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January 12, 2010
 What
is comparative cognition?
 What
is studied?
 What
approaches are taken?
 Darwin:
• “the difference in mind between man and the
higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one
of degree and not of kind”
 Comparative
cognition is:
• A comparison of mental abilities of species
• Cognitive abilities and capabilities
 e.g. capabilities: Alex the Grey Parrot
 Review
from last class
• American vs European approaches
 Species
used:
From Shettleworth
(2009), Behav Process.
80, 210-217
 Why
is animal behaviour studied in
psych department, not zoology?
 4 main reasons:
• Uniqueness
• Control & irreversible effects
• Simplicity & generality
• Continuity
 Certain
animals have unique properties
that allow us to study subjects which
could not be studied any other way:
• Mice and genes
• Giant Squid Axons
• High pecking rates of pigeons
• Echolocation in bats
• Absolute pitch in songbirds
 For
practical and ethical reasons, we can
have greater control in animals over
both:
• Genes
• Environments
 Irreversible
Effects:
• Drugs, lesions, gene manipulations
 Insights
from Model Systems
• Mendel studied peas
• Impact on study of schizophrenia
 Generality
of principles
• Building blocks of cognition
 Neurobiological
continuity
• e.g. Hippocampal lesions in mice and men
 Evolutionary
continuity
• Divergent and convergent evolution
• Analagous vs homologous traits
Time
Pigeons
Mice
Rats
Humans
Time
Pigeons
Mice
Rats
Humans
3
main areas:
• Basic processes
• Physical cognition
• Social cognition
 Includes:
• Perception
• Attention
• Memory
• Associative leaning
• Category and concept learning
 Includes:
• Time
• Space
• Number
• Tool Use
• Causal understanding
 Includes:
• Social networks
 Dominance structures
 Social Relationships
 Morality and ethics
• Theory of Mind
• Social learning
 Observational learning
 Imitation
• Communication & Language
 How
is information acquired or learned?
 How
is information processed?
 How
is information retained?
4
approaches to studying animal
behaviour:
• Naturalistic Observation (Ethological)
• Field Experiments
• Behavioural Experiments
• Behavioural Neuroscience (Physiological)
 Named
for ethologist
Niko Tinbergen
 Proximate (How) vs
Ultimate (Why)
 Causation:
• Brain – e.g. Broca’s area
• Hormones – e.g. Testosterone stimulates
aggressive behaviour
• Pheremones – e.g. Spatial behaviour, tracking
 Development
or Ontogeny
• Nature/Nurture – genes and environment
• Critical periods – e.g. language or imprinting
 Function
or Adaptation
• How has an organism evolved for survival?
• e.g. Birds fly south for warmth & food
• e.g. Mammal nurture young
 Phylogeny
• Evolutionary explanations, other than adaptation
• e.g. Genetic drift