Ch.13 Comparative cognition

What is Comparative Cognition/ Cognitive Behaviorism/Animal Cognition?

  • (Comparative Cognition) –study of information processing across variety of species

  • Increasingly popular research area

  • (Comparative Research Designs)–


How to study Animal Memory

  • Humans closely identify memory with (verbal behavior)

  • Animals (do not) have verbal ability

  • Researchers study animal memory from delayed (matching-to-sample):

    • animal first shown sample stimulus

    • following delay, animal required to select that stimulus out of set of alternative stimuli

    • measure extent animal can select correct stimulus

  • (Direct Forgetting)–animals display poorer memory for that future stimulus


Memory in food-storing birds

  • Birds have amazing (Locational) memory

    • Example = Clark’s nutcrackers and black-capped chickadees can store thousands of food items across hundreds of locations; will retrieve most throughout winter

  • (locational memory) highly correlated with size of (hippocampus)(area of brain for spatial memory)

  • Similar species can have (similar/different) abilities if subjected to (similar/different)environment


Can Animals Count? The Case of Clever Hans

  • (Numerosity)–understanding of quantity

  • 1800s, German horse “Hans” demonstrated correct answers to math questions Hans could not answer questions correctly if

    • a) (he could not see the person asking the questions),

    • b) (The person asking question did not know the answer)


Evidence for Numerical Ability in Animals

  • Tests include matching-to-sample task-tests & categorization

  • Birds good at task as long as numbers were (small(<3))

  • (False- Bottom Bucket) Study:

    • Mongoose lemurs will keep searching after retrieving one item if they witnessed two or more items being placed in the bucket

    • Lemurs can also distinguish between larger quantities in (larger) proportional sense

  • Primates have been repeatedly tested and all have demonstrated some capacity for distinguishing among small numbers

  • Larger numbers well-understood only by (older humans)


Category Learning and Relational Decisions

  • Can animals determine whether items belong together?

    • Category learning uses generalization & discrimination

    • Simple categorization? (yes)

    • (transitive Inference) –Yes; relationship between two objects can be inferred by (knowing relationship of each to 3rd object)

    • Ring-tailed lemurs (social) performed well; able to use previous training inferring relationships among new item pairs

    • Mongoose lemurs responded (no better than chance) , but responded as well as ring-tailed after feedback on performance

    • Both species capable of learning task; ring-tailed lemurs learn more readily, with less explicit instruction

    • (Social Hierarchy) is evolutionary pressure enhancing skill acquisition


Making and Using Tools

  • (Tool use)= evidence that animal has higher cognitive abilities

    • Using item in a manipulative way demonstrates that individual understands relationship between objects and effects

  • Will just any rock or twig be sufficient for the task?

    • Not much selectivity in some species; lots in others

    • Some species keep tools for more than one use

  • Where does the ability to use or create tools come from?

    • Animals can learn to use tools through observation, social interaction, practice

    • (Crows/ Chimpanzees) demonstrated novel use of implements, novel modification of implements over time, and modification of implements that they had not previously encountered

    • Tool use often involves (insight), (innovation), and (social learning)


(Theory of mind)

  • Tendency to attribute mental states to others; seeing oneself as separate from others, and recognizing that content of another’s mind is different from one’s own


Self-Awareness and Differentiating Self from Others

  • Many species lack that self-awareness

  • Classic test of self-awareness–(mark/mirror task)

    • 1. Without awareness, subject marked on face with noticeable odorless paint/makeup

    • 2. Subject given access to a mirror

    • 3. Subject’s behavior coded for reaction to mirror image

  • Humans ((24 )months) and chimps ((28)months) demonstrate self-awareness

  • Dolphins, magpies, elephants, orangutans, gibbons, gorillas, pigeons also demonstrate self-awareness

  • Considerable variance for cognitive abilities within species

What thoughts emerge from self-awareness?

  • (Hidden banana task)–subordinate chimps preferentially go for hidden banana

  • Demonstrates that they (use information ) about what could be known by the dominant chimp to their advantage

  • Similar research reveals (jays, raven, and baboons) act as if they are inferring knowledge of another individua


Cooperation and Deception

  • (cooperation rate)–competition in one environment impedes cooperation in other settings

  • (deception common)–concealment of information or presentation of misinformation

    • chimps capable of deceiving one another and humans

    • chimp limped after violent encounter with rival, but only when rival was watching

  • Interpret anecdotal evidence (Caution)!


Language

  • (Communication)–process of sending and receiving signals; does not need to be intentional

    • Example = humans talking, dogs growling

    • Includes:

      • (symbol)–cue represents experience/object that can be shared

      • (Syntax)–grammatical rules where symbols are arranged

      • (semantics)–meaning associated with symbols

        • For communication to be called language, it must meet the standards that we use to define human language

  • Standards allow us to communicate with others intentionally and with great specificity

    • Example = body language is not really language at all

  • Can Animals Talk

    • (cross-fostering expression)–chimpanzees were raised in human foster homes

    • Viki can say (cup, up, mama, and papa) only

  • (Artificial language experiment)

    • lab situations using artificially-constructed languages of visual symbols with smaller vocabulary and very (rigid grammar)

    • Chimps did use symbols to (represent/categorize )objects

    • Do have ability to (reference)objects

    • Unclear if chimps (mastered grammar)

  • Sign language experiments

    • Cross-fostering studies on chimps’ ability to learn ASL in natural home environment; (way human children learn language)

    • (modeling/molding) (placing ape’s hands in correct signing position and associating that position with object being discussed)

    • All could use arbitrary ASL signs to refer to objects and could easily categorize novel objects using signs

    • Whether ASL-trained chimps exhibited syntax and semantics (is much less clear)


Conclusion

  • What is Comparative Cognition?

  • Memory in Animals

    • How to Study Animal Memory

    • Memory in Food-Storing Birds

  • Can Animals Count?

    • The Case of Clever Hans

    • Beyond Clever Hans: Evidence for Numerical Ability in Animals

  • Category Learning and Relational Decisions

  • Concepts of Tools, Self, & Others

    • Making and Using Tools

    • Theory of Mind

    • Self-Awareness and Differentiating Self from Others

    • Cooperation and Deception

  • Language

    • Can Animals Talk?

    • Sign Language Experiments

    • Artificial Language Experiments