Animal Learning and Cognition, 3rd edition: An Introduction

by Pearce; John M.

• ISBN13: 9781841696560
• ISBN10: 1841696560
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-26
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

Animal Learning and Cognition: An Introductionprovides an up-to-date review of the principal findings from more than a century of research into animal intelligence. This new edition has been expanded to take account of the many exciting developments that have occurred over the last ten years. The book opens with a historical survey of the methods that have been used to study animal intelligence, and follows by summarizing the contribution made by learning processes to intelligent behavior. Topics include Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, discrimination learning, and categorization. The remainder of the book focuses on animal cognition and covers such topics as memory, navigation, social learning, language and communication, and knowledge representation. Expanded areas include extinction (to which an entire chapter is now devoted), navigation in insects, episodic memory in birds, imitation in birds and primates, and the debate about whether primates are aware of mental states in themselves and others. Issues raised throughout the book are reviewed in a concluding chapter that examines how intelligence is distributed throughout the animal kingdom. The broad spectrum of topics covered in this book ensures that it will be of interest to students of psychology, biology, zoology, and neuroscience. Since very little background knowledge is required, the book will be of equal value to anyone simply interested in either animal intelligence, or the animal origins of human intelligence. This textbook is accompanied by online instructor resources which are free of charge to departments who adopt this book as their text. They include chapter-by-chapter lecture slides, an interactive chapter-by-chapter multiple-choice question test bank, and multiple-choice questions in paper and pen format.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
The study of animal intelligence	p. 2
The distribution of intelligence	p. 4
Defining animal intelligence	p. 12
Why study animal intelligence?	p. 16
Methods for studying animal intelligence	p. 20
Historical background	p. 22
Associative learning	p. 34
Conditioning techniques	p. 36
The nature of associative learning	p. 42
Stimulus-stimulus learning	p. 49
The nature of US representations	p. 52
The conditioned response	p. 55
Concluding comment: the reflexive nature of the conditioned response	p. 60
The conditions for learning: Surprise and attention	p. 62
Surprise and conditioning	p. 64
Conditioning with a single CS	p. 64
Conditioning with a compound CS	p. 68
Evaluation of the Rescorla-Wagner model	p. 72
Attention and conditioning	p. 74
Wagner's theory	p. 76
Stimulus significance	p. 80
The Pearce-Hall theory	p. 86
Concluding comments	p. 91
Instrumental conditioning	p. 92
The nature of instrumental learning	p. 93
The conditions of learning	p. 97
The performance of instrumental behavior	p. 106
The Law of Effect and problem solving	p. 111
Extinction	p. 122
Extinction as generalization decrement	p. 123
The conditions for extinction	p. 125
Associative changes during extinction	p. 134
Are trials important for Pavlovian extinction?	p. 142
Discrimination learning	p. 148
Theories of discrimination learning	p. 149
Connectionist models of discrimination learning	p. 161
Metacognition and discrimination learning	p. 166
Category formation	p. 170
Examples of categorization	p. 171
Theories of categorization	p. 173
Abstract categories	p. 179
Relationships as categories	p. 180
The representation of knowledge	p. 188
Short-term retention	p. 190
Methods of study	p. 191
Forgetting	p. 199
Theoretical interpretation	p. 202
Serial position effects	p. 206
Metamemory	p. 207
Long-term retention	p. 212
Capacity	p. 214
Durability	p. 215
Theoretical interpretation	p. 218
Episodic memory	p. 225
Time, number, and serial order	p. 232
Time	p. 233
Number	p. 243
Serial order	p. 253
Transitive inference	p. 259
Concluding comments	p. 262
Navigation	p. 264
Short-distance travel	p. 265
Methods of navigation	p. 265
Long-distance travel	p. 283
Navigational cues	p. 284
Homing	p. 286
Migration	p. 289
Concluding comments	p. 293
Social learning	p. 296
Diet selection and foraging	p. 298
Choosing a mate	p. 301
Fear of predators	p. 301
Copying behavior: mimicry	p. 302
Copying behavior: imitation	p. 304
Theory of mind	p. 312
Self-recognition	p. 319
Concluding comments	p. 324
Animal communication and language	p. 326
Animal communication	p. 327
Communication and language	p. 336
Can an ape create a sentence?	p. 339
Language training with other species	p. 350
The requirements for learning a language	p. 356
The distribution of intelligence	p. 360
Intelligence and brain size	p. 361
The null hypothesis	p. 364
Intelligence and evolution	p. 369
References	p. 373
Author index	p. 403
Subject index	p. 411
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.