learning & cognition

Question 1

morgan’s cannon (Law of Parsimony/occam’s razor)

Answer 1

always use simplest possible mental process to explain observed B

• ex: clever hans could ‘count’ based on unintentional cues from his owner

Question 2

cognition

Answer 2

how an organism:

1. acquires info through sensation & perception
2. processed info based on emotional response & learning
3. represents info through memory & self-consciousness

Question 3

aquiring info

Answer 3

• stimulation ➔ transduction ➔ sensation ➔ perception
• diff ways species acquire info: prey localization
  
  • owl = bird of prey
    
    • prey localization = auditory
    • mechanism = asymmetry of auditory structures
  • bat = arterial
    
    • prey localization = auditory
    • mechanism = echolocation
  • secretary bird = bird of prey
    
    • prey localization = visual
    • mechanism = refinements to visual structures & pathways
  • wolf = terrestrial predator
    
    • prey localization = olfactory
    • mechanism = high density of scent receptors in nostrils

Question 4

sentience

Answer 4

capable of sensing & responding to world

• conscious knowledge ≠ sentient

Question 5

processing info

Answer 5

bottom-up information processing

• 1º process: emotional rxn
  
  • quick, visceral/behavioral responses
  • external & internal changes
  • achieve survival goals: gain resources or avoid harm
• 2º process: learning = altering B based on experience
  
  • only if they change their B (humans can test based on multiple factors)
  • classical conditioning vs operant conditioning
  • “smartness” & comparing intelligence
• 3º process: representation
  
  • trial and error learning: requiring multiple attempts to reach a solution
  • insight-learning: understanding/planning w/out overt trial-and-error testing
  • memory
    
    • explicit vs implicit
    • declarative vs procedural
    • episodic vs semantic
  • self-awareness
  • theory of mind

Question 6

bottom-up information processing

Answer 6

3º process: representation

↑

2º process: learning

↑

1º process: emotions

Question 7

classical conditioning

Answer 7

unconscious learning = modification of B due to repeated pairing of stimulus & response

• stimulus ➔ response
• unconscious physiological response
• unconditioned = innate
• conditioned = learned
• US = unconditioned stimulus: unintentional stimulus that brings about an unintended response
• UR = unconditioned response: physiological response associated with unconditioned stimulus
• CS = conditioned stimulus: action you are using to elicit response
• CR = conditioned response: response you want to be associated w/ chosen stimulus
• ex: little albert heart loud bang every time white rat came out ➞ conditioned to associate white with fear
• ex: pavlov’s dogs:
  
  1. dog sees food (US) & salivates (UR)
  2. dog hears bell ring (NS) w/ no response
  3. bell rings (CS) when food (US) is given
  4. bell (CS) — food (US) pairing is repeated
  5. dog salivates (CR) when bell rings (CS)

Question 8

conditioned place preference or aversion

Answer 8

animals associate envir w/ +/- experience

• no interaction with stimuli
• ex: mice given saccharin sln (CS) then LiCl sln (US) got sickness
  
  • given saccharin sln again ➔ mice rejects: associates sln w/ sickness
• ex: mice choose to go to wall pattern that doesn’t shock them

Question 9

operant conditioning

Answer 9

conscious learning = modification of B due to consequence

• stimulus ➔ response ➔ consequence
• consequence must happen immediately after response to learn
• consequence = negative or positive
  
  • positive = apply, give (ex: yelling = giving voice)
  • negative = remove, take away (ex: docked pay)
• reinforcement = action that increases performance of B
• punishment = anything that reduces performance of B

Question 10

“smartness” & comparing intelligence

Answer 10

• smart = subjective
• intelligence is measured in so many different ways, not all measurements apply to all species
  
  • ex: bees’ use complex communication through waggle dance
    
    • cannot use waggle dance as measurement for sheep intelligence: sheep had no NS pressure to dance to communicate food
    • sheep are as cognitively capable as they need to be for their survival
    • no evidence that bees can recognize each others’ stressed faces
• ex: crows can make tools with no prior knowledge/observation or imitating sound
• ex: orcas bait prey: regurgitate food then capture birds because ‘disguised’ by evolutionary color pattern (black top white bottom)
• ex: canine interactions with humans: able to pick up on cues
• ex: **coco **(great ape) could combine words she already knew to describe new words ➔ complex level of communication

Question 11

trial and error learning

Answer 11

requiring multiple attempts to reach a solution

• form of representing info using past knowledge in present action
• small increments towards getting to answer
• ex: cat learning to press lever to exit box & access food
  
  1. cat put in box, food put out of box in eyesight
  2. cat tries many times & accidentally pushes the lever
  3. next time in box cat gets out faster

Question 12

insight-learning

Answer 12

understanding/planning w/out overt trial-and-error testing

• knowing a solution immediately
• ex: crows quickly learned to pull rope & secure with foot

Question 13

memory timeline

Answer 13

sensory memory (fraction of a second) ➔ short-term memory (less than 1min) ➔ long-term memory (over a lifetime)

Question 14

branches of long term memory

Answer 14

1. implicit = unconscious
   
   • procedural: skills, tasks
2. explicit = conscious
   
   • declarative: facts, events
     
     1. episodic: experiences, events
     2. semantic: facts, concepts

Question 15

episodic memory

Answer 15

personal events

• using contextual info about what, when & where of past events to guide present behavior
• ex: food-catchibing scrub jays bury food in diff locations & have mental map to remember where all different foods are
  
  • they understand that they have been gone a long time & ∴ the worms are rotten
    
    • no olfactory cues, just associate time with rotting
• ex: sows remember length of time in gestation crates ➔ associate that time with bad experience

Question 16

conditioned taste aversion

Answer 16

ex: ewes previously had no plant preference until lithium chloride added to 1 that made them sick ➔ then >95% chose other ➔ lamb will choose other based on watching ewes get sick

• evolutionary benefit

Question 17

name the learning process:

dog jumps on people when they come over so owner asks them to ignore the dog and turn away until they have settled down

Answer 17

operant conditioning: negative punishment ➔ taking attention away from dog so it stops behavior

Question 18

name the learning process:

a horse bumps against the stall door and b/c someone accidentally left the door unlatched, it opens. The horse walks through the open door and eat the hay sitting in the barn aisle. In the future, he’s going to bump up against the door and test it to see if he can get out again.

Answer 18

operant conditioning: positive reinforcement ➔ got hay & got free time (made it want to continue behavior)

Question 19

name the learning process:

research has shown that if you place a novel object (ex: blue disk) in the pen with a dairy cow and her calf during short (<10min) periods throughout the day, the cow will produce more milk in the parlor, if that same object is in her view.

Answer 19

classical conditioning ➔ innate response of milk production associated with feeding time

Question 20

name the learning process:

Cat paws at your door, which makes annoying noise so you let them into your room in the future the cat paws at your door to come in.

Answer 20

operant conditioning ➔ positive reinforcement (give them = letting them come in, reinforcement: increases the performance of the behavior)

Question 21

name the learning process:

rider, squeezes, horses, belly with leg and horse moves faster so rider removes the pressure

Answer 21

negative reinforcement ➔ removing the pressure to get them to go

• consequence should always come right after behavior
• giving must be sustained to be positive

Question 22

name the learning process:

Grandma’s cat runs very fast into the kitchen whenever she opens a can (it could be soup vegetables anything)

Answer 22

operant conditioning: positive reinforcement

Question 23

name the learning process:

A horse misbehaves with a farrier and the farrier hits the horse several times with the rasp. the horse behaves, but in the future, whenever the farrier arrives, the horse is fearful and trembles

Answer 23

operant conditioning: positive punishment: (adding hits to stop misbehaving behavior)

Question 24

name the learning process:

an owner clicker-trains a dog by clicking & giving them a treat. when the they click the button, the dog sits more often

Answer 24

classical conditioning: clicker ➔ treat

then

operant conditioning: positive reinforcement ➔ give a treat to continue sitting (increase performance of behavior)

Question 25

semantic memory

Answer 25

long-term general knowledge or facts

• difficult to test in animals

Question 26

self-awareness

Answer 26

• gallup’s mirror self-recognition test to determine if org could understand that they are the person in the mirror
  
  • passed: magpies tried to remove stickers they could only see in mirror, chimpanzees, elephants, ants
  • did not pass: cats, dogs, horses, gorillas ➔ law of parsimony: gorillas do not make direct eye contact ➔ did not make eye contact when approached so failed test
  • cannot use mirror test for them, must be refined
• ex: internal self-awareness in pigs: can discriminate affective states (are aware they are experiencing stress)
  
  • evidence of introspection: could differentiate differences in mental states & perform B associated w/ each state (i.e. which reward was during each state)

Question 27

theory of mind

Answer 27

awareness of others’ mental state (perspective)

• understanding subjective experience
• understanding others have experiences & knowledge diff from their own
• empathy (”emotional cognition”) − ex: hen’s exhibits stress reaction to chicks stress calls
• deception
  
  • ex: informer forager paradigm:
    
    • pig has knowledge of food/resources & memory of location through spatial/mental mapping
    • informed pig will trick clueless pig by intentionally leading them to another path to lure them away from resources so they can have it all to themselves
    • demonstrates that informed pig knows that clueless pig does not know
  • ex: male cuttlefish mask themselves to trick larger males
• fairness − ex: rhesus macaque knowledge of food value. ➔ refuse low-value reward (cucumber) if they know that another monkey receives high-value reward (grape) for the same task