Cognitive Ecology II
Reuven Dukas and John M. Ratcliffe
Abstract
This book is an attempt to describe cognitive ecology, which focuses on the ecology and evolution of “cognition,” defined as the neuronal processes concerned with the acquisition, retention, and use of information. It presents new work on established and emergent research programs relating cognition to avian ecology. The authors find that, with few exceptions, all animals have to make decisions within the four general categories of feeding, predator avoidance, interactions with competitors, and sexual behavior. Few chapters of the book focus on cognitive aspects of decisions made within two of ... More
This book is an attempt to describe cognitive ecology, which focuses on the ecology and evolution of “cognition,” defined as the neuronal processes concerned with the acquisition, retention, and use of information. It presents new work on established and emergent research programs relating cognition to avian ecology. The authors find that, with few exceptions, all animals have to make decisions within the four general categories of feeding, predator avoidance, interactions with competitors, and sexual behavior. Few chapters of the book focus on cognitive aspects of decisions made within two of these behavioral categories of reproduction and antipredator behavior. Not much attention has been devoted to cognition at the embryonic stage, but recent experiments reviewed by the authors clearly indicate that embryos possess sophisticated abilities to assess and respond to cues of predation. The book also discusses the social information, social learning, and integrating knowledge about animals' natural behavior, ecology, and evolutionary history with the powerful empirical techniques of experimental psychology.
Keywords:
cognitive ecology,
evolution,
cognition,
social information,
social learning,
acquisition,
retention,
use of information
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226169354 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: February 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226169378.001.0001 |
