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