L9 - Animal Cognition Flashcards
Why do we study animals?
Helps us understand humans
Anima welfare Psychology is the science of mental life
What is anthropomorphism?
Attributing human characteristics to animals
What is anthropocentrism?
Viewing animals from our own human perspective
We will never be able to get rid of it but we do need to be aware of it
What is Charles Darwin mechanism for evolution?
Variation (offspring) -> Selection (best offspring survive and reproduce)
Overtime these characteristics spread throughout a population
True for psychological and physical states
How can learning speed be measured and compared?
Simple instrumental task
Respond - reward
Measure how many rewards needed before criterion reached
What are some issues with testing?
Learning with some stimuli seems easier than others e.g. easy for rat to learn to press lever for food but not to press lever to avoid shock
What are contextual factors?
Sensory, motivational, motor processes that influence learning
What is systematic variation as a solution to some issues faced in animal testing?
Training on a task across a range of conditions
- different stimuli, reward size, hunger levels etc.
however, this is difficult to implement due to time, subjects and facilities
Who was Clever Hans?
A horse that appeared to be able to do mathematical problems
But he was actually just picking up on cues that his trainer was giving, without realising
What is perception?
Perceptual abilities vary between species
The world you experience is due to the processing ability of the brain
This is important when researching animal behaviour
How does animal vision compare to human vision?
Humans have 3 colour perceptions
Most other species can see more of the spectrum
Bee - Green, blue and ultraviolet
Bird - UV
How do animals use their sense of smell?
Survival - find food, avoid predators, find homes
Communication - attract mates, recognising
Dogs an identify odours in mixtures of odours and illegal substances, cancer, explosives
What is echolocation?
Extremely high frequency sounds that only certain animals can hear
Bats and dolphins use this to fly in the dark or catch prey
What is magnetic sensitivity?
Many animals are sensitive to magnetic fields; pigeons, fish, bats, bees, ants, cattle and seat turtles
Sea turtles use magnetic field to locate where they are
