Thinking/Cognition Flashcards
What are cognitive mechanisms like memory perception and attention good for in terms of adaptation
-  Heuristics where we can think quickly about the situation or take a slower route.
Perception - we are able to hear human vocal pictures just like bats are able to hit other bats using echolocation , selective attention
Learning -  - Garcia (1966) somethings are learnt more easily than others  observe this with rats, where certain combinations of actions resulted in different levels of learning
If the rats drank tainted water and they were shocked, they wouldn’t learn from this behaviour to avoid the shock, but it’s a drink, ted water and were made nauseous, they would learn to avoid drinking the water, even if the nausea happened hours later because they made that connection
If a flash of light and an electric shock, they would learn from that combination
Why in Gosia study on rats did the rats learn from water, when they were made nauseous, more than when they were shocked?
 relevancy
The rats usually have poor vision and have to explore their environment through taste, so we’re more cautious as this was more applicable to them - tailored learning
Learning is an involved trait
What is the study pertaining to adaptive memory?
Participants were given two scenarios. The 1st related to survival and the second related to a modern day situation..  Eden gave free, recall words, and it was found that they were able to memorise words which were associated with survival more than words which were associated with just general modern situations.
 perhaps providing evidence for adaptive memory (proximste) so development as one of the 4 questions from timberk suggests
What is the environment of evolutionary adapted? EEA?
It is the time and place that shaped a particular trait.
 thinking about what caused this trait to occur, for example, with fats, becoming flying organisms, instead of gliding organisms as a previously were.

Give modern example of EEA
The invention of the Internet 1970s)
What is a modern example of EEA, memory in humans
 mental rotation , men tend to be better at mental rotation tasks than women, and this may be because of Hunter gaffer pairs where men tended to hunt more, which involved tracking and following and finding their route back home (Silverman)
New et al (2007) replicated Silverman study when they took participant to farmers market, and guide them around where they couldn’t see the produce .  participants within asked for directions, and women were better than men at finding produce 
Which animals also have big brains
Apes and animals, which tend to have a larger body masses, .  an elephant will be smarter than a snake
Birds are an exception because they have a high brain to body mass ratio, but they are evolved to fly and their body is evolved to be later because of this . 
What do you plan is their brains for?
Hi Lisa, social creatures so for safety and numbers, but this also Critta higher competition

This is why it may be safer to be in the middle of a big group
Explain Dunbar’s number
 Dumbo I’ll get that brain size is bigger because you need more ability to look out for a group.  he was interested in the vehicle tax because it looked up higher auto functions, such as social functions.
Long story, short, the bigger, the group, the bigger, the Neo cortex 
What was Dunbar’s study relating to group size and brain size?
 the number is mean of 150 which is the average group size
 in his Christmas card study he looked at how many people at that time in the early 2000 cards to their friends and again it was about 150, also found in other studies
What is more evidence for Dunbar number?
Be Amish, and if they feel that group is getting too big, then they split off
What are ways to manage group size?
- Conflict resolution, which is easier between small groups.
- Social grooming to strengthen bonds between primates,
- Language for social bonding (mating calls)
Define Machiavellian, intelligence
Not everyone seems to protect the group and some wish to exploit members within the group - less cooperation
 Tactical deception happens amongst some animals with larger neo, cortex volume, and it is unrelated to the size of the social group
What is a limitation of grooming
It takes a long time I am to maintain a group of 150 by grooming. Humans would spend 40 to 45% of their time grooming according to Dumba.
