Reptilian Cognition: A More Complex Picture via Integration of Neurological Mechanisms, Behavioral Constraints, and Evolutionary Context

Roth, Timothy C.; Krochmal, Aaron R.; LaDage, Lara D.

doi:10.1002/bies.201900033

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 111 publications

(171 reference statements)

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“…The usual approach is to present the same task to different species. This strategy is problematic when the experimental task is not equally relevant to each of the compared species (Boesch 2007;Tomasello and Call 2008;MacLean et al 2012;Roth et al 2019). One classic example is the question of whether animals, chimpanzees in particular, can take the visual perspective of others.…”

Section: Ecology Perception and Crucial Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Studies should be based on detailed knowledge of the natural behavior and the ecological environment of the test species, so that it is possible to generate precise hypotheses about the species’ performance on a specific cognitive task ( Bates and Byrne 2007 ). Experimental settings should take into account social structures, developmental constraints, and preferred modality of the species under study ( Bates and Byrne 2007 ; Roth et al 2019 ). Studies with nonhuman animals should no longer target only typically human cognitive skills such as tool-use, self-control, or social cooperation, but should also test skills in which humans might be outperformed by other animals, such as visual and odor perception, working memory, and reaction time (i.e., De Waal 2016 ; Bräuer and Belger 2018 ; Inoue and Matsuzawa 2007 ).…”

Section: New Challenges In Animal Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… A holistic approach should be implemented to better integrate laboratory and fieldwork of behavioral ecologists, including the conducting of more rigorous observations and field experiments ( Janmaat 2019 ; Boesch 2010 ; Bueno-Guerra and Amici 2018 ). An even wider variety of animal taxa should be tested—starting with species that are as yet untested and under-represented in experiments—to gain a whole picture of cognition in the Animal kingdom ( Vonk 2016 ; Roth et al 2019 ). …”

Section: New Challenges In Animal Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimental settings should take into account social structures, developmental constraints, and preferred modality of the species under study (Bates and Byrne 2007;Roth et al 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An even wider variety of animal taxa should be tested-starting with species that are as yet untested and under-represented in experiments-to gain a whole picture of cognition in the Animal kingdom (Vonk 2016;Roth et al 2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Old and New Approaches to Animal Cognition: There Is Not “One Cognition”

et al. 2020

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Using the comparative approach, researchers draw inferences about the evolution of cognition. Psychologists have postulated several hypotheses to explain why certain species are cognitively more flexible than others, and these hypotheses assume that certain cognitive skills are linked together to create a generally “smart” species. However, empirical findings suggest that several animal species are highly specialized, showing exceptional skills in single cognitive domains while performing poorly in others. Although some cognitive skills may indeed overlap, we cannot a priori assume that they do across species. We argue that the term “cognition” has often been used by applying an anthropocentric viewpoint rather than a biocentric one. As a result, researchers tend to overrate cognitive skills that are human-like and assume that certain skills cluster together in other animals as they do in our own species. In this paper, we emphasize that specific physical and social environments create selection pressures that lead to the evolution of certain cognitive adaptations. Skills such as following the pointing gesture, tool-use, perspective-taking, or the ability to cooperate evolve independently from each other as a concrete result of specific selection pressures, and thus have appeared in distantly related species. Thus, there is not “one cognition”. Our argument is founded upon traditional Darwinian thinking, which—although always at the forefront of biology—has sometimes been neglected in animal cognition research. In accordance with the biocentric approach, we advocate a broader empirical perspective as we are convinced that to better understand animal minds, comparative researchers should focus much more on questions and experiments that are ecologically valid. We should investigate nonhuman cognition for its own sake, not only in comparison to the human model.

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Section: Ecology Perception and Crucial Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: New Challenges In Animal Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: New Challenges In Animal Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimental settings should take into account social structures, developmental constraints, and preferred modality of the species under study (Bates and Byrne 2007;Roth et al 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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