Animal Cognition Unit 2

Question 1

How do we judge the passage of time? How do other animals?

Answer 1

People judge the passage of time through manmade time keeping apparatus like a clock while also with other species have a sense of time based on the day/night cycle and cues from other bodily functions and temperature changes

Question 2

What is the average medien in a sleep/wake cycle?

Answer 2

Without an external input the average sleep wake cycle of a species is between a low of 20 hours and a high of 30.

Question 3

What is a zeightgeiber?

Answer 3

The the german word for keeper of time refers to the day/night cycle, change in temp, social factors and the availability of food

Question 4

What is Biebachs Garden warbler study?

Answer 4

Used to study how a different species is impacted by time-long intervals by testing the warblers with as sectioned off feeding boxes that would only be opened at certain times of day (the birds would go to the given food box) they then did a different example where they left all the boxes open but still kept to the same feeding schedule (The birds still went to the correct box given on the particular time of day)

Question 5

What was Gill’s study on Hummingbird time judgement?

Answer 5

Hummingbirds are faced with the time dilema of refilling flowers, socilization and a competition for food. Gill capatalizing on this wanted to track the hummingbirds time patterns by creating false flowers and having them set on a refill interval which the hummingbirds met over a short period of time, he then changed it again and the hummgbirds adapted to the schedule (arguing that hummingbirds are capable of time-short activities)

Question 6

Do rats understand time-short intervals?

Answer 6

Yes, rats understand time-short intervals this can be tested by using opprant conditioning with reward intervals which a rat will interact with the skinner box around a set time continually because they know there is a reward

Question 7

What is Church’s theory of Scalar timing ?

Answer 7

A theory demonstrating time-short intervals dependent on the species brain to have an internal tick which is stored in the creatures short term memory (how many ticks have passed in a given moment) and referenced in the long term memory (how many ticks must pass untill I get a reward) (Kinda like a prototype system, it is a set expectation)

Question 8

What is More or Less judgement?

Answer 8

A species ability to have a general comparitive concept of wheter there are more or less of an item (ex: are there more or less numbers in a rivaling lion pride if the first has 1 and the second has 3)

Question 9

What is McCoumbs Lion Study?

Answer 9

McCoumb et all’s study is focused on the more less pricipal and whether or not a lion is able to tell if there are more or less lions in a rivalring pride. This is done with a recording of a rivalring pride of a varying size (the lions are able to gage the threat and react accordingly)

Question 10

What is Wilson’s Chimp study?

Answer 10

Similar to McCoumb’s study with lions Wilson deals with the more/less principal in chimps using recorded audio of rivaling packs male chimp to see how the group would react (similarily they are able to gauge the reaction to whether there are more or less and are able to tell the level of threat.)

Question 11

What is a fission-fusion community?

Answer 11

A fission-fusion community is community that starts together and then disperces for a short period before returing together again (human live in a fission-fusion community)

Question 12

What is a panhoot?

Answer 12

A panhoot is a chimps multipurpouse call to altert the other members of their community to a threat, if there is food and can be used as a defense tactic against other chimps (the louder is the stronger)

Question 13

What is relative number judgement?

Answer 13

It is a metric to judge whether a species is able to understand general more or less than (not specific labeled numbers)

Question 14

What was Kohlers pigeon experiment?

Answer 14

An experiemnt where Kohler tried to find out if pigeons (and many other types of birds) where able to grasp relative number judgement by placing two containers with differing numbers of seeds in them (they got a treat if they could idetify which had more) (also accounted for size discrimination by making the dots on the containers the same size) (starting to prove that pigeons have relative number judgement)

Question 15

What was Emmertons pigeon study?

Answer 15

A follow up to Kohlers study, Emerton put pigeons in skinner boxes and had them differnciate between 1/2 as the fewer and 6/7 as the majority and asked them to peck at the one that was bigger (future tests would differenciate the amounts used) ( and different stimulus used different tests such as lighting, size and orientation. (further prooving that pigeons have relative number judgement)

Question 16

What is Absolute Number Judgement?

Answer 16

Absolute number judgement is to be able to distinguish a certain value from others (ex: 3)
(this is difficult to do because of the language surrounding numeric values as a crucial part of disinction)

Question 17

What was the Davis and Albert Raccoon Study?

Answer 17

This study featuring Rocky Raccoon has to do with absolute number judgement and the ability to disinguish numbers by having cubes with prizes inside but Rocky would only get a prize if he correctly disinguished the right number (ex: 3 raisins) However Raccoons are not common tests subjects as they become bored of rewards easily ( also does not finatively prove that raccoons have absolute number judgements)

Question 18

What skills are needed for a species to be able to count?

Answer 18

Relative number judgement, Absolute number judgement, Tagging and Cardinality

Question 18

What was the Davis and Bradfort rat study?

Answer 18

This study involving absolute number judgement has rats go to a set tunnel of six with a treat behind it (the distance between the tunnels shifted per trial as rats use muscle memory in their naivigation skills) trying to see if the rats would count the number of tunnels passed until they get to the right one. (still does not defintatively prove anj)

Question 19

What is Tagging?

Answer 19

Tagging is the visual and audible signs attributed to a specifc number (ex :1 and one)

Question 20

What is Cardinality?

Answer 20

Cardinality is the highest number in a set, an upper limit (ex: 10 in a set of ten)

Question 21

What is the Model/Rival Technique?

Answer 21

This technique is used with parrots and other species capable of linquistic mimcry where there is a human rival who models the correct behavior for the parrot in hopes that they will play along and exibit the same behavior

Question 22

What was Pepperbergs with Casey study?

Answer 22

Pepperberg trying to test Alex’s ability to count with an assortment of objects on a platter (asking a question like “How many green” Alex was able to preform the task and quickly tired of it, and interestingly became more fixated on the idea of “none”

Question 23

What is Hunt’s New Zealand Robin Study?

Answer 23

Hunt’s study looks at the numerical abilities of the new zealand robin, as they are tested with man made food cache which the robins see the experimenter put seeds in (they then test to see if the robins go to the cache with more, and it turns out the bigger the number the less accurate they get granting them a relative number judgement.) In a second test they see how long a robin will investigate a cache which they believe to have more food (which turns out that they will again up to a certain number as the imact is less drastic)

Question 24

What is associative learning?

Answer 24

Associative learning is a species ability to pick up a positive or negative association based on past lived experience. (ex: i will not eat this food because last time it made me sick)

Question 24

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 24

An unconditioned stimulus is a stimuli that ellicits a natural response from a species ( ex: food)

Question 25

What is an unconditioned response?

Answer 25

An uncondtioned response is a species natural reaction to a stimulus (ex: salivating when shown food)

Question 25

What is a neutral stimulus ?

Answer 25

A neutral stimulus is a stimuli with no partial response from the species (until it is later trained to do so ex: a tuning fork)

Question 26

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 26

A condtioned stimulus is a stimuli that a species has a specific reaction to based on the condtioning being done (ex; a bell ellicts druling)

Question 27

What is a conditioned response?

Answer 27

A conditioned response is a learned reaction to a specific stimuli (ex: salivating when hearing a bell whether or not there is the pressence of food, but because of the association to food)

Question 28

What are psychiatric secretions?

Answer 28

Psychatric secretions are the findings of Pavlov’s classic dog experiments and is a term used to label the learned response the dog has in association with instraments of the experiments which they have long learned to associate with food.

Question 29

What was Olson and Fazio’s Pokemon study?

Answer 29

Olson’s study showed people pokemon on a screen in search of a target pokemon, all the while exposing them to negative and postive associations about said pokemon. Afterwards they where asked to see how they felt about these seemingly secondary pokemon to the study to see if the assocations had formed. ( Which they had this has a lot to do with the way which people percive advertising and credible figures through wording associations and advetising)

Question 30

What was Hollis’s Gouramis experiment?

Answer 30

This experiment by hollis was done to see in the male gouramis fish could be mellowed through classical conditioning. Hollis used a white light (neutral stimulus) before present a female fish to create a conditioned response between the light (non-threatening) and the female ( it worked and proved that there are evolutionary consequences of learning and classical conditioning in the impact of a species

Question 31

What was Kandel’s Aplysia study?

Answer 31

The aplysia study focuses on classical conditioning in a creature with a simple nervous system. The experiment itself had Kandel probe the aplysia’s gills which close upon touch (exibiting a unconditioned response) and over the trials the aplysia learned to not react to the brush ( informing the scientific community about the physical processes of learning which can be generalized onto other species.)

Question 32

What is contiguity?

Answer 32

Continguity is the idea presented by pavlov about the importance of classical conditioning as the only mentric necissary to condition a creature is the specific timing and repition of a task (he was wrong as argued by rescola in his contiguity experiment where he tested the same group one with a classic set up and one jumbled (they didn’t learn the conditioned response in the jumbled group))

Question 33

What is contingency?

Answer 33

Contigency is the idea presented by Kamin’s as the additional aspect of classical conditioning (order of exposure) (arguing that there is an order to the exposure) (depicted through an expeirment where the first group is exposed to a buzzer and learned to freeze but when exposed to a light they did nothing as opposed to the group where they wjere first exposed to the light and therefore learned that association first) ( therfore there must be something additionally to understanding classical conditioning and how the fuctions specifically work)

Question 34

What is a example of classical conditioning in real life?

Answer 34

An example is the relationship between the drongo and meercats. The drongo over time gains the trust of the meercats by warning them of predetors before using the same tactic to decive them after unearthing food. ( However the meercats have the ability to learn a conditioned response to the drongo’s normal call and it no longer works) alternatively the drongo is able to mimic the meercat cry which elicits a unconditioned response to hide

Question 35

What is Boisseu’s slime mold study?

Answer 35

This study has a slime mold placed infront of a bridge containg caffine or quinine (which they are adverse to) to get to a treat on the other side ( this depicts a conditioned response over time as the sime molds learn to ingnore the unwanted stimuli in order to get a treat ( depicted by decrease in time to get to the treat)

Question 36

What was throndikes catbox experiment?

Answer 36

The catbox experiment had cats placed repeadely in boxes wired with a escape mechanism ( as time went on they became increasingly fast at escapeing) ( due to a learned response in turn creating the fundamental argument of opperant conditoning)

Question 37

What is the law of effect?

Answer 37

In a species use of trial and error approches that lead to a good result will be repeated and those that lead to a poor result will not.

Question 38

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 38

In order to reinforce a behavior the speices will be given a reward to motivate said behavior to continue ( ex: food reward system)

Question 39

What is postive punishment?

Answer 39

When a species is exibiting an unwanted behavior the resaercher can implament a unwanted stimulus to get the behavior to stop ( ex: loud noise added )

Question 40

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 40

When a species exibits a desired behavior the experimenter and remove an undesired stimulus as a reward to promote further good behavior (ex car beeping stops going on when you put your seat belt on)

Question 41

What is negative punishment?

Answer 41

When a species is depicting an undesired behavior and the experimenter takes away a stimulus the species wants ( ex: when a kid throws a tantrum and their parent takes away their toy.)

Question 42

What is skinner’s supersticious pigeons study?

Answer 42

Skinner put pigeons in a skinner box without any directions and the rewards where set to be put out in random intervals. This showed that the pigeons would exibit the behavior that they where doing at the point when the first treats where distibuted creating an irregular learned response ie a superstition ( however this belief is flawed)

Question 43

What was Staddon and Simmelhag’s pigeon study?

Answer 43

This study looked to reframe skinner’s idea about superstition by repliating his experiment (they argued that these behaviors where not random as they where normal pigeon behavior ex: trying to get food, therefore not pigeons acting on supersition but instead on evolutionary mechanisms)

Question 44

What is opperant contiguity

Answer 44

opperant condition relies heavily on contiguity for timed intervals as the fast repitions of rewards more quickly creates a behavior however a more slow apporach takes longer but may make the behavior last longer (up to 2 seconds can be too long between behavior and reward)

Question 45

What is opperant contigency

Answer 45

Without constant reifocement or punishment following a conditioned response the behavior’s learning process will slow or stop

Question 46

Can species form complex relationships between stimuli

Answer 46

Yes different speices can learn complex relationships between stimuli in order to get the desired reward

Question 47

How did Rafiki the baboon exibit the effects of opperant conditioning?

Answer 47

Rafiki was enganging in self harming activites because she was not getting enough attention. So the researchers used opperant condition to condition rafiki into a secondary behavior lip smaking by rewarding rafiki everytime she smaked her lips with attention and ignorning her everytime she invoked self harm on herself. ( overtime learning the association and picking up the prefered behavior)

Question 48

What was Garcia and Koolling’s bright and noisy water study?

Answer 48

The bright and noisy water study focuses on rats who are fed a sweet water and a water with a clicker and a strobe light when drinking. Then with the added exposure of x-ray or a shock depending on the group. The group exposed to the x-ray and by exstention nausea was more likely to avoid the sweet water (taste aversion) and the shocked group was more likely to avoid the bright and noisy water (Garcia argued that opperant conditioning does not work for every behavior and certain behaviors are easier to learn based on geneolgy and associations which have kept the species alive)

Question 49

What was Lorenz and Tinbergan’s hawk and goose study

Answer 49

With a paper cut out the experimenters moved it over the baby turkeys head right to left was the goose (good) and left to right hawk (scary) (they argued this response was due to innate fearfullness and the innate behaviors which are learned over time as a species evolves (against skinners belief that you can opperantly condition any behavior, instead that some behaviors are easier to condtion than others)

Question 50

Whats an example of missbehavior in animals?

Answer 50

An example being the pig from a book written by Skinner’s graduate students (post graduation) on a pig they where to train for a comerical and as the conditioning continued the pig’s response got worse (reverting to a instinctive drift ( a beahvior that is instinctual to the animal based on the given stimuli)
Disprooving skinner’s belief that any animal can be conditioned to any stimuli to create any behavior.

Question 51

What is reasoning?

Answer 51

Reasoning is defined as an adaptation of a thought or behavior. However it is more complex and relies on the notion of flexibility vs ridgid action (flexibility fits to reasoning as it relates to forethought of the animals actions through tool use etc…) Also has to do with connecting information that is not sensorarily present at the moment

Question 52

What is a fixed action pattern ?

Answer 52

A fixed action pattern is a ridgid behavior portrated by animals in a manner of circumstances and must be followed all the way through ( which allows for no fluidity in movement if the action fails or the object changes)

Question 53

How does the grelag goose portray a fixed action pattern?

Answer 53

The grelag goose has a tendency to nudge anything round and relatively egg sized towards itself with it’s beak to bring it back to the safety of it’s roosting body. (This is a ridgid survival action)

Question 54

What did Oakley’s book on tool making argue

Answer 54

Oakey argued that tool making is a unique ability to humans and it is what distinguishes humans from other species of animals

Question 55

Are the antlions eneacting in reasoning with their toolmaking?

Answer 55

No, while they are creating a trap of sorts there is no clear evidence of premeditation on the placement, or the actions taken once the hole is dug ( it is a ridgid action for scavenging) This example argues firstly that animals also use tools and the distinction between a tool use done out of reasoning versus a instinctive or ridgid behavior is difficult to tell

Question 56

Are sea otters an example of flexible reasoning?

Answer 56

Yes, well more likely than the ant lions as they are making active decisions in their choice of rock, and continually using said rock to eat their food.

Question 57

What was Taylor, Hunt and, Gray’s New Caladonian Crow study?

Answer 57

This study had a small container behind bars with food at the end. The crow was given a stick to fish out the food in the first test. In the preceding tests it was exposed to different stimuli to see if it would still use the stick to get the food ( the food was close enough for the crow to grab) It turned out that the crow used the stick when the toy snake was present (Which they argue is an example of flexible reasoning as they only use the stick in specific scenerios)

Question 58

What’s fascinating about the Coconut octopus?

Answer 58

The coconut octopus uses shell’s as a defensive too to hide from predetors and uses the shells along with a mix of camaflouge to hunt for it’s own food (showing tool versatility in use)

Question 59

What’s brooks hermit crab study?

Answer 59

This study tested how long a crab could survive in a tank with an octopus. In different trials they where either given 0, 1, or 3 sea anemonea to use as defense and in turn the more anemonea they had the longer they survived. ( Another cool defnesive tool use although it is more reflexive.

Question 60

In insight what is an “Aha moment”?

Answer 60

An “aha moment” is the moment of realization when something finally clicks in your head and you understand a problem or test.

Question 61

What is the importance of Betty the Crow?

Answer 61

Betty the Crow was believed to show insight because of a unique bending of a wire to more easily access food. However this was a species specific reflexive behavior rather than an example of insight ( new caldonian crow specialty)

Question 62

What Wolfgang Kohler study showed insight?

Answer 62

Kohler’s chimp study had crates scattered around an enclosure with a banana in a far out of reach place. Without trial and error the monkey (sultan) was able to figure out how to stack the boxes and retrieve the bananas ( a secondary trial was with two adjoining sticks to reach banana’s) (this proved that chimnps had a form of insight (althought that is not true of all primates))

Question 63

What was Visalbergi & Limongelli tuffed capuchian study?

Answer 63

This study had tuffed capuchian’s use a t-shaped puzzle and a stick to get a treat out ( one way the treat would fall into the trap and the other the treat would come out. In this study one capuchian seemed to be doing well however it was classically conditioned on the bias that sticking the stick on the side further from the treat would grant the treat (rather than an innate insight)

Question 64

What was Hood’s Tamarind study?

Answer 64

Similarily to the capuchian study Hood placed an opaque box infront of the tamirind and dropped a treat down, the slide had a bias in the middle which led to the treat exiting from a different point than expected (the tamarineds failed repetedly at this task constantly expecting it to fall the way gravity would (failing another insight test)

Question 65

What is a transative inference?

Answer 65

A transative inference is the ability to deduce information based on previously given information ( ex if james is taller than ben and ben is taller than joy who is the tallest?)

Question 66

What is the transative inference pigeon study?

Answer 66

Pigeons are placed in a skinner box and shown two colored dots, they are given treats for chosing one and nothing for the other this continues with different set patterns throughout the training set and in the test set they are given new combo’s to see if they can exibit transative learning (they can)

Question 67

What is tibbetts bee and wasp study?

Answer 67

Similar to the transative inference pigeon study in seperate tests a bee and a wasp are placed in a box and trained on a neutral stimuli and a negartive stimuli ( a shock) to see if they will express a transative inference. The wasps will because of their hierarchical social structure which tasks like this are crucial in, and the bee’s can not.

Question 68

What was Bond, Kamil and Balda’s Pinyon and Scrub jay study?

Answer 68

This study was set to show the social complexity hypothesis through two species of jay ( pinyon are highly social in large flocks 50-500 (likely to be more cognatively advanced) (Then scrub jays which live in small groups of their mateing partner and children) This study tested the two with transative inference questions (creating a relationship in the training set and setting up new variables in the second) The pinyon jays did better as expected (arguing the social complexity hypothesis)

Question 69

What is the Social Complexity Hypothesis?

Answer 69

The social complexity hypothesis states that the more social the species is among its members (ex: wasps, baboons, piyon jays) which all have complex hierarchical structures are more likely to be cognatively comlex speices.

Question 70

What is De Wall’s Capuchian Fairness study?

Answer 70

This experiment has one capuchian in the initial test of fairness they learn to trade a rock for a treat (each getting cucumber) however in the alternative one recives cucumber (the lesser treat) and the other recives a grape (the superior trait) and the cucumber capuchian acts poorly. De walls argues that it is a matter of fairness, however in the experiment the capuchians are recipaints of both cucumber and grape, which may create bias towards the treat and the act of having both treats available= visual discrimination between treats ( which has rendererd de walls work controversial)

Question 71

What is Ranger Dog Fairness study?

Answer 71

Ranger’s study is a follow up of De Walls with four conditions the first which both dogs shake and both get a lesser treat, the second is they both shake and one gets a better treat, the third is they both shake and one gets no treat while the other does and the fourth is one has to shake and the other does not but they both get a treat ( with some support towards fairness in animals as the both shake and only one dog gets a treat conditioned showed lesser participation than the other three)

Question 72

What is social congnition?

Answer 72

Social cognition is the study of a species cognative process through the lens of their intereactions to other members of a species.

Question 73

What does “conspecific” refer to ?

Answer 73

Conspecific refers to the social intereactions held between two members of the same species.

Question 74

What is the Mirror-recognition test?

Answer 74

The mirror recognition test has an individual introduced to a mirror and then a dot is placed on their forehead and based on how they respond (either physically adressing the face or behaving like it is another organism.)

Question 75

What are the four responses the mirror-reaction test?

Answer 75

1. Social response= interacting with the mirror like a seperate entity
2. Physical Inspection= Looking around the mirror to see if there is something behind it and not just a reflective surface.
3. Contingency testing= see if the reflective imafge in the mirror mimics you
4. Self-directed behavior= fussing over apperence based on the reflected image

Question 76

What is self-awareness?

Answer 76

Self awareness is an individuals ability to recognize their physical form in a physical space (hence mirror test as an non-verbal manner of self-awareness testing)

Question 77

Who is Gordon Gallup Jr?

Answer 77

Gordon Gallup JR is the inventor of the mirror recognition test as a non-verbal method to test any species self awareness.

Question 78

What is Gallup’s Self- concept experiment?

Answer 78

Using chimps Gallup first exposes them to a mirror for ten days to see how they react to it (tracking how often they touch their face on a regular basis) then they use the mark test (dotting their brow and ear) with rouge or paint and see how the chimps react (they respond with self directed behavior (and are on the only species who pass the mark test in proof of self-concept)

Question 79

What is Povinelli”s self concept experiment?

Answer 79

In follow up to Gallup’s work Povinelli tests chimps to prove the idea of self concept with the same mirror and mark test set up. But with the addition of the control group to see how often they would touch the mark without the mirror present (infrequently) They then go on to preform the mark test twice (the first time when they are younger they show little interaction) (but older they show more active interaction with the self but less than Gallup made it out to seem) (arguing that there is still much to be learned about the idea of self concept and the mirror test is sensorarily limited.)

Question 80

What is Lanza, Epstein, and Skinner’s Pigeon self concept test?

Answer 80

This test is where a pigeon is placed in a skinner box in the first stage with a mirror with a blue light shined into it and the pigeon is rewarded for pecking at the blue light. The second phase is where the pigeons are marked with a blue dot where they can see it on their person and rewarded for pecking it. The third stage is a blue dot on a bib is placed where they could not normally see it but only could with aid of the mirror and rewarded for pecking at the self( this was in opposition to the mirror test + skinner argued that the test was not an act of higher cognition but a conditioned response ). (at least in pigeons)

Question 81

What is Khoda’s Wrasse self-concept experiment?

Answer 81

Khoda puts these Wrasse’s in a tank with a mirror and while initially they show social (agressive mouth fighting) behavior towards others it it slowely decreases and is replaced by contingency behavior (up to a certain point) and self-direction behaviors ( however since an injection was needed to create a patch of discoloration it is not a “true” mark test which highlights that the mirror test is not an end all be all but rather a visual stimulus gauge of self concept)

Question 82

What is Dewaal’s framework for self-concept

Answer 82

That self-concept is not an idea that spurred out of nowhere evolutionarily but a gradient scale where the necessity and active ability of self concept is layered

Question 83

What is Menzel’s chimp video recognition study?

Answer 83

Chimp is placed infront of a tv monitior and behind it is a particiened wall with a treat on the other side (which it can see through the monitor) as an alternate mirror test the chimp is expected to slot it’s arm through the hole and recognize the arm on the screen as it’s own to manuver and reach the treat (this is done sucessively by chimps and the sucess increases as the trials continue)

Question 84

What is a point light display and how does it expand on the idea of self concept provided by the mirror task

Answer 84

A point light display is done where a person is placed in a 3d movement modeling suit and the person is deleted from the image and only the dots remain (this can be done with other species and in all cases they prefer the organic movements of their species to the alternative. This argues that self concept like certain behaviors are innate to the species rather than a learned skill or one spurred out of seeing a reflection.)

Question 85

What was Rosa-Salva’s cube hen experiment?

Answer 85

This experiment aimed to test a species innate knowledge they are born with. Freshly hatched chicks are showen four tests, (adult hen, chick, duck and, weasel) each wither their own cubified distorted version. The results show that the chicks prefer the realistic model compared to the cube in all cases except the weasel (which they had no bias towards as it was not yet a learned threat) (Rosa argues that this is evidence for innate knowledge)

Question 86

What is the object choice task?

Answer 86

This is a task testing a species visual cues and signals with two bins one with food and one without (smell proofed with strong odor) Which dogs where initially tested to see if they could correctly find where the food was based on where the person was look or pointing (domesticated dogs succeed at this task.

Question 87

What is a signal?

Answer 87

A signal is a purpousful sign sent by an individual to another

Question 88

What is a cue?

Answer 88

A cue is an unitetional signal sent to another

Question 89

Why is the object choice task important?

Answer 89

Because most species are unable to understand it, ( ie chimps and wolves) Because comprehending signaling is a complex task which is so sucessful with domesticated dogs because of their genes and their time of human exposure ( wild dogs are significatly worse at the task due to a lack of human exposure)

Question 90

What is the Heider-Simmel triangle video?

Answer 90

One of the original theory of the mind tasks focused on depicting the human use of personification into inhuman objects (people read humaness into other objects and beings proving that they can read the reactions of others (theory of the mind)

Question 91

What is Shafroth, Basile, Martin & Murray, 2021
Rhesus monkey study?

Answer 91

They made rheus monkeys watch the heider-simmel video and tracked their eye movements to see when they where most engaged with the video ( categories: goal oriented, random, theory of the mind) They interacted most with the goal oriented catagory arguing that these monkies do not meat the standards for theory of the mind because of an inability to read monkiness into these objects to the degree that people can

Question 92

How does the magnifient spider depict decite?

Answer 92

The magnificent spider depicts decite by spinning a boles (large ball of webbing) infused with a mothes mating pheremone to attract mothes to eat (while it is a sucessful hunting stratagy it is more a reflexive task rather than a higher congative function.

Question 93

How does the mourning cuttlefish depict decite?

Answer 93

By using it’s ability to camaflouge as a signaling system. It can signal to mates and use the same signaling to deter competition (this is a higher cognative process as it is more flexible only happening in a specific circumstance where there is another male and female present)

Question 94

How does the vervet monkey portray decite?

Answer 94

The vervet monkey portrays decite by using a specific warning call (of which they have differing ones per varying species) to falsely decive forign vervet monkies of a threat to scare them off ( this seems like a highly congative process because it relates to the social congnative hypothesis and a speices with a hierarchy hower it is dissproven when the monkey goes back down from it’s hiding spot to confront the male it wanted gone)

Question 95

What is Shaw and Clayton’s Eurasian Jay Experiment?

Answer 95

In this experiemnt eurasian jays live in a larger atrium with four slots along the side which can be set of for feed caching. The two provided materials where sand and gravel (sand is quieter) and had the jays cache food under three circumstances ( alone, cometitors able to hear, competitors able to see and hear) Shaw argues the jays have a sense of awareness to the others mentals states because they more commonly cache in the sand when they know they can be heared.

Question 96

What is Woodruf and Premack’s chimp study?

Answer 96

In Woodruff’s study they put food into one of two containers and the chimps are asked to point to the conatianer with food. If it is the companion condition they will be given the food (if they point correctly) and in the competitor condition the food will be taken away (if they point correctly) this is to test to see if the chimps pick up on the social roles the humans play in relation to them (they fail at this task after taking a hundred or so attempts to understand therefore arguing it is a learned behavior not theory of the mind related)

Question 97

What is Povinelli’s follow up to Woodruff’s chimp experimnt?

Answer 97

Povinelli’s proposed experiment (which was later done) had four containers in which food placed into one while the knowing figure is present, then a second person comes in to guess pointing at the container, the knower points at a seperate container (and the chimp is supposed to infer that they should trust the knower because they where there when the treat was placed. ( however they are also unable to preform this task and get it only through learned response rather as part of theory of the mind)

Question 98

What is Hare’s chimp theory of the mind study?

Answer 98

Hare set’s up a room with barriers and food is placed in two locations ( either both in the middle, one in the middle and one near the dominat, or one in the middle one near the subordinate) this is based on the dominace hierarchy which chimps live in and is therefore supposed to model a potentially realistic experience. ( the subordinate chimp only picks up food in the condition where they know the dominant can not see it. ( this is the closest example of theory of the mind in chimp becasue it looks at chimp cognition from the perspective of a chimps life rather than from the perspective of human rationalization)