Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 367, No 1603

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Table of Contents

Discussion Meeting Issue 'Animal minds: from computation to evolution' organized and edited by Uri Grodzinski, Nicola S. Clayton and Alex Thornton

Introduction

Introduction

Animal minds: from computation to evolution

Alex Thornton,
Nicola S. Clayton and
Uri Grodzinski

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2670-2676

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0270

First Page
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Articles

Review article

What is comparable in comparative cognition?

Lars Chittka,
Stephen J. Rossiter,
Peter Skorupski and
Chrisantha Fernando

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2677-2685

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0215

Abstract
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To understand how complex, or ‘advanced’ various forms of cognition are, and to compare them between species for evolutionary studies, we need to understand the diversity of neural–computational mechanisms that may be involved, and to identify the genetic ...

Research article

Coevolution of learning and data-acquisition mechanisms: a model for cognitive evolution

Arnon Lotem and
Joseph Y. Halpern

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2686-2694

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0213

Abstract
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A fundamental and frequently overlooked aspect of animal learning is its reliance on compatibility between the learning rules used and the attentional and motivational mechanisms directing them to process the relevant data (called here data-acquisition ...

Review article

Simple minds: a qualified defence of associative learning

Cecilia Heyes

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2695-2703

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0217

Abstract
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Using cooperation in chimpanzees as a case study, this article argues that research on animal minds needs to steer a course between ‘association-blindness’—the failure to consider associative learning as a candidate explanation for complex behaviour—and ‘...

Research article

The brain's connective core and its role in animal cognition

Murray Shanahan

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2704-2714

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0128

Abstract
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This paper addresses the question of how the brain of an animal achieves cognitive integration—that is to say how it manages to bring its fullest resources to bear on an ongoing situation. To fully exploit its cognitive resources, whether inherited or ...

Review article

Cognition in insects

Barbara Webb

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2715-2722

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0218

Abstract
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A traditional view of cognition is that it involves an internal process that represents, tracks or predicts an external process. This is not a general characteristic of all complex neural processing or feedback control, but rather implies specific forms ...

Review article

Biological and artificial cognition: what can we learn about mechanisms by modelling physical cognition problems using artificial intelligence planning techniques?

Jackie Chappell and
Nick Hawes

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2723-2732

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0221

Abstract
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Do we fully understand the structure of the problems we present to our subjects in experiments on animal cognition, and the information required to solve them? While we currently have a good understanding of the behavioural and neurobiological mechanisms ...

Review article

Associative learning and animal cognition

Anthony Dickinson

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2733-2742

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0220

Abstract
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Associative learning plays a variety of roles in the study of animal cognition from a core theoretical component to a null hypothesis against which the contribution of cognitive processes is assessed. Two developments in contemporary associative learning ...

Research article

Chimpanzee ‘folk physics’: bringing failures into focus

Amanda Seed,
Eleanor Seddon,
Bláthnaid Greene and
Josep Call

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2743-2752

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0222

Abstract
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Differences between individuals are the raw material from which theories of the evolution and ontogeny of cognition are built. For example, when 4-year-old children pass a test requiring them to communicate the content of another's falsely held belief, ...

Research article

Are there geniuses among the apes?

Esther Herrmann and
Josep Call

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2753-2761

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0191

Abstract
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We are often asked whether some apes are smarter than others. Here we used two individual-based datasets on cognitive abilities to answer this question and to elucidate the structure of individual differences. We identified some individuals who ...

Review article

Linking behavioural syndromes and cognition: a behavioural ecology perspective

Andrew Sih and
Marco Del Giudice

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2762-2772

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0216

Abstract
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With the exception of a few model species, individual differences in cognition remain relatively unstudied in non-human animals. One intriguing possibility is that variation in cognition is functionally related to variation in personality. Here, we review ...

Review article

Individual variation in cognitive performance: developmental and evolutionary perspectives

Alex Thornton and
Dieter Lukas

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2773-2783

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0214

Abstract
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Animal cognition experiments frequently reveal striking individual variation but rarely consider its causes and largely ignore its potential consequences. Studies often focus on a subset of high-performing subjects, sometimes viewing evidence from a ...

Research article

Core systems of geometry in animal minds

Elizabeth S. Spelke and
Sang Ah Lee

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2784-2793

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0210

Abstract
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Research on humans from birth to maturity converges with research on diverse animals to reveal foundational cognitive systems in human and animal minds. The present article focuses on two such systems of geometry. One system represents places in the ...

Review article

Modularity, comparative cognition and human uniqueness

Sara J. Shettleworth

Published:05 October 2012Page(s): 2794-2802

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0211

Abstract
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Darwin's claim ‘that the difference in mind between man and the higher animals … is certainly one of degree and not of kind’ is at the core of the comparative study of cognition. Recent research provides unprecedented support for Darwin's claim as well as ...

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences cover image

05 October 2012

Volume 367Issue 1603

Editor-In-Chief

Professor Richard Dixon FRS

About the cover

Cover image: A group of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. Meerkats teach their young to hunt by responding to age-related changes in pups' begging calls, giving dead or disabled prey to young pups and live prey to older pups; a powerful example of the role of simple reflexive responses in generating complex behaviour. Photo credit: Alex Thornton.
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