Animal cognition

Healy, Susan D.

doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12366

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Furthermore, using only one task is unlikely to capture the expression of spatial learning in different contexts (Pritchard et al, 2017). For example, a current focus of research in food caching species is to measure spatial learning under standardised conditions, usually on a small scale, to infer performance in cache retrieval at a larger spatial scale, or to predict fitness, but it remains unclear whether observed associations relate to navigation through the environment or cache retrieval at a fine spatial scale (Healy, 2019;Healy et al, 2005Healy et al, , 2009Krebs et al, 1990;McGregor & Healy, 1999). Similarly, work on parasitic cowbirds in which the females, but not males, need to locate and remember potential host nests, have found that females out-perform males in some spatial learning tasks, but not others, further suggesting that individual differences in spatial ability may depend on task design and scale of spatial location (Sherry & Guigueno, 2019).…”

Section: Spatial Learning Speedmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence for cross-contextual consistency in spatial learning and behavioural flexibility in a passerine

Troisi

Cooke

Davidson

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Although the evolution of cognitive differences among species has long been of interest in ecology, whether natural selection acts on cognitive processes within populations has only begun to receive similar attention. One of the key challenges is to understand how consistently cognitive traits within any one domain are expressed over time and across different contexts, as this has direct implications for the way in which selection might act on this variation. Animal studies typically measure a cognitive domain using only one task in one context, and assume that this captures the likely expression of that domain in different contexts. This deficit is not surprising because, from an ecologist's perspective, cognitive tasks are notoriously laborious to employ, and for design reasons most tasks can only be deployed in a specific context. Thus our knowledge of whether individual differences in cognitive abilities are consistent across contexts is limited. Using a wild population of great tits (Parus major) we characterised consistency of two cognitive abilities, each in two different contexts: 1) spatial learning at two different spatial scales, and 2) behavioural flexibility as both performance in a detour reaching task and reversal learning in a spatial task. We found no evidence of a correlation between the two spatial learning speeds, or between the two measures of behavioural flexibility. This suggests that cognitive performance is highly plastic and sensitive to differences across tasks, or that variants of these well-known tasks may tap into different combinations of both cognitive and non-cognitive mechanisms, or that they simply do not adequately measure each putative cognitive domain. Our results highlight the challenges of developing standardised cognitive assays to explain natural behaviour and to understand the selective consequences of that variation.

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Section: Spatial Learning Speedmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence for cross-contextual consistency in spatial learning and behavioural flexibility in a passerine

Troisi

Cooke

Davidson

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…If individuals use different cognitive processes for spatial cognition in different environments, or under different conditions (e.g., season, stress), then it becomes crucial to measure spatial cognition using several tasks to better understand individual variation in the underlying processes. For example, a current focus of research in food caching species is to measure spatial cognition under standardized conditions, usually on a small scale, to infer performance in cache retrieval at a larger spatial scale, but it remains unclear whether observed associations relate to navigation through the environment, or cache retrieval at a fine spatial scale (Healy, 2019;Healy et al, 2005Healy et al, , 2009Krebs et al, 1990;McGregor & Healy, 1999). Similarly, work on parasitic cowbirds in which the females, but not males, need to locate and remember potential host nests, have found that females outperform males in some spatial cognition tasks, but not others, further suggesting that individual differences in spatial ability may depend on task design and scale of spatial location (Sherry & Guigueno, 2019).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

No Evidence for Cross-Contextual Consistency in Spatial Cognition or Behavioral Flexibility in a Passerine

Troisi¹,

Cooke²,

Davidson³

et al. 2021

AB&C

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Although the evolution of cognitive differences among species has long been of interest in ecology, whether natural selection acts on cognitive processes within populations has only begun to receive similar attention. One of the key challenges is to understand how consistently cognitive traits within any one domain are expressed over time and across different contexts, as this has direct implications for the way in which selection might act on this variation. Animal studies typically measure a cognitive domain using only one task in one context and assume that this captures the likely expression of that domain in different contexts. This use of limited and restricted measures is not surprising because, from an ecologist’s perspective, cognitive tasks are laborious to employ, and if the measure requires learning a particular aspect of the task (e.g., reward type, cue availability, scale of testing), then it is difficult to repeat the task as the learning is context specific. Thus, our knowledge of whether individual differences in cognitive abilities are consistent across contexts is limited, and current evidence suggests that consistency is weak. We tested up to 32 wild great tits (Parus major) to characterize the consistency of two cognitive abilities, each in two different contexts: 1) spatial cognition at two different spatial scales, and 2) behavioral flexibility as performance in a detour reaching task and reversal learning in a spatial task. We found no evidence of a correlation between individuals’ performance in two measures of spatial cognition or two measures of behavioral flexibility. This suggests that cognitive performance is highly plastic and sensitive to differences across tasks, that variants of these well-known tasks may tap into different combinations of both cognitive and non-cognitive mechanisms, or that the tasks simply do not adequately measure each putative cognitive domain. Our results highlight the challenges of developing standardized cognitive assays to explain natural behavior and to understand the selective consequences of that variation.

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“…12,13 La cognición incluye todas las formas en que los animales adquieren información del ambiente por medio de los sentidos, los procesos que subyacen al procesamiento de la información externa e interna al individuo, y por supuesto la forma en que ésta es almacenada e influye en la toma de decisiones. [2][3][4][5] La cognición animal puede ser entendida desde la psicología comparada, pero no implica una posición radical sobre si los animales tienen o no conciencia o autoconciencia de su existencia. Tampoco es excluyente del conductismo, ni con cualquier otra forma de aprendizaje, ya que las utiliza como paradigmas para identificar diferencias y semejanzas entre los individuos y sus especies por grandes o pequeñas que sean.…”

Section: ¿Qué Es La Cognición Y Para Qué Sirve?unclassified

“…1,2 En los últimos años, un creciente número de estudios científicos sobre el tema ha demostrado que muchas especies animales, entre ellas el cerdo, poseen la capacidad de crear conocimiento a partir del preexistente, relacionarlo entre sí, y realizar conductas complejas que tradicionalmente se consideraban únicas de los humanos. [3][4][5] Históricamente, el estudio de la cognición animal ha generado gran especulación entre la comunidad científica, dadas las comparaciones entre lo observado en humanos y en animales nohumanos. No obstante, es importante entender que la forma en que una capacidad cognitiva se expresa en una especie no necesita ser idéntica a la forma en que se expresa en otra, y sin embargo ser igual de compleja y funcional.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…En el caso de los cerdos, múltiples estudios han mostrado que estos poseen la capacidad de realizar procesos cognitivos, similares a los observados en otras especies animales a las que consideramos superiores e inteligentes, como primates, aves y cetáceos, por mencionar algunos. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] A pesar de ello, el uso que se le ha dado a este conocimiento poco ha impactado el aprovechamiento de su carne, el mejoramiento de sus condiciones de vida, y su uso como modelo animal para el estudio de trastornos y enfermedades comunes el humano. [9][10][11] Identificar las características sensoriales y cognitivas del cerdo puede ayudarnos a diseñar adecuados programas de manejo reproductivo y de salud, que además de ser eficientes, sean amables con las necesidades biológicas del animal en cuestión.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

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Cognición en cerdos

Paredes-Ramos

Espinosa-Palencia

Espejo-Beristain

et al. 2020

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El cerdo es una de las especies animales más utilizadas en la producción de carne para consumo humano por lo que su producción representa una importante fuente de proteína animal y de ingresos económicos para un gran número de personas. Por si fuera poco, en los últimos años, su uso se ha extendido al campo científico donde es utilizado como modelo animal para el desarrollo de técnicas quirúrgicas, evaluación de medicamentos, cultivo de tejidos y para el estudio de muchas enfermedades que actualmente acosan a la humanidad. A pesar del reciente incremento en los estudios sobre el comportamiento y la fisiología del cerdo, la información sobre sus características cognitivas aún es escasa. No obstante, los estudios al respecto sugieren que dichos animales son capaces de llevar a cabo sofisticados procesos cognitivos tales como el uso de la memoria espacial y episódica, la discriminación y generalización de objetos y personas, así como el entendimiento de fenómenos físicos como el reflejo de un espejo. Por todo ello, aquí, realizamos una revisión bibliográfica sobre las características sensoriales y cognitivas del cerdo, y discutimos la potencial aplicación de este conocimiento en beneficio de los seres humanos, pero también en pro de proveer condiciones de cautiverio que favorezcan su bienestar.

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Animal cognition

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

No evidence for cross-contextual consistency in spatial learning and behavioural flexibility in a passerine

No evidence for cross-contextual consistency in spatial learning and behavioural flexibility in a passerine

No Evidence for Cross-Contextual Consistency in Spatial Cognition or Behavioral Flexibility in a Passerine

Cognición en cerdos

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