Cognition Flashcards
Reference for study on dog salivation
(Pavlov, 1902)
Reference for cats in puzzle boxes ?
(Thorndike 1905)
Little Albert study reference
(Watson, 1920)
Operant procedures
Skinner 1953
Scheduels of reinforcement
Skinner 1957
Little Peter reference
Cover-jones 1924
Dual process theory reference
Groves and Thompson 1970
What is animal cognition ?
Cognition, includes all ways in which animals take in information through the senses, process, retain and decide to act on it
What is animal intelligence?
The various abilities of non human animals to solve problems in their environment through mechanisms of learning and animal cognition
The nervous system is made up of ….
The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
The central nervous system is made up of…
The brain and the spinal chord
The peripheral nervous system is made up of …
Somatic - sensation and somatic muscles
and autonomic - smooth muscles
The autonomic (smooth muscles) are part of the peripheral nervous system. They are made up off….
Sympathetic - flight or fight responce
Parasympathetic (rest and digest)
How does information get transmitted
Sensory imput - Monitors external and internal changes in the environment
Integration - processes and collates the information
Motor output- signals effectpr organs to make the appropriate adaptive reponce
What is the Telencephalon or the Cerebrum?
Largest bit of the brain
Oviod shape formed in 2 specular hemispheres, separated by median longitudinal fissure
Frontal (motor)
Parietal (sensory)
Occipital (visual)
Temporal (auditory)
Olfactory (smell)
What was aristotles idea about animal intelligence (384-322 BCE)
Number of legs
The presence of blood and cardiocentrism
The heart was at the center and due to stimuli it would change the flow of blood which mechanically moved the limbs in the desired way
Rene descartes 1596-1650 famous quote and opinion of animal intelligence
“I think therefore I am”
Found similarities in human and animal minds but beloved only humans are capable of reason and intelligence
Speech is required for thoughts, animals lack this
What ideas did Charles Darwin 1809-1882 have ?
Continuity between species
Desent with modification
Natural selection
Differences in mental characteristics due to selection
Emotions and intellectual capabilities are seen in other animals and had to slowly develop over species for us to get them
Dreams in dogs?
Who was clever hans?
A maths teacher called wilhelmshaven von osten trained his horse hans to answer maths questions by tapping on the ground- visual queues were used to give hans the answers
What is behaviorism?
Thorndike, pavlov, Watson, amd skinner
American school of thought- stimuli , reposmces and their association change existing behavior and make new behavior
Animals are machines
Laboratory settings
What is ethology ?
Europe
Study of behavior in natural environment
Karl von Fritsch , konrad lorentz and niko tinburgen- all influenced by dawinian theory of evolution
Imprinting, social learning , song learning
Who was Niko tinbergen ? 1907-1988
Dutch ethologist, developed 4 questions to analyse behavior
Mechanism (causation), ontogeny (development) , adaptive value (function), phylogeny (evolution)
What are some different types of learning?
Simple non associative learning
Associative learning
Spatial learning
Perceptual learning
Complex learning
What is simple learning ?
Habituation - decrease in responsiveness produced by repeated simulation
Sensitisation -increase in responsiveness produced by repeated stimulation
What is associative learning (conditioning)
Classical conditioning- elicitation of conditioned responce by association of a conditioned stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus eg. Pavlovs dogs or little Albert
Operant (or instrumental ) conditioning
Emission of a behavioral reponce by association of such reponce to a reinforcer eg. Thorndikes puzzle box
What are the parts of an S R O learning model
Stimulus (simple learning)
Stimulus- Responce = classical conditioning
Stimulus + reponce - outcome = operant conditioning
What is spatial learning?
How animals relate to their environment and surroundings
To find food, reach home, avoid preditiors
Maze learning - utilisation of location of external landmarks (no conditioning)
Navigation - untlislation of relative position of landmarks and special senses
What is Perceptual learning
Observational learning or imitation
Animal watches conspecific doing a behavior and repeats it
Song learning is a form of this
Imprinting - social attachment of precocious offspring
What is Complex learning ?
Problem solving
Discrimination of abstract stimuli
Rule learning
Language learning
Examples of an elicited behavior (reflex)
Pain aversion
Flexor reflex
Corneal reflex
Gagging
Sneezing
What is a Modal Action pattern MAP
Instinctive sequence of behavioral responses
Triggered by a stimulus
Independent from learning
Must continue once initiated
Hard wired
What is classical conditioning ?
Conditioning capitalises on the association of two or more stimuli thanks to relation of cause and effect induced on a subject
What is acquisition? In terms of classical conditioning
The process that establishes or strengthens the conditioned reponce. Eg. To keep ringing the bell when food is present to keep the dog salivating to the noise of the bell
What does extinction mean? In terms of classical conditioning
The conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus leading to a decrease in the conditioned reponce
What does spontaneous recovery mean? In terms of classical conditioning?
The temporary return of a previously extinguished conditioned responce
What is autoshaping?
Its when an animal als believes that an action is related to an outcome and become self conditioned to do a conditioned reponce in order to get a unconditioned stimuli
What did thorndike do?
Put starved cats into boxes, that could be opened via a leaver. When the cats got the boxes open they could be fed.
If a repomce to a stimulus is followed by a positive event the stimulus repomce association is strengthened.
If it is followed by an annoying event the stimulus responce association is weakened.
What did skinner do?
Put rats in operant puzzle boxes, training them via operant conditioning to push a leaver for treats.
What are the 4 types of instrumental or operant procedures
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Positive punishment
Negative punishment
What two forms of instrumental behavior training are we using when we give a dog treats for sitting and withhold treats when they fail to sit
Positive reforestation -giving good stimuli
Negative punishment- withholding good stimuli
What type of reinfocemtn is it when they hit curuc lions untill they jump through a hoop
Negative reinforcement
When they remove the bad stimulus to increase the behavior
What is instinctive drift
Reversion to a natural behavior or naturally occurring responce that deviates from human training
What is learned helplessness
When animals give up
Give an example of a conditioned reinforcer?
Money and clickers
What is the best ratio sheduel to use when training
Variable ratio
What are some different ratio schedules
Fixed interval
Variable interval
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio
What is stimulus discrimination
The ability to respond differently to multiple stimuli
What is an example of generalisation
Little Albert became afraid of all objects similar to the rat so had a generalised response to a bundle of cotton wool, a fur coat, a dog and a xmas mask
IN discrimination training which operant procedures are used. If you want bued to peck at red circle and ignore blue box
Red circle gets positive reinforcement eg. Food
Blue box gets no food = negative punishment
Stimulus discrimination =
The ability to respond differently to different stimuli
Stimulus generalisation =
The ability of recognising similar stimuli and respond to them similarly
Discrimination training =
Learning based on two stimuli eliciting opposite responces
What is changing?
Behaviors are part of comex action sequences.
Adding new actions to the behavioral chain are implemented gradually and reinforced at the last action. Can be done forward or backward
What is social learning
Animals in their natural environment can learn from their conspecifics through observation
What is social learning
Animals in their natural environment can learn from their conspecifics through observation
What is social facilitation ?
When animals engage in behaviors performed by conspecifics without learning something new or retaining information. Eg. Yawning , or when chickens eat dispite being full just because thry see other chickens eating
What is immitation?
Repeating an observed behaviour to expect the same outcome
What is the difference between true imitation and emulation
Emulation they learn from the demonstrator and adapt there behaviour to get the desired outcome. True imitation, thry copy exactly the demonstration
What is a communication system
Transmission of information between individuals through the use of some type of signal emitted by a sender that can be responded to reliably by the receiver, always biologicaly relevant messages
What is memory in an animal?
Process that allows animals to change their behavior based on stored information relative to a past experience
What does short term memory do?
Working memory holds information currently being processed either from the environment or from long term memory
What does long term memory do?
Referential memory stores acquired information and representations of facts and experienced events for long periods of time
What type of memory does habituation rely on
Habituation work thanks to a form of short term retention of previous stimuli
What is matching to sample ?
Matching to sample is a cognitive puzzle to test similarity recognition in animals, a sample is shown then two possible matches are presented, one of which is the right one.
What is proactive interference?
It causes forgetting and is due to a distraction proor to the event
What is retroactive interference?
It causes forgetting and is caused by distraction after the event
What are some reasons for forgetting
Spontaneous and gradual dispersion of information or decay
Animals have limited capacity to store information, new memories erase old memories
Animals forget intenetially via decision making
How is olfactorn used to navigate
Scent trails are used by a wide range of species vai pheromones (intraspecigic semiochemicals) eg.ants use trailing pheromones, bears roll in urine and rub against trees
How is vision used to navaigate
Dead reckoning - remembering thr location of the start pointand the dorection from current position (ants use this)
Sun compass is used via honey bees
Piloting - following spatial landmarks
What was konrad lorentz theory
Imprinting occurred when animals form an attachment to the first thing they see upon hatching
What was Karl von frisch theory
Honey bees danced to indicate the distance and location of food
Reference
Playful activities after training improves memory and performance
(Affenzeller and Zulch, 2017)
Reference
Scent detection for cancer operant training
(Crawford, 2022)
Reference
Clicker training does not enhance learning in shelter puppies
(Dorey, et al,. 2020)
Reference
Clever hans effect
(Edwards et al., 2017)
