The cognitive map debate in insects: A historical perspective on what is at stake

Dhein, Kelle

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2022.12.008

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 104 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Before the work by O'Keefe and Nadel ( 1978 ), there was much debate about the existence of cognitive maps in a large spectrum of the animal world. This debate still continues, for example, whether cognitive maps exist in insects (Dhein, 2023 ).…”

Section: Previous Work: the Causal Cognitive Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

The emergence of enhanced intelligence in a brain-inspired cognitive architecture

Schneider

2024

Front. Comput. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Causal Cognitive Architecture is a brain-inspired cognitive architecture developed from the hypothesis that the navigation circuits in the ancestors of mammals duplicated to eventually form the neocortex. Thus, millions of neocortical minicolumns are functionally modeled in the architecture as millions of “navigation maps.” An investigation of a cognitive architecture based on these navigation maps has previously shown that modest changes in the architecture allow the ready emergence of human cognitive abilities such as grounded, full causal decision-making, full analogical reasoning, and near-full compositional language abilities. In this study, additional biologically plausible modest changes to the architecture are considered and show the emergence of super-human planning abilities. The architecture should be considered as a viable alternative pathway toward the development of more advanced artificial intelligence, as well as to give insight into the emergence of natural human intelligence.

show abstract

Section: Previous Work: the Causal Cognitive Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

The emergence of enhanced intelligence in a brain-inspired cognitive architecture

Schneider

2024

Front. Comput. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Insects have been important experimental subjects for neuroethologists since the field’s inception (Dhein 2022; Hoyle 1970; Ronacher 2019), and a long-standing debate within insect neuroethology concerns modeling and explaining insect navigation (Dhein 2023). Historically, neuroethologists focused on behavioral traits that were relatively stereotyped and reproducible in laboratory settings (e.g., a toad shooting its tongue at prey, a fish’s rhythmic fin movement, or a cricket singing).…”

Section: The Cognitive Map Debate In Neuroethologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although participants do not explicitly frame the cognitive map debate in terms of instinct versus learning, there are historical ties and conceptual affinities linking the cognitive map debate to twentieth-century debates about the relative contributions of instinct versus learning to animal behavior (Dhein 2023). The cognitive map model aligns with American psychology’s learning-heavy approach to theorizing about animal behavior, while the toolkit model aligns with German ethology’s instinct-heavy approach.…”

Section: The Cognitive Map Debate In Neuroethologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiscale Modeling in Neuroethology: The Significance of the Mesoscale

Dhein

Bursten

2023

Philos. sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent accounts of multiscale modeling investigate ontic and epistemic constraints imposed by relations between component models at varying relative scales (macro, meso, micro). These accounts often focus especially on the role of the meso, or intermediate, relative scale in a multiscale model. We aid this effort by highlighting a novel role for mesoscale models: they can function as a focal point, and rationale, for disagreement between researchers who otherwise share theoretical commitments. We illustrate with a case study in multiscale modeling of insect behavior, arguing that the cognitive map debate in neuroethology research is best understood as a mesoscale disagreement.

show abstract

“…From this, novel routes and shortcuts to the goal can be created. While the cognitive map has received widespread attention across a range of species (birds, [ 4 ] insects [ 5 ] (but see [ 6 ] and mammals [ 7 ]), an alternative account of spatial learning based on associative learning theory (e.g., see [ 8 ]) may provide a better and arguably simpler explanation. With this model, only certain elements of the environment are learned and associated, and the association is formed only when required; as such, there is no need to develop a full map of the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landmark Distance Impacts the Overshadowing Effect in Spatial Learning Using a Virtual Water Maze Task with Healthy Adults

Deery,

Commins

2023

Brain Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cue competition is a key element of many associative theories of learning. Overshadowing, an important aspect of cue competition, is a phenomenon in which learning about a cue is reduced when it is accompanied by a second cue. Overshadowing has been observed across many domains, but there has been limited investigation of overshadowing in human spatial learning. This experiment explored overshadowing using two landmarks/cues (at different distances to the goal) in a virtual water maze task with young, healthy adult participants. Experiment 1 initially examined whether the cues used were equally salient. Results indicated that both gained equal control over performance. In experiment 2, overshadowing was examined using the two cues from experiment 1. Results indicated that overshadowing occurred during spatial learning and that the near cue controlled searching significantly more than the far cue. Furthermore, the far cue appeared to have been completely ignored, suggesting that learning strategies requiring the least amount of effort were employed by participants. Evidence supporting an associative account of human spatial navigation and the influence of proximal cues was discussed.

show abstract

The cognitive map debate in insects: A historical perspective on what is at stake

Cited by 7 publications

References 104 publications

The emergence of enhanced intelligence in a brain-inspired cognitive architecture

The emergence of enhanced intelligence in a brain-inspired cognitive architecture

Multiscale Modeling in Neuroethology: The Significance of the Mesoscale

Landmark Distance Impacts the Overshadowing Effect in Spatial Learning Using a Virtual Water Maze Task with Healthy Adults

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About