Animal Cognition Flashcards
1
Q
Can dogs understand us?
A
- No they respond to conditioning.
- Stimulus - Reward - Response.
2
Q
Explain Operant Conditioning.
A
- Skinner - operant conditioning with pigeons - learned response sign rewarded with food - shaped and controlled by their environment.
- Pigeons were kept at 2/3 of their body weight so were constantly hungry.
3
Q
What is gambling an example of?
A
- Schedules or reinforcement.
4
Q
Why do we believe in free will?
A
- We believe in free will because we know about our behaviour not about the cause.
5
Q
Explain the concept of the Thorndike Puzzle box.
A
- Boxes cats can escape from via a latch.
- Problem solving.
- Believed that animals do not understand the consequences of their actions - no flashes of insight.
- Success is reached by trial and error - a well practiced cat remembers that a certain action will bring a reward and this is stamped into their mind.
- Behaviour changes due to the consequence.
6
Q
What is the chain explaining learned behaviour in animals?
A
Conditioned stimulus - Conditioned response.
7
Q
How do animals navigate?
A
- Spatial memory - thought to be due to the hippocampus, however even animals without this can navigate (tortoise).
8
Q
What are the two opposing views on animal testing?
A
- Anti experimentation: animals feel pain, sometimes with no benefit (e.g. thalidomide babies), scientists don’t care about animals.
- Pro experimentation: animals are not human, we eat them and experimentation is justified by the benefits.
9
Q
Explain the Thalidomide failure of animal testing.
A
- Late 1950s early 60s - 10, 000 birth defects and thousands of fatal deaths.
- Even though testing on a huge range of animals.
- Testing failed - not even that successful.
10
Q
What is the truth about animal testing?
A
- We need to understand animal testing - make advancements but also look into the impacts on the wildlife, improve welfare with regulations.
11
Q
How does the media portray animals?
A
- Presented in an anthropomorphic manner - children books - provoke sentimentality.
- Animals can learn complex tasks.
- Animal experience - useful for psychology and vice versa.
