Download Comparative Psychology

Comparative Cognition
Understanding the Mind
in Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective
Psy 594 Spring 2012 Intersections in Mind-Brain Research
Dr. Adrian V. Jaeggi
Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, Department of Anthropology
[email protected]
Understanding the Mind
in Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective
We evolved as hunter-gatherers in Africa
We colonized and created different environments, cultures
Understanding the Mind
in Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective
Evolution often seen as linear and goal-directed
“Lower” animals less evolved than humans
(Scala naturae)
Understanding the Mind
in Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective
Evolution is a random process
We’re just one of many animal species,
all of which evolved to survive and reproduce
Understanding the Mind
in Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective
Biology
Comparative Cognition
Psychology
Anthropology
What is Cognition
• Cognition = Acquire, process, store, and act on
information from the environment
 Perception, learning, memory, and decision-making
What is Evolution
• Evolution = Changes in
traits over generations
– Inheritance
– Variation
– Selection
 Adaptations
What is Evolution
1978
1976
Darwin finches
Boag 1983
What is Evolution
• Homologous and analogous traits
– Homology = Common descent
– Analogy = Common selective pressures
 Convergent evolution
How is Cognition related to Evolution?
• Why does the animal do X?
 Tinbergen’s 4 questions
Niko
Tinbergen
Question
Field
How does it work? (Proximate
mechanisms, causation)
Psychology, Neuroscience, Behavioral
endocrinology, etc.
How does it develop? (Ontogeny)
What is its adaptive value? (Ultimate
mechanism, function)
What is its evolutionary history?
(Phylogeny)
Biology (Behavioral ecology, Evolutionary
biology)
How is Cognition related to Evolution?
Environment
Ontogeny
Genes
Causation
Cognitive
mechanisms
Behavior
Function
Fitness
Phylogeny
- Cognitive mechanisms as adaptations to past selective pressures
- “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”
Dobzhansky (1973)
Approaches to Comparative Cognition
Psychology
• Anthropocentric
• “Can animals do what
people do?”
Biology
• Ecological
• “Why (x4) do animals
do what they do in the
wild?”
st Century
•
Any
species
Comparative
Cognition
in
the
21
• Model species
• Observational
• Experimental
 Emery & Clayton 2004
 Call & Tomasello 2008
Common issues
• Anthropomorphism
• Morgan’s Canon: “In no case may we interpret an
action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher
psychical faculty, if it can be interpreted as the
outcome of the exercise of one which stands lower in
the psychological scale” (Morgan 1894)
– “Lower” = associative learning
– “Higher” = reasoning, planning, insight, etc.
 Call & Tomasello 2008
Common issues
• What is “intelligence”?
– Global ability vs. modular traits
 Anthropocentric ideas
“Intelligence” as collection of a species’ specific
cognitive abilities
 Many types of intelligences
 Emery & Clayton 2004
– What is it for?
 Ultimate function
 Ecological perspective
Additional readings:
• Shettleworth 2010
Cognition, Evolution,
and Behavior. Oxford
Univ Press
• Tomasello & Call 1997
Primate Cognition.
Oxford Univ Press