Communication and Cognition

Question 1

What are the 4 components of communication

Answer 1

1. Signal
2. Motivation
3. Mechanism
4. Function

Question 2

Signal

Answer 2

• form the communication event takes place
• observable action (ex: vocalization, scent marking)

Question 3

What makes human signal special?

Answer 3

Language givens humans increased signalling abilities.

Question 4

Motivation

Answer 4

• What is creating the feelings, emotion or intention
• Internal state of the animal
• Can be inferred from the actions that accompany the signal AND/OR External stimulus in environment

Question 5

Mechanism

Answer 5

• Proximate causation
• How does the signal affect the receiver?
• Is response for information, physical quality of signal, or who is sending the signal?

Question 6

What was the Cheney and Seyfarth experiment?

Answer 6

It was a playback experiment on wild vervet monkeys revealed that they can:
- identify individuals by their vocals
- recognize relationships between kin
- produce three alarm calls and response accordingly for each call

Question 7

What were the three conclusions from the Cheney and Seyfarth experiment?

Answer 7

1. Symbolic, meaningful calls: Different calls for different predators that elicit different escape responses
2. Arbitrary call structure: attaches meaning to arbitrary calls
3. Intentional: calls are deliberate attempts to inform listeners

Question 8

Information Sharing

Answer 8

• cooperative information transmission from one individual to another
• not very supported anymore (theory of mind assumption into the model)
• evidence for different mechanisms

Question 9

Function

Answer 9

• Ultimate Causation
• Adaptive value of the signal to sender, either directly or indirectly via receiver fitness (kin selection)

Question 10

Observations vs Inferences

Answer 10

Observations: signal –> reaction –> see & record –> environmental context
Inferences: motivation –> mechanism –> function

Question 11

What are the 4 modes of communication?

Answer 11

1. Olfactory
2. Visual
3. Tactile
4. Auditory/Vocal

Question 12

Olfactory Communication - Who uses it?

Answer 12

Typical in Mammals - chemical signals like pheromones
- limited use in anthropoids
- More used in prosimians

Question 13

Advantages and Disadvantages of Olfactory communication?

Answer 13

• Conveys messages after the sender has left
• Signals are subject to the elements
• Advertise information to whoever finds it, whether intentional or not

Question 14

What is scent marking and its function?

Answer 14

Chemical signal dispersed in the air or deposited on substrates.
Function:
- marks territory
- attracts mates
- advertise dominance status
- sexual receptivity
- aggressive/competitive encounter

Question 15

Who is olfactory communication most important to ?

Answer 15

Solitary nocturnal primates (ex: lorises and galagos)

Question 16

What are the four main types of visual communication?

Answer 16

1. Facial Expressions
2. Body postures
3. Tail postures
4. colouration

Question 17

Explain facial expressions

Answer 17

Permits very diverse messages
- only good for close range signalling
- many expressions are universal across species
- more limited in prosimians

Question 18

Explain body and tail postures

Answer 18

Better for distance messaging
- involved in courtship and dominance signalling

Question 19

Explain colouration

Answer 19

Examples are silverback gorillas, or bright colourful face and body
- can be used to show dominance, or to help identify individuals from the same species
Infants can have different coloration of the body
- especially in colobines
- allows group to identify infants and sometimes take care of them

Question 20

Which area of research is a main area in non-human primates?

Answer 20

Vocal Communication

Question 21

What is a tool used in vocal communication research ?

Answer 21

A sonogram/sonograph
- provides a spectrographic picture of the sound waves
- primates display great variation in vocal pitch and intensity

Question 22

what is an advantage of vocal communication

Answer 22

ability to attact the receivers attention without being in view
- ex: arboreal primates developed anatomical specializations to call long distances through the forest (howler monkeys, siamangs)
- ex: arboreal species also have behaviour adaptations to vocal communication when they signal at times of the day when the call can be propagated further - in the morning and evening

Question 23

Tactile Communication

Answer 23

Hard to study because it occurs in intense and intimate social interactions
ex: mother&infant

Question 24

Explain grooming as a form of tactile communication

Answer 24

It is a primary function to maintain social bonds and reduce tension.
Has a secondary function to remove parasites.

Question 25

Where is grooming seen?

Answer 25

-Mothers pacifying infants -Prelude to mating consort pairs -Reinforces kinship bonds -Reduces tension between potential adversaries -Involved in reconciliation

Question 26

Other forms of tactile behaviours?

Answer 26

Greeting and reunion hugs and kisses ex: chimpanzees and spider monkeys

Question 27

What are the two considerations of intelligence?

Answer 27

1. A single unitary capacity (Domain general) or 2. Many different capacities (Domain specific)

Question 28

Why is it good to have a big brain?

Answer 28

Allows for behavioural plasticity when environments change to be successful.

Question 29

What are the facts about primates having a relatively large brain?

Answer 29

1. The energetic constraints of having a large brain have somehow been offset = energy reallocation - ex: smaller guts or fewer offspring 2. Selection continues to drive brain enlargement

Question 30

What are the two hypotheses of why selection pressure favours intelligence in primates?

Answer 30

1. Ecological factors: associated with location and processing inaccessible food items 2. Social factors: associated with life in large complex social groups

Question 31

What would selection favour for ecological intelligence?

Answer 31

- Ability to form spatial mental map of food trees - Ability to predict temporal variation in seasonal foods - Ability to extract difficult to find & eat foods (ex: tool use to crack nuts, buried roots, larvae inside trees) - Ability to use tools to access food

Question 32

A prediction of ecological intelligence

Answer 32

frugivores and extractive foragers should have larger neocortex than folivores - evidence of this in cebus monkeys: spider monkeys (frugivores) have twice the brain size of howlers (folivores)

Question 33

What would selection favour for social intelligence?

Answer 33

Ability to: - deal with conflict and competition - form coalitions and alliances - form dominance hierarchies - reconcile disputes - form enduring social bonds - deceive others and detect deception - engage in reciprocity - keep track of own and other's relationship

Question 34

A prediction of social intelligence

Answer 34

Species living in large social groups should have larger neocortex than those living in smaller groups

Question 35

what is machiavellian intelligence?

Answer 35

Idea that primate intelligence is social intelligence but driven specifically by the need for social manipulation

Question 36

What is deception in humans?

Answer 36

intentional behaviour that acts to persuade another to believe something that is false

Question 37

Deception in primates?

Answer 37

1. Flexible behaviour patterns 2. interactions between and among members of the same species 3. Does it show theory of mind? - ex: fake trauma or alarm calls, hiding to mate, pretending not to see food.

Question 38

Theory of mind

Answer 38

necessary condition for true deception in humans (ie. changing the mental/knowledge states of others) - distinguish between what they know and what others know - attribute thoughts and motives to others - can primates truly deceive or are they learning to associate deceptive behaviours with positive reward

Question 39

Do primates have theory of minds

Answer 39

Humans - adults yes, children no Apes - inconclusive: understand visual perception of others but not the mental state Monkeys - unknown: may attend to line of sight of other monkeys

Question 40

What does today's evidence say about brain size development in primates?

Answer 40

suggests ecological factors are the driving factors that are more important for brain size evolution in primates