studying intelligence in animals 1

• intelligence

  ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills
• aspects of intelligence

  -          Problem solving

  -          Ability to learn

  -          Emotional knowledge

  -          Adaptation
• distribution of intelligence

  most and least intelligent

  justifications

  • evolution
  • brain size
• Evolution

  animals can be arranged according to phylogenetic status

  BUT not a linear scale - cant be used to rank intelligence

  Branches of the trees, however represent why different animals possess different abilities
• Brain size

  Encephalisation quotient (EQ) - ratio of species actual brain size to its predicted brain size

  • bigger ratio = more intelligent
  • used to estimate intelligence
• The distribution of intelligence: null hypothesis

  ALL animals have the same general mechanisms, to the same level of ability, to solve cognitive tasks.

  • this hypothesis fails to consider differences in intelligence at finer, and more ecologically relevant, scales
• why study animal intelligence

  • allows us to make better decisions on how best to care for animals in captivity
  • humans have evolved from animals, may have common features in intelligence
• Ways of assessing animal intelligence: adaptability

  adapt behaviour to circumstances

  • faster at learning and better at remembering = more intelligent
  • very difficult to compare across species
• Ways of assessing animal intelligence: speed of learning

  LEARNING:

  • when experience results in relatively permanent change in the reaction to a situation

  studies have shown animals learn faster than humans

  Speed of learning is influenced by how it is measured

  • Rats will easily learn to press a lever for food, but not to avoid shock
  • ​Context dependent
• Ways of assessing animal intelligence: information processing

  humans surrounded by sources of information about the environment

  • not all info. is attended to
  • animals also surrounded by a lot of info
  • Information that is attended to can be integrated with other information and stored in long term memory
  • after processing a response is produced
  • Measured using Morris water maze
  • Need to process visual cues around room

  -          Quicker they process and remember where platform is = more intelligent

  
• LEARNING - why important

  need to learn to survive - shelter, food, water, adapt
• Two types of learning

  Non - associative

  • stimulus not paired with behaviour
  • habituation
  • sensitisation

  associative

  • stimulus/event paired with behaviour
  • classical conditioning
  • instrumental conditioning
• Non-associative learning: habituation

  a response decrement to the repeated application of a given stimulus

  • apply same stimulus at regular intervals - decrease in response
  • learnt stimulus wont cause harm
• stimulus testing done on Aplysia

  
• Non-associative learning: sensitisation

  more responsive to most stimuli after being exposed to a stronger or painful stimulus

  -          High frequency pulse of stimulus – painful

  -          Go back to applying it at regular intervals

  Response increased
• Neural circuitry of non-associative learning

  stimulus is applied to tail, sensory neurones excited

  • sensory neurones make monosynaptic excitatory connections with motor neurones - withdrawal of tail
  • also form synapses with interneurons
  • Some of these interneurons activate motor neurons which control reflex withdrawal of the siphon
  • Changes in  their  membrane  properties  and  synaptic efficacy are associated with sensitisation

  
• Associative learning: classical conditioning

  unconscious learning method where an involuntary response becomes associated with a stimulus

  PAVLOV experiment

  • conducting research on the digestion of dogs when he noticed the dogs’ physical reactions to food subtly changed over time.
  • at first - only salivate when food was in front of them
  • Later they salivated slightly before their food arrived
  • Realised that they were salivating at the noises that were consistently present before the food arrived
• Types of classical conditioning

  EXCITATORY

  • Learning that a conditioned stimulus signals the occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus
  • e.g. bell ringing (CS) signals the occurrence of food (US)

  INHIBITORY

  • Learning that a conditioned stimulus signals the absence of an unconditioned stimulus
  • e.g. noise (CS) signals the absence of an electric shock (US)
• Neural circuitry of classical conditioning

  CS+ (paired)

  • Sensory input from tail and siphon sensory neurone
  • Strengthens synapse
  • CS- (unpaired)
  • Sensory input from mantle sensory neurone only
• Memory model of classical conditioning

  unconditional stimulus - produces response

  Potential pathways:

  CS-R: Paired association of CS and US leads to CS directly producing the response

  CS-US: Paired association of CS and US leads to CS eliciting the memory of US which produces the response

  
• Associative learning: instrumental conditioning

  -          Voluntary response modified as a result of association with reinforcement or punishment

  e.g

  Cats to pull leaver to escape puzzle box

  Used food as a reinforcement

  Measured latency to escape

  Latency gradually, rather than rapidly, declined with each tria

  lSuggested cats using trial and error, not reasoning and logic

  Also suggested food was strengthening the association between the stimulus (box) and the response (pull leaver