The Cognitive Animal: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition

About this book

The fifty-seven original essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. The contributors include cognitive ethologists behavioral ecologists experimental and developmental psychologists behaviorists philosophers neuroscientists computer scientists and modelers field biologists and others. The diversity of approaches is both philosophical and methodological with contributors demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or disdain for such terms as "consciousness" and varying degrees of concern for laboratory experimentation versus naturalistic research. In addition to primates particularly the nonhuman great apes the animals discussed include antelopes bees dogs dolphins earthworms fish hyenas parrots prairie dogs rats ravens sea lions snakes spiders and squirrels. The topics include (but are not limited to) definitions of cognition the role of anecdotes in the study of animal cognition anthropomorphism attention perception learning memory thinking consciousness intentionality communication planning play aggression dominance predation recognition assessment of self and others social knowledge empathy conflict resolution reproduction parent-young interactions and caregiving ecology evolution kin selection and neuroethology.