How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology.

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

Germany

2013-04-16T20:33:26Z

2012-03

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.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21927850

1435-9456

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6593

eng

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Anim Cogn

10.1007/s10071-011-0448-8

Animals

Behavioral Research

Biological Evolution

Cognition

Hominidae

Phylogeny

Primates

Psychology, Comparative

How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology.

Journal article

Nunn, Charles L|0000-0001-9330-2873

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21927850

223

238

2

Basic Science Departments

Center for Cognitive Neuroscience

Duke

Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Duke Science & Society

Evolutionary Anthropology

Faculty

Global Health Institute

Initiatives

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

Neurobiology

Psychology and Neuroscience

School of Medicine

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

University Institutes and Centers

Published

15