Tinbergen's four questions: an appreciation and an update

Bateson, Patrick; Laland, Kevin N.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2013.09.013

Cited by 333 publications

(226 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…At the moment, we do not know how such experience influences problem-solving abilities. Many social ecological factors influence the individual development of dogs, and these factors have been influenced by both conspecific and heterospecific social partners over multiple generations (Bateson & Laland, 2013). In the case of dogs, humans play a specific role in constructing their developmental environment.…”

Section: How Does It Develop? Missing Links To Behavioral Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Trends in Canine Problem-Solving and Cognition

Miklósi

Kubinyi

2016

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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Dogs have occupied a central place in modern comparative cognition, partly because of their specific past and present relationship with humans. Over the years, we have gained insights about the functioning of the dog's mind, which has helped us to understand how dogs' problem-solving abilities differ from those present in related species such as the wolf. Novel methodologies are also emerging that allow for the study of neural and genetic mechanisms that control mental functions. By providing an overview from an ethological perspective, we call for greater integration of the field and a better understanding of natural dog behavior as a way to generate scientific hypotheses. Keywordscanines; problem-solving; personality; heterochrony The New Momentum of Dogs in Comparative CognitionDuring the hundred years that followed groundbreaking research initiated by Pavlov, Thorndike, and many others, comparative cognition had not reached its full potential. In the mid-1990s, research focused mostly on humans (infants) and apes, with some attention to a few mammalian and bird species (for review, see Shettleworth, 2010). Research on dogs including observational work by ethologists (Fox, 1971) and experimental studies exploring their problem-solving abilities (Frank, 1980) helped to stimulate renewed comparative interest in the study of canines. The (re)discovery of dogs as a subject of interest was a true revolution for the field of comparative cognition, which is only now beginning to fulfil its early promise. Interestingly, this process began only recently

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Section: How Does It Develop? Missing Links To Behavioral Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Trends in Canine Problem-Solving and Cognition

Miklósi

Kubinyi

2016

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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“…Only now, 50 years after Tinbergen's seminal 1963 publication [8], efforts to integrate neural, genetic, epigenetic, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary studies of behavior are gaining increased prominence [7,[9][10][11]101], facilitated by multiple factors, including innovative technologies (e.g., high-throughput sequencing [12]), and analytical procedures (e.g., improved statistical methods for modeling and comparative analyses [13]) as well as the increasing ease of application of these advances to field studies (e.g., biotelemetry [14,15]). As a result, it is increasingly possible to address all four of Tinbergen's questions concurrently for the same species [3,7,10,11,16], which is most effective when using modern comparative methods [13].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An evolutionary framework for studying mechanisms of social behavior

Hofmann

Beery

Blumstein³

et al. 2014

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

166

133

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Social interactions are central to most animals and have a fundamental impact upon the phenotype of an individual. Social behavior (social interactions among conspecifics) represents a central challenge to the integration of the functional and mechanistic bases of complex behavior. Traditionally, studies of proximate and ultimate elements of social behavior have been conducted by distinct groups of researchers, with little communication across perceived disciplinary boundaries. However, recent technological advances, coupled with increased recognition of the substantial variation in mechanisms underlying social interactions, should compel investigators from divergent disciplines to pursue more integrative analyses of social behavior. We propose an integrative conceptual framework intended to guide researchers towards a comprehensive understanding of the evolution and maintenance of mechanisms governing variation in sociality.The study of social behavior in the 21st century All animals interact with conspecifics at some point in their lives. Members of the same species tend to be each other's fiercest competitors and strongest allies, as evidenced by the intense cooperation and conflict that characterize many intraspecific interactions [1]. These interactions are the products of genetic, epigenetic, endocrine, and neural mechanisms that -in conjunction with environmental conditions -affect Darwinian fitness and evolve via natural selection. Building upon Aristotle's four questions, Tinbergen [2] posited that understanding behavior requires the integration of studies of mechanism and function. Only by asking questions both from a proximate perspective (i.e., focusing on causation and development) and an ultimate perspective (i.e., focusing on adaptive value and evolutionary descent) can behavior be fully understood. Social behavior in particular lends itself to such an integrative approach not only because it commands the attention of many disciplines [3] but also because even many behaviors commonly considered nonsocial often occur in a social context (e.g., mating, fighting, parental care). Social behavior is also special because the selective agents are other members of the same species, and this results in intriguing evolutionary dynamics. Nevertheless, in the intervening decades since Tinbergen's

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“…Thus, because they do not address the affective factors that mediate animal behaviour, Tinbergens four questions in behavioural biology, although widely accepted, appear to be a limited approach of animal behaviour (see also Bateson and Laland 2013). What is needed is a multidimensional approach of behaviour that includes the affective dimension (see also Panksepp 2011).…”

Section: B More On Mentalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual and methodological issues in comparative neuroscience and psychology: a reassessment

Willemet¹

2015

Preprint

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By analysing species differences in brain and behaviour, comparative neuroscience & psychology can help to understand the nature and mechanisms of behaviour. The task is enormously complex due to the number of dimensions onto which species can differ. In addition, it is shown here that the approaches, methods and concepts used in these fields contain numerous issues. Many of these issues result from the persistence of misconceptions on the evolution of brain and behaviour; despite increasing evidence that more complex approaches and concepts should be considered. Most of the issues discussed here have been presented in a previous publication (Willemet, 2013(Willemet, , doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00396) but have not been addressed by recent literature. They are restated here in detail, using as a reference a recent paper resulting from the cooperative work of many researchers in the field (Maclean et al. 2014, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1323533111). The factors responsible for the evolution of brain structure size are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the adjustment effect recently introduced (Willemet, 2015(Willemet, , doi: 10.3389/fnana.2015. The traditional interpretation of the concept of allometry is critically evaluated, and an alternative is discussed. It is also argued that the lack of consideration towards emotional, motivational and attentional factors constitutes a major obstacle to understanding the evolution of behaviour. A dataset on the neuroecology of repertoire size in songbirds is analyzed using the framework discussed here. It is concluded that until the issues detailed here are addressed, progress in our understanding of the evolution of brain and behaviour will be undermined.

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Tinbergen's four questions: an appreciation and an update

Cited by 333 publications

References 45 publications

Current Trends in Canine Problem-Solving and Cognition

Current Trends in Canine Problem-Solving and Cognition

An evolutionary framework for studying mechanisms of social behavior

Conceptual and methodological issues in comparative neuroscience and psychology: a reassessment

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