Lecture 1 PDF

Lecture Monday, January 6, 2025 1:23 PM What is Learning? - Learning is an enduring change in the mechanisms of behaviour involving specific stimuli and/or responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses. - Learning plays a critical role in im...

Lecture Monday, January 6, 2025 1:23 PM What is Learning? - Learning is an enduring change in the mechanisms of behaviour involving specific stimuli and/or responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses. - Learning plays a critical role in improving how organisms adapt to their environment. - Learning, like physiological responses (ex: breathing) are key to an animal’s survival. - Learning can involve making OR inhibiting responses (ex: learning NOT to drive at a red light). - May or may not require an explicit teacher (learning your way around a new neighborhoo vs. learning to drive a vehicle). Animal Learning vs. Animal Cognition - Animal Learning: How animals acquire new behaviours (often discussed in the context of classical and/or operant conditioning) - Animal Cognition: Can be thought of as an extension of animal learning, often addressing higher order cognitive abilities. ○ For example, how do animals use the information they obtain from their environment to move through space, time their activities, assess quantity, or remember the past? - Comparative Cognition: Comparing cognitive ability of different species (often human vs. non-human animals), evolutionary lens. History of Animal Learning - Before Descartes, prevailing philosophy was that human behaviour is entirely controlled conscious intent/free will. - Descartes countered this idea with “Cartesian Dualism” - Two classes of human behaviour—voluntary and involuntary ○ Involuntary behaviours are reflexes triggered by external stimuli. ○ Voluntary behaviour is the product of conscious intent Cartesian Dualism - Descartes believed that the involuntary behaviour was the only one available to non- human animals...so all behaviour in non-human animals was reflexive. - Free will and voluntary behaviour considered uniquely human traits (because humans believed to have a mind and/or soul) - The mind is a non-physical entity, connected to brain via the pineal gland, which allows fo od g. by or Cartesian Dualism - Descartes believed that the involuntary behaviour was the only one available to non- human animals...so all behaviour in non-human animals was reflexive. - Free will and voluntary behaviour considered uniquely human traits (because humans believed to have a mind and/or soul) - The mind is a non-physical entity, connected to brain via the pineal gland, which allows fo voluntary behaviour independent of external stimulation. Nativism - Descartes believed that the mind contained ideas that were innate and existed in all human beings independent of personal experiences. - These innate ideas included the concept of God, the concept of self, and basic geometric principles. - The philosophical approach that we are born with certain innate ideas is referred to as nativism. Empiricism - Some philosophers after Descartes took issue with the idea of nativism. - John Locke put forward idea that people are born with no preconceptions about the world...we are born with a clean slate or “tabula rasa” - The idea that we acquire our ideas and information as we experience the world is referre to as empiricism. Ebbinghaus & Rules of Association - Hermann Ebbinghaus tested how association are formed, using nonsense syllables. He used himself as a subject! - Ebbinghaus studied lists of nonsense syllables (ex: PZD, KOJ) under various experimental conditions, then tested his ability to recall them. - Allowed him to determine if the strength of association increased with training, if items close together are associated more closely than those far apart, backwards and forwards associations. "Dawn of The Modern Era" - Research in animal learning and behaviour became of interest just over 100 years ago. - Three reasons for this interest: 1. Interest in comparative cognition and evolution of the mind. 2. Interest in how the nervous system works (functional neurology) 3. Interest in developing animal models (to study aspects of human behaviour) 1 - Interest in Comparative Cognition/Evolution of the Mind - Darwin's Theory of Evolution ○ Tenets of Natural Selection: § Variation (individuals within a species display differences in both physiologica and behavioural traits) § Heritability (Offspring inherit traits from their parents) or ed s al 1 - Interest in Comparative Cognition/Evolution of the Mind - Darwin's Theory of Evolution ○ Tenets of Natural Selection: § Variation (individuals within a species display differences in both physiologica and behavioural traits) § Heritability (Offspring inherit traits from their parents) § Survival and reproduction (individuals with traits that best promote survival have best chance of transmitting traits to offspring) § A premise of comparative cognition is that cognitive traits are shaped by the same selective pressures - Speciation ○ Speciation: when populations of a single species get separated, they adapt to their new environment. ○ Speciation occurs when the groups diverge to the point that they can no longer interbreed. - Continuity Hypothesis ○ Darwin theorized that trait differences between humans and animals are quantitative, not qualitative. ○ So, humans and animals may differ greatly in ability, but the difference is not in trait...rather it is how the trait is expressed. ○ According to Darwin, animals possess some, if not all, cognitive and emotional trait that humans have, even if only at an incipient level. ○ Modern comparative psychologists do not assume that animals have all human traits. Rather, we test such hypotheses experimentally! - Darwin vs. Descartes ○ *Ideas about 250 years apart* ○ Descartes had proposed that human’s shared some behavioural similarities (ie: reflexes) with animals, but maintained that humans were unique in having a mind. ○ Darwin believed in not only the evolution of physical traits, but also the evolution o psychological/mental abilities. ○ Darwin believed that animals, like humans, had the capacity for wonder, curiosity, imitation, attention, memory etc. ○ Darwin collected anecdotal accounts of animal intelligence - Gustave Fechner (1801-1887) ○ German philosopher and scientist, professor of physics. ○ Student of Weber, who was critical in understanding differences in subjective experience ○ Created formal equations based on Weber’s observations. ○ Formalized the scientific measurement of perception (psychophysics), which paved the way for experimental psychology (which was started by Wundt). 2 - Functional Neurology - Uses studies of learning/behaviour in nonhuman animals to gain insight into how the nervous system works. al Evolutionary Tree: ts of d  ○ Formalized the scientific measurement of perception (psychophysics), which paved the way for experimental psychology (which was started by Wundt). 2 - Functional Neurology - Uses studies of learning/behaviour in nonhuman animals to gain insight into how the nervous system works. - Influenced greatly by Ivan Pavlov and his belief in nervism. ○ Belief that everything is controlled by the nervous system. - Highly influential in modern neuroscience - Lynch et al (2003, as cited in Damjan (2015)): “neuroscience is a large field founded on th premise that all of behaviour and all of mental life have their origins in the structure and function of the nervous system” 3 - Animal Models of Human Behaviour - Belief that studying non-human animal behaviour may help us understand human behaviour. - Typically done with primates, pigeons, rats, and mice. We do NOT assume that these animals are exactly like humans. - Models permit investigation under conditions that are less expensive, simple, easy to control, or would otherwise be impossible with humans. - Must decide what the relevant features are of the subject of interest, and make sure the animal model is similar. - Crucial in drug development. Related Areas of Study - Ethology - Flourished in Europe in the early to mid-twentieth century. - Based on premise that study of behaviour should be naturalistic. - Lab experiments may be used for better control of observation, but natural conditions should be recreated in order to measure responses that are part of the animal’s behavioural repertoire. - Focus is on evolutionary explanations for behavioural traits. Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs) - Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch famously studied instincts, or “innate” responses hard- wired (not learned) by different species. - Lorenz (1950) and Tinbergen (1951) developed the concept of Fixed Action Patterns. FAP are stereotyped, species-typical behaviours that occur in a rigid order and are triggered b stimuli in the environment. - Ex: egg rolling in graylag geese, regurgitation in herring gulls Imprinting (Lorenz, 1952) - Innate responses are not necessarily fixed. - FAPs can be modified by experience—behaviour must therefore be understood as an interaction between learning and inherited mechanisms. d he Ps by  - Ex: egg rolling in graylag geese, regurgitation in herring gulls Imprinting (Lorenz, 1952) - Innate responses are not necessarily fixed. - FAPs can be modified by experience—behaviour must therefore be understood as an interaction between learning and inherited mechanisms. - Lorenz demonstrated that young birds learn the characteristics of the first moving object they encounter, and follow it around. - Chicks imprinted on the first suitably sized, moving object they encounter. This happens within 13-16 hours of hatching. Four Questions of Ethology - Tinbergen proposed that behaviour should be analyzed in terms of four scientific questions: 1. Adaptive value (What is the function of behaviour) 2. Evolution (How did the behaviour develop across evolution and how does it compa to closely related species) 3. Ontogeny (How does the behaviour change across the lifespan of the organism?) 4. Immediate causation (What are the internal mechanism that produce the behaviou - The first two questions are ultimate causes of behaviour, the second two are proximate causes of behaviour. Related Areas of Study - Behavioural Ecology: - Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973. - In the mid to late 20th century, however, many scientists became uncomfortable with ethology’s focus on FAPs and the behaviour of individual organisms...many animals live in social groups! - In response, Behavioural Ecology was developed...the scientific study of the evolutionary basis for animal behaviour due to ecological pressures. - Behavioural ecologists study the interaction between organisms and their environment, and how these interactions result in differential survival and reproduction. Emergence of Comparative Cognition: - Comparative cognition grew out of behaviourism (from the field of psychology) and behavioural ecology (from the field of zoology). - These two fields worked mostly independently for 50 years, even though scientists from both disciplines were often asking the same questions. - Starting in the 1960’s and 1970’s, a synergy of these two perspectives emerged (more psychologists doing field work, more behavioural ecologists doing lab work) - Most importantly, an understanding that both proximate and ultimate causes of behavio must be considered when understanding any behaviour or cognitive process. A Side Note About Behaviourism - Behaviourism was the dominant school of thought in psychology for much of the first hal t are ur) n y our lf  psychologists doing field work, more behavioural ecologists doing lab work) - Most importantly, an understanding that both proximate and ultimate causes of behavio must be considered when understanding any behaviour or cognitive process. A Side Note About Behaviourism - Behaviourism was the dominant school of thought in psychology for much of the first hal of the 20th century, until the cognitive revolution. - Hull, Thorndike, Watson, & Skinner all very influential in this movement. - Behaviourism maintained that only observable and measurable behaviours should be studied in psychology. - In reality, many psychologists realized that mental processes exist, and instead practiced “methodological behaviourism”. Insight Learning (Kohler, 1927) - Chimps were given scattered boxes and a bundle of bananas hanging up out of reach - According to Kohler, this shows insight, because the chimp did this without being taught Other Related Areas of Study - Developmental Psychology ○ Comparative cognition benefits from the fact that developmental psychology has a long and established tradition of examining changes in cognition experimentally. ○ Non-human animals and young human infants have something in common: they ar both non-verbal! - Behavioural Neuroscience ○ Neuroscience techniques can be used to study underlying mechanisms of cognition ○ Examines brain systems via lesions, electrical stimulation, pharmacology, and brain imaging. Ethics in Animal Research - Non-human animals do not choose and cannot consent to participate in research. - Strict ethical protocols therefore exist to ensure that research animals are treated with th least amount of invasiveness possible. - Ethical standards have evolved and become stricter over time (for both human and anima subjects). - Good science requires good animal care. Summary - The field of comparative cognition studies a wide diversity of species, uses a variety of methodologies, and is studied in a number of different academic departments. - Nevertheless, three unifying hallmarks include: ○ Focus on cognition (acquisition, storage, and processing of mental info) ○ Use of experimental methodology (either in lab or natural environment) ○ Explanation of findings within framework of evolutionary theory. our lf to. a re n. n he al  methodologies, and is studied in a number of different academic departments. - Nevertheless, three unifying hallmarks include: ○ Focus on cognition (acquisition, storage, and processing of mental info) ○ Use of experimental methodology (either in lab or natural environment) ○ Explanation of findings within framework of evolutionary theory. Anthropomorphism What is Anthropomorphism? - The attribution of human-like characteristics to non-human animals or objects. - Important to consider in understanding animal behaviour and cognition. Historical Figures - Darwin - Darwin believed in not only the evolution of physical traits, but also the evolution of psychological abilities. - Darwin believed that animals, like humans, had the capacity for curiosity, imitation, attention, and memory. - Darwin collected anecdotal accounts of animal intelligence...his interest in these types of research questions was extremely influential. Historical Figures - George Romanes - Initially a research assistant to Darwin, George Romanes, was also interested in questions of animal intelligence. - Using an anecdotal method, he was the first to investigate systematically the comparativ psychology of intelligence. Historical Figures - C. Lloyd Morgan - In 1894, C. Lloyd Morgan published Introduction to Comparative Psychology. - Morgan drew a distinction between: A. Objectively testable inferences from animal behavior, which were scientific. Vs. B. Untestable speculations about animal minds, such as Romanes’ anecdotally based inferences, which were not scientific. Tony the Terrier - Morgan had a terrier named Tony, who was adept at opening a gate in order to let himse out of the yard. - To many, this might appear to be insightful behaviour on Tony’s part. - Morgan observed Tony’s behaviour and was able to demonstrate that it was instead the result of trial-and error learning. Morgan's Canon - Prompted by Romanes’ tendency to rely on anecdotal evidence rather than empirical tes f s ve elf sts.  - To many, this might appear to be insightful behaviour on Tony’s part. - Morgan observed Tony’s behaviour and was able to demonstrate that it was instead the result of trial-and error learning. Morgan's Canon - Prompted by Romanes’ tendency to rely on anecdotal evidence rather than empirical tes - "In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes, if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development” (Morgan, 1894, p.53)." The Cautionary Tale of Clever Hans - Hans was a horse owned by Wilhelm Von Osten. - Von Osten claimed that Hans could add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, te time, keep track of the calendar, differentiate musical tones, read, spell, and understand German. - Hans was most famous for his mathematical ability...if Von Osten asked him what “4+4” was, for example, Hans would stomp his hoof 8 times in response. "Clever Hans Cues" - Eventually, it was determined that Hans was simply responding to very subtle changes in Von Osten’s posture to solve the problem. - Importantly, Von Osten was not trying to trick anybody—he genuinely believed in Hans’ abilities and had no idea that he had been cueing him! - In designing behavioural experiments with animals, we are now very careful to avoid “Clever Hans Cues” How can we empirically study anthropomorphism? Dog Heroes? - Stories are frequently reported of dogs who have “rescued” their owner from imminent danger (drowning, fire, heart attack, choking, etc). - In these stories, dogs often seek help for the owner by alerting a bystander to the danger Will Dogs Rescue an Owner in "Distress" - Scenario staged in which dog’s owner feigns having a heart attack. - One or two bystanders available from whom the dog could seek help...this paradigm was borrowed from bystander apathy studies in social psychology (Darley & Latané, 1969) - Dog is filmed for 6 minutes for its reaction once the owner collapses - N=12 dogs of various breeds, handled by their owners. Experiment 1 - Heart Attack Scenario sts. ell r. s  - N=12 dogs of various breeds, handled by their owners. Experiment 1 - Heart Attack Scenario Experimental Design - What are the limitations of Experiment 1 in the Macpherson & Roberts (2006) study? - What might we consider in designing a follow-up study? Experiment 2 - Bookcase Scenario Experiment 2 - Bookcase Scenario Conclusions - Does Lassie go get the sheriff? ○ No, Timmy is stuck in the well - Are dogs ever heroes? ○ Yes! Guide dogs, police dogs The "Guilty" Look in Dogs - Owner leaves their dog alone in a room with a desirable treat on the floor, but command dog not to eat it. - Trials varied both the dog’s opportunity to eat the treat, as well as the owner’s knowledg of what the dog did in their absence. Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Dogs who ate the treat were no more likely than dogs who did not to display the “guilty look”. - Dogs who were scolded were more likely to display guilty look, especially if they had been obedient. - Guilty look is likely a response to owner cues, rather than an acknowledgement of a misdeed. What's Wrong with Anthropomorphism? - Nothing—if you are not referring to it within a scientific context. - From an animal welfare perspective, anthropomorphism may result in better treatment o animals. BUT... - In a scientific context, anthropomorphism can cloud our judgement, or make us too liber in what abilities we are willing to attribute to animals. ds ge n of ral  - Nothing—if you are not referring to it within a scientific context. - From an animal welfare perspective, anthropomorphism may result in better treatment o animals. BUT... - In a scientific context, anthropomorphism can cloud our judgement, or make us too liber in what abilities we are willing to attribute to animals. Why is Betty so Important for Understanding Tool Use? - Betty was wild caught as a juvenile (no other crows to model) - No experience with wire in the wild - No training with pliant/bendable objects in lab - Spontaneous problem solving (Abel took the hooked wire, leaving Betty with only the straight wire). - Novel and purposeful behaviour, which cannot be explained by associative learning! In Conclusion.. Anthropomorphism - The attribution of human-like qualities to non-human animals or objects. - Possibly a good (and fun!) thing in day-to-day life. BUT... - Something we need to be extremely vigilant of in the scientific study of animal behaviour and cognition. of ral r