Comparative cognition Flashcards

1
Q

In order to have evolution we need

A

Individuals to differ (variablitity), heritability of some traits, competition - not all offspring survive (environmental pressure)

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2
Q

Phenotype

A

observable traits or characteristics; including morphological structures, neural structures, neural properties and also behaviour - Produced by organism’s genotype in combination with environmental and activity-dependent mechanisms

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3
Q

Genotype

A

Total collection of genes within individual, Genes = the only heritable part of natural selection equations

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4
Q

Sources of genetic variation?

A

Gene mutations - E.g. deletions or substitutions in nucleotide
Chromosome mutation - E.g. recombination
Mendelian variations - Laws of inheritance (dominant vs recessive alleles, etc.)

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5
Q

Adaptation

A

A phenotype arising from genetic variation (mutation) that increases the probability of an individual producing offspring

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6
Q

Divergent evolution

A

Def: process of tracking down 2 or more species to their common ancestor - All mammals have 1 common ancestor and then diverge from lineage - E.g. humans related to monkeys, or mice

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7
Q

Homology

A

resemblance based on common ancestry but adapted to provide different functions e.g. forelimb structures in different mammals

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8
Q

Convergent evolution

A

Independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineage - Responses to similar ecological environment brings out similar features or characteristics E.g. dolphin and shark look similar, but one is a mammal, the other a fish

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9
Q

Analogy/analogous structure

A

similarity of function and superficial resemblance of structures that have different origins

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10
Q

Comparing to worms how and why?

A

Look at behaviour we share (tells us a lot) and how they combine to form more complex behaviour and then look at their genotype, since we know all of theirs

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11
Q

Comparing to closely related species and why?

A

Closely related species to us and see how they developed differently in adaptation to their environment. Humans and chimpanzees are >99.1% identical at the coding sequence level, Our common ancestor lived 4-6 million years ago. We cannot compare to humans 10 000 years ago.

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12
Q

Comparing to those with outstanding features and specialized skill?

A

Look at specialized animals that are adapted intricately to their environment, how to relate brain structure to physical structure (Body) . E.g. platypus: senses movement in water due to changes in electrical field  huge part of its cortex devoted to that but visual and auditory system are tiny in comparison

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13
Q

Suggestions as to how Saharan ants measure distance

A

Energy hypothesis, optic flow hypothesis, time-lapse integrator.

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14
Q

Saharan desert ant study by whom and results?

A

Wittlinger, Wehner & Wolf (2006): caught ants when they found pray and manipulated length of their legs: Stump group: undershot, Control group: correct, Stilt group: overshot

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15
Q

Nutcracker bird

A

Buries 30,000 nuts for later and marks spot with a stone for 3 weeks (nuts only in season for 3 weeks), For next 6 months (winter) finds 90% of nuts in snow, just with his mental map

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16
Q

Sherry et al (1989), food storing bird

A

food storing bird (filled triangle) have almost twice the size of hippocampus of non-food storing birds (open triangle) - Example of selection pressure on these birds

17
Q

Principles of conservation

A
  1. If a structure/ system (e.g. cortex) has become an essential adaptive unit for one species, the essential features of this unit are conserved in all of the evolutionary descendants 2.General rule: the relative size of brain region is good guide to the importance of functions of the region for survival
18
Q

Allometry

A

How traits or processes scale with one another

19
Q

Encephalization Quotient

A

how far do we deviate from expectations

20
Q

Cortex expansion and social groups + implications?

A

Positive relationship between neocortex size and various social groups sizes - Scaling brain (or a brain component) size against body size = extent to which organisms invest in brain tissue - Scaling one brain part (e.g. neocortex) against another should reveal neurocognitive specialisation (Barton, 2006)

21
Q

Neuronal density

A

how tightly neurons are packed in the brain, Hard to do in different species, Humans tent to keep the density no matter how big the brain gets different to other species

22
Q

Roth & Dicke (2005) claim cognition depends

A

Cognition depends on an absolute feature of the brain e.g. total number of cortical neurons & conduction velocity of fibers, this approach is limited

23
Q

Cortico-cerebellar connection (Barton, 2006)

A

importance of integrated functions of these two structures, suggests subject to similar selective pressures & evolve concertedly / FUNCTION: Sensory-motor coordination, Planning of movements: learning, including complex sequences of behaviour, “Adaptive control” within environment

24
Q

Paritetal cortical regions with reciprocal cerebellar connections

A

Visually guided hand movement, motor planning, verbal processing and storage, spatial navigation

25
Q

Frontal/prefrontal cortical regions with reciprocal cerebellar connections

A

Language, working memory, directed attention, planning

26
Q

Occipital function?

A

Visual/visuo-motor

27
Q

Functional circuits

A

Areas of our brain that evolved together to support special skills