) studied Vervet monkeys, and found they use ___ distinct messages relating to 3 major predators, the predators being ________, ________ and ________.
21 distinct messages relating to 3 main predators
Leopards, snakes and eagles
If Vervet monkeys heard another monkey using the leopard alarm call they would __________________________________.
If they heard the Eagle alarm call, they would ______________________________.
If they heard the snake alarm call, they would _______________________________.
Leopard - would run up into the tress
Eagle - would go down from the trees lower the ground
snake - would stand on hind legs and look in grass
Would the monkeys still respond to the mimic calls played by the researchers, even when there were no predators present.
they would still respond at first, but after several trials of seeing no predator they would stop looking
Cheney and Seafarth also showed that some different ________ calls produced a ________ response, showing that calls were more __________, with the monkeys being able to extract the __________.
Some different sounding calls produced a similar response
showing calls were more referential, monkeys were able to extract meaning
Studies where participants played back recordings of animal alarm calls were called what?
A Recognition experiment
B Throwback experiment
C Playback experiment
D Timed-recording experiment
C Playback experiment
Manser (2001) found that meerkats also have an alarm call, with different calls representing different types of ___________ , or if they needed __________, as well as different levels of of ____________.
Meerkat alarm calls - used to signal different types of predator - i.e aerial, terrestrial, quick
For recruitment for certain tasks
different levels of urgency
According to Pearce a language must have the following 4 things
_______________ __ _______
_______________
_________________
________________
A language must have
arbitrariness of units
semanticity
displacement
productivity
What does arbitrariness of units refer to?
Words usually randomly represent an event - the word form doesn’t predict meaning, more random
What does semanticity refer to?
The meaning behind the unit - each word must have a meaning
What does displacement refer to?
Ability to communicate about events distant in time and/or space
i.e going for coffee next tuesday, the riots in london
Productivity of a language refers to the fact that a language is __________________________, but also ______ __________>
Productivity = A language is structure according to rules but is also very flexible
In the honeybee waggle dance bees definitely did not show
A Semanticity
B Displacement
C Arbitrariness of units
D Productivity
C Arbitrariness of units
Bees showed - displacement, semanticity and maybe even productivity, but no arbitrariness of units
It is important not to confuse animal communication with ____________ and _____________ conditioning, such as in the clever Hans scenario
Important not to mistake true animal communication with instrumental/classical conditioning
Gardner and Gardner taught a chimp named Washoe ____________ ____ language. After 5 years Washoe had learnt ____ different signs including _______, ______ and _______. Washoe could also even ___________ signs.
Gardner and Gardner taught Washoe American sign language
Washoe learnt 132 signs after 5 years
including verbs, nouns and pronouns
Washoe could also combine signs
Terrace et al taught a chimp named Nim Chimpsky, who could by the end of his learning project, produce _____ signs as well as ___________ combinations. However this language was very _________.
Nim chimpsky learnt 125 signs
as well as linear combinations
however very limited
Much language training using ________ symbols such as Yerkish or lexigrams in apes produced a very _________ language
visual symbols
mainly an arbitrary language
Herman et al used what two types of tasks with dolphins ?
explain them
Which task did they perform better on?
displaced reference tests - where object linked to action - performed better on this one
semantically reversible sentences - one order represents a flow of tasks, reverse order = reverse flow of tasks
Herman et al showed dolphins could __________ sentences and _________ to some degree.
could understand sentences and respond
