Animal Cognition Lecture Notes 2024 PDF

Vertebrate skeletal muscle fibers Insect muscle fibers Why did these different neural control mechanisms evolve? Vertebrates Insects Evolutionary cause Neuron Excitatory and Insects dev...

Vertebrate skeletal muscle fibers Insect muscle fibers Why did these different neural control mechanisms evolve? Vertebrates Insects Evolutionary cause Neuron Excitatory and Insects developed inhibitory neurons for finer muscle Type Excitatory only inhibitory control Precision of Lower, all‐or‐nothing Higher, graded Insect flight and complex terrestrial locomotion Control contraction contraction required more precise movements Metabolic Insect system more energy‐efficient for small body Efficiency Lower Higher size Body Plan Centralized control for Distributed control Adaptation non‐segmented body for segmented body Different body plans led to distinct control strategies Not relevant for exam 1  Animal cognition Paul Szyszka (Dept. Zoology) Questions? Anonymously: Blackboard Discussion Board or [email protected] or my office B111 (Benham building) 2 Sources AI‐powered search engine that provides more accurate information and references and hallucinates less than ChatGPT or Claude. I used it to gather and organize information for lecture slides. Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Perplexity.ai Campbell et al. Chapter 52...if not otherwise stated 3  Animal cognition After this lecture you should be able to: Define cognition in animals Compare classical and operant conditioning, providing examples of each Evaluate evidence for higher‐order cognitive abilities in animals, such as abstract thinking Discuss the ethical implications and challenges that arise from studying animal cognition, including anthropomorphism and the difficulty in measuring subjective experiences (not relevant for exam) 4 Define animal cognition 5  Define animal cognition Cognition extends beyond This is all just information Knowing associative Processing. Awareness learning Cognition is Reasoning Generating new information Recollection Insight Lars Chittka Judgement “When we talk Nicky Clayton about cognition, we should be clear about “slippery and outdated whether we are terms like ‘cognition’ force us to being liberal Cecilia come up with a or conservative.” Heyes new vocabulary suited to specify what we are What is cognition? (2019) studying.” Bence Biology – A Global Current Biology Ölveczky Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52  There are many valid definitions of “cognition” 6  Animal cognition After this lecture you should be able to:   Define cognition in animals Compare classical and operant conditioning, providing examples of each Evaluate evidence for higher‐order cognitive abilities in animals, such as abstract thinking Discuss the ethical implications and challenges that arise from studying animal cognition, including anthropomorphism and the difficulty in measuring subjective experiences (not relevant for exam) 7  Classical and operant conditioning Paradigms to study associative learning Classical conditioning Learning the association between two stimuli Operant conditioning Learning the association between own behavior and its consequences 8  Classical conditioning (first trial) Unconditioned Stimulus (US) Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Meat Bell Stimuli Salivation Behavior Unconditioned Response Time 1) Initial state: Neutral CS triggers no response US consistently triggers unconditioned response 2) Learning: CS-US pairing creates association 9 Iwan P. Pawlow (1927) Conditioned Reflexes  Classical conditioning (after learning) Unconditioned Stimulus (US) Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Meat Bell Bell Stimuli Salivation Salivation Behavior Conditioned Conditioned Response Time Response 1) Initial state: Neutral CS triggers no response US consistently triggers unconditioned response 2) Learning: CS-US pairing creates association 3) Bahvioural change: CS alone triggers conditioned response 10 Iwan P. Pawlow (1927) Conditioned Reflexes  Classical conditioning of the proboscis reflex in honey bees Training Odor + Sucrose Test Odor (Randolf Menzel)  Operant conditioning Skinner box Reinforcer Food Stimuli Lever touch Behavior https://shahmm.medium.com Time 1) Initial state: Rat ignores lever 2) Accidental discovery: Rat touches lever, gets food 3) Learning: Association forms between lever-touch and food reward 4) Behaviour change: Rat deliberately touches lever for food. 12 Burrhus F. Skinner (1938) The behavior of organisms: an experimental analysis  Animal cognition After this lecture you should be able to:  Define cognition in animals Compare classical and operant conditioning, providing  examples of each  Evaluate evidence for higher‐order cognitive abilities in animals, such as abstract thinking Discuss the ethical implications and challenges that arise from studying animal cognition, including anthropomorphism and the difficulty in measuring subjective experiences (not relevant for exam) 13  How to test abstract thinking? Phase 1: Training to solve the delayed-matching to sample task in a colour maze Target stimulus Distractor stimulus 1) Sample Presentation Bee observes sample stimulus 2) Retention Bee holds sample in working 2-4 memory 3) Comparison Bee compares memorized sample to: 1 Target stimulus Sample stimulus Distractor stimuli 4) Selection Bee chooses one comparison stimulus Trials 1 14 Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52  How to test abstract thinking? Phase 1: Training to solve the delayed-matching to sample task in a colour maze Target stimulus Distractor stimulus 1) Sample Presentation Bee observes sample stimulus 2) Retention Bee holds sample in working 2-4 memory 3) Comparison Bee compares memorized sample to: 1 Target stimulus Sample stimulus Distractor stimuli 4) Selection Bee chooses one comparison stimulus Trials 2, 3, 4, ….: randomly swap sample and comparison stimuli and side of food 15 Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52  What cognitive functions does this require? Phase 1: Training to solve the delayed-matching to sample task in a colour maze Target stimulus Distractor stimulus 1) Sample Presentation Bee observes sample stimulus 2) Retention Bee holds sample in working 2-4 memory 3) Comparison Bee compares memorized sample to: 1 Target stimulus Sample stimulus Distractor stimuli 4) Selection Bee chooses one comparison stimulus 16 Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52 What cognitive functions (mental processes) does the delayed-matching-to-sample task require? 17  What cognitive functions does this require? Phase 1: Training to solve the delayed-matching to sample task in a colour maze Target stimulus Distractor stimulus 1) Sample Presentation Bee observes sample stimulus 2) Retention Bee holds sample in working 2-4 memory 3) Comparison Bee compares memorized sample to: 1 Target stimulus Sample stimulus Distractor stimuli 4) Selection Bee chooses one comparison stimulus Associative learning Does not require “abstract thinking” Rule-learning 18 Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52  How to test abstract thinking? 1) Training to solve the delayed-matching 2) Test in a pattern maze to sample task in a colour maze Solving this task requires abstraction. Bees distinguish “same” from “different”. 19 Biology – A Global Approach (2018/2021) Campbell et al. Chapter 52  Animal cognition After this lecture you should be able to:  Define cognition in animals Compare classical and operant conditioning, providing  examples of each Evaluate evidence for higher‐order cognitive abilities in  animals, such as abstract thinking  Discuss the ethical implications and challenges that arise from studying animal cognition, including anthropomorphism and the difficulty in measuring subjective experiences (not relevant for exam) 20  Ethical implications Possibility: All animals may possess some degree of cognition and consciousness Implication: Difficulty in drawing clear lines between species' cognitive abilities Mike Colombo Dept Psychology, Otago Front. Psychol., 21 August 2020 Sec. Comparative Psychology Volume 11 ‐ 2020 | 21 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02072  Paul’s personal ethical implications Aim: Avoid causing animal suffering Insects: presumed minimal capacity for suffering Premise: Suffering requires consciousness Example: Anesthesia prevents suffering by inducing unconsciousness Belief: Insects lack consciousness Uncertainty: Possibility of a consciousness continuum, with insects possessing a degree of consciousness Challenges: No definitive test for insect consciousness or suffering Risk of anthropomorphism in interpreting insect behavior Ethical Implications: Balancing scientific gains against potential, unproven insect suffering 22  Ethical implications Arguments in favor of Arguments against “insect suffering capability” “insect suffering” “…empirical evidence indicates at “…simple, cost‐efficient circuits can least a realistic possibility of conscious produce adaptive behaviours without experience … in many invertebrates subjective experience.” (including…insects).” “…the likelihood that insects experience pain is low.” https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration The Canadian Entomologist. 2019;151(6):685‐695. doi:10.4039/tce.2019.49 23  Animal cognition After this lecture you should be able to:  Define cognition in animals Compare classical and operant conditioning, providing  examples of each Evaluate evidence for higher‐order cognitive abilities in  animals, such as abstract thinking Discuss the ethical implications and challenges that arise from studying animal cognition, including  anthropomorphism and the difficulty in measuring subjective experiences (not relevant for exam) 24 Thank you! I hope to see you in ZOOL314 ‐ Neurobiology Record neuronal activity Explore neural circuits Paul Szyszka Bart Geurten 25 Investigate learning in fly larvae Build your robot