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How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology.

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Date
2012-03
Authors
MacLean, Evan L
Matthews, Luke J
Hare, Brian A
Nunn, Charles L
Anderson, Rindy C
Aureli, Filippo
Brannon, Elizabeth M
Call, Josep
Drea, Christine M
Emery, Nathan J
Haun, Daniel BM
Herrmann, Esther
Jacobs, Lucia F
Platt, Michael L
Rosati, Alexandra G
Sandel, Aaron A
Schroepfer, Kara K
Seed, Amanda M
Tan, Jingzhi
van Schaik, Carel P
Wobber, Victoria
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(21 total)
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Abstract
Now more than ever animal studies have the potential to test hypotheses regarding how cognition evolves. Comparative psychologists have developed new techniques to probe the cognitive mechanisms underlying animal behavior, and they have become increasingly skillful at adapting methodologies to test multiple species. Meanwhile, evolutionary biologists have generated quantitative approaches to investigate the phylogenetic distribution and function of phenotypic traits, including cognition. In particular, phylogenetic methods can quantitatively (1) test whether specific cognitive abilities are correlated with life history (e.g., lifespan), morphology (e.g., brain size), or socio-ecological variables (e.g., social system), (2) measure how strongly phylogenetic relatedness predicts the distribution of cognitive skills across species, and (3) estimate the ancestral state of a given cognitive trait using measures of cognitive performance from extant species. Phylogenetic methods can also be used to guide the selection of species comparisons that offer the strongest tests of a priori predictions of cognitive evolutionary hypotheses (i.e., phylogenetic targeting). Here, we explain how an integration of comparative psychology and evolutionary biology will answer a host of questions regarding the phylogenetic distribution and history of cognitive traits, as well as the evolutionary processes that drove their evolution.
Type
Journal article
Subject
Animals
Behavioral Research
Biological Evolution
Cognition
Hominidae
Phylogeny
Primates
Psychology, Comparative
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6593
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1007/s10071-011-0448-8
Publication Info
MacLean, Evan L; Matthews, Luke J; Hare, Brian A; Nunn, Charles L; Anderson, Rindy C; Aureli, Filippo; ... Wobber, Victoria (2012). How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology. Anim Cogn, 15(2). pp. 223-238. 10.1007/s10071-011-0448-8. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6593.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Elizabeth M. Brannon

Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Dr. Brannon's research program examines the evolution and development of quantitative cognition. She studies how number, time, and spatial extent are represented by adult humans, infants, young children and nonhuman animals without language. With her many collaborators at Duke she applies behavioral techniques, event-related potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and single-unit physiology to explore the cognitive and neural underpinnings of numerical cognition in nonhuman primates
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.
Drea

Christine M. Drea

Earl D. McLean Professor
I have two broad research interests, sexual differentiation and social behavior, both focused on hyenas and primates. I am particularly interested in unusual species in which the females display a suite of masculinized characteristics, including male- like or exaggerated external genitalia and social dominance. The study of naturally occurring hormones in such unique mammals can reveal general processes of hormonal activity, expressed in genital morphology, reproductive development, and
Hare

Brian Hare

Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology

Evan L MacLean

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology
Nunn

Charles L Nunn

Gosnell Family Professor in Global Health

Michael Louis Platt

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurobiology
Our lab tries to understand how the brain makes decisions. We are particularly interested in the biological mechanisms that allow people and other animals to make decisions when the environment is ambiguous or complicated by the presence of other individuals. We use a broad array of techniques, including single neuron recordings, microstimulation, neuropharmacology, eye tracking, brain imaging, and genomics to answer these questions. Our work is motivated by ethology, evolutionary biology, and e
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.
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