scholarly journals How can we study the evolution of animal minds?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Cauchoix ◽  
Alexis Chaine
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Animal Behaviour ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Cognitive Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms

During the last 50 years, comparative cognition and neurosciences have improved our understanding of animal minds while evolutionary ecology has revealed how selection acts on traits through evolutionary time. We describe how this evolutionary approach can be used to understand the evolution of animal cognition. We recount how comparative and fitness methods have been used to understand the evolution of cognition and outline how these methods could be extended to gain new insights into cognitive evolution. The fitness approach, in particular, offers unprecedented opportunities to study the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for variation in cognition within species and could allow us to investigate both proximate (ie: neural and developmental) and ultimate (ie: ecological and evolutionary) underpinnings of animal cognition together. Our goal in this review is to build a bridge between cognitive neuroscientist and evolutionary biologists, illustrate how their research could be complementary, and encourage evolutionary ecologists to include explicit attention to cognitive processes in their studies of behaviour. We believe that in doing so, we can break new ground in our understanding of the evolution of cognition as well as gain a much better understanding of animal behaviour.

Studying mental states is not a research program for comparative cognition

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara J. Shettleworth
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Existence Proof ◽  
Cognitive Evolution ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Human Uniqueness

AbstractThe title of the target article suggests an agenda for research on cognitive evolution that is doubly flawed. It implies that we can learn directly about animals' mental states, and its focus on human uniqueness impels a search for an existence proof rather than for understanding what components of given cognitive processes are shared among species and why.

scholarly journals Conceptual Analysis and Empirical Observations of Animal Minds

Philosophia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Parellada
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
First Order

AbstractThe relation between conceptual analysis and empirical observations when ascribing or denying concepts and beliefs to non-human animals is not straightforward. In order to reflect on this relation, I focus on two theoretical proposals (Davidson’s and Allen’s) and one empirical case (vervet monkeys’ alarm calls), the three of which are permanently discussed and considered in the literature on animal cognition. First, I review briefly Davidson’s arguments for denying thought to non-linguistic animals. Second, I review Allen’s criteria for ascribing concepts to creatures capable of correcting their discriminatory powers by taking into account their previous errors. Allen affirms that this is an empirical proposal which offers good reasons, but not necessary or sufficient conditions, for concept attribution. Against Allen, I argue that his important proposal is not an empirical, but a conceptual one. Third, I resort to vervet monkeys to show that Allen’s criteria, and not Davidson’s, are very relevant for ascribing first-order and denying second-order beliefs to this species and thus make sense of the idea of animal cognition.

scholarly journals Cognition and the evolution of camouflage

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1825) ◽  
pp. 20152890 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Skelhorn ◽  
Candy Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Selective Pressure ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
The Past ◽  
Camouflage Patterns ◽  
Predator Defence

Camouflage is one of the most widespread forms of anti-predator defence and prevents prey individuals from being detected or correctly recognized by would-be predators. Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in both the evolution of prey camouflage patterns, and in understanding animal cognition in a more ecological context. However, these fields rarely collide, and the role of cognition in the evolution of camouflage is poorly understood. Here, we review what we currently know about the role of both predator and prey cognition in the evolution of prey camouflage, outline why cognition may be an important selective pressure driving the evolution of camouflage and consider how studying the cognitive processes of animals may prove to be a useful tool to study the evolution of camouflage, and vice versa. In doing so, we highlight that we still have a lot to learn about the role of cognition in the evolution of camouflage and identify a number of avenues for future research.

scholarly journals The hidden side of animal cognition research: Scientists’ attitudes toward bias, replicability and scientific practice

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256607
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Farrar ◽  
Ljerka Ostojić ◽  
Nicola S. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Questionable Research Practices ◽  
Replication Studies

Animal cognition research aims to understand animal minds by using a diverse range of methods across an equally diverse range of species. Throughout its history, the field has sought to mitigate various biases that occur when studying animal minds, from experimenter effects to anthropomorphism. Recently, there has also been a focus on how common scientific practices might affect the reliability and validity of published research. Usually, these issues are discussed in the literature by a small group of scholars with a specific interest in the topics. This study aimed to survey a wider range of animal cognition researchers to ask about their attitudes towards classic and contemporary issues facing the field. Two-hundred and ten active animal cognition researchers completed our survey, and provided answers on questions relating to bias, replicability, statistics, publication, and belief in animal cognition. Collectively, researchers were wary of bias in the research field, but less so in their own work. Over 70% of researchers endorsed Morgan’s canon as a useful principle but many caveated this in their free-text responses. Researchers self-reported that most of their studies had been published, however they often reported that studies went unpublished because they had negative or inconclusive results, or results that questioned “preferred” theories. Researchers rarely reported having performed questionable research practices themselves—however they thought that other researchers sometimes (52.7% of responses) or often (27.9% of responses) perform them. Researchers near unanimously agreed that replication studies are important but too infrequently performed in animal cognition research, 73.0% of respondents suggested areas of animal cognition research could experience a ‘replication crisis’ if replication studies were performed. Consistently, participants’ free-text responses provided a nuanced picture of the challenges animal cognition research faces, which are available as part of an open dataset. However, many researchers appeared concerned with how to interpret negative results, publication bias, theoretical bias and reliability in areas of animal cognition research. Collectively, these data provide a candid overview of barriers to progress in animal cognition and can inform debates on how individual researchers, as well as organizations and journals, can facilitate robust scientific research in animal cognition.

scholarly journals Less Is More: Genome Reduction and the Emergence of Cooperation—Implications into the Coevolution of Microbial Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuele Bosi ◽  
Flavia Mascagni
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Genome Reduction ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
Ecological Patterns ◽  
Emergence Of Cooperation ◽  
Antagonistic Interactions

Organisms change to adapt to the environment in which they live, evolving with coresiding individuals. Classic Darwinism postulates the primal importance of antagonistic interactions and selfishness as a major driver of evolution, promoting an increase of genomic and organism complexities. Recently, advancements in evolutionary ecology reshaped this notion, showing how leakiness in biological functions favours the adaptive genome reduction, leading to the emergence of codependence patterns. Microbial communities are complex entities exerting a gargantuan influence on the environment and the biology of the eukaryotic hosts they are associated with. Notwithstanding, we are still far from a comprehension of the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms governing the community dynamics. Here, we review the implications of genome streamlining into the unfolding of codependence within microbial communities and how this translates to an understanding of ecological patterns underlying the emerging properties of the community.

Comparative Cognition: Toward a General Understanding of Cognition in Behavior

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
The Future

Human and nonhuman animals alike must adjust to complex and ever-changing circumstances if they are to survive and reproduce. Advanced neural mechanisms enable animals to remember the past, to act in the present, and to plan for the future. Exploring the species generality of cognitive processes in behavior is central to the field of comparative cognition. A comparative perspective may not only broaden but also deepen our understanding of cognition—both in human and in nonhuman animals.

scholarly journals A cognitive model’s view of animal cognition

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney D’mello ◽  
Stan Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Hypotheses Generation

Abstract Although it is a relatively new field of study, the animal cognition literature is quite extensive and difficult to synthesize. This paper explores the contributions a comprehensive, computational, cognitive model can make toward organizing and assimilating this literature, as well as toward identifying important concepts and their interrelations. Using the LIDA model as an example, a framework is described within which to integrate the diverse research in animal cognition. Such a framework can provide both an ontology of concepts and their relations, and a working model of an animal’s cognitive processes that can compliment active empirical research. In addition to helping to account for a broad range of cognitive processes, such a model can help to comparatively assess the cognitive capabilities of different animal species. After deriving an ontology for animal cognition from the LIDA model, we apply it to develop the beginnings of a database that maps the cognitive facilities of a variety of animal species. We conclude by discussing future avenues of research, particularly the use of computational models of animal cognition as valuable tools for hypotheses generation and testing.

scholarly journals Core systems of geometry in animal minds

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1603) ◽  
pp. 2784-2793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Spelke ◽  
Sang Ah Lee
Keyword(s):  
Animal Cognition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Symbolic Systems ◽  
Extended Surfaces

Research on humans from birth to maturity converges with research on diverse animals to reveal foundational cognitive systems in human and animal minds. The present article focuses on two such systems of geometry. One system represents places in the navigable environment by recording the distance and direction of the navigator from surrounding, extended surfaces. The other system represents objects by detecting the shapes of small-scale forms. These two systems show common signatures across animals, suggesting that they evolved in distant ancestral species. As children master symbolic systems such as maps and language, they come productively to combine representations from the two core systems of geometry in uniquely human ways; these combinations may give rise to abstract geometric intuitions. Studies of the ontogenetic and phylogenetic sources of abstract geometry therefore are illuminating of both human and animal cognition. Research on animals brings simpler model systems and richer empirical methods to bear on the analysis of abstract concepts in human minds. In return, research on humans, relating core cognitive capacities to symbolic abilities, sheds light on the content of representations in animal minds.

Animal cognition and animal behaviour

2001 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara J. Shettleworth
Keyword(s):  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Animal Behaviour
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