chapter 11: comparative cognition
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 comparative cognition | compares the cognitive processes of different species, including humans |
| long term memory | capacity to retain info in memory for months or years |
| short term memory | capacity to hold info for a few seconds in memory |
| working memory | techniques to study working memory in animals --ability to take info and manipulate |
| matching to sample | matching colors of light |
| delayed matching to sample | the color is presented seconds passed and present two color options |
| retroactive interference | new material interferes with memory of previously learned material (looking back) |
| proactive interference | old material interferes with the memorization or retention of new material (looking forward) |
| memory and rehearsal | conditional discrimination task; radial-arm maze; doesn't resemble the real world; food is placed in some of the arms |
| rehearsal | researchers have tried to show that: 1) animals can choose to engage in rehearsal 2) rehearsal can be disrupted by distraction |
| maintenance rehearsal | retain information in short-term memory |
| associative rehearsals | promotes long-term associative learning |
| reference memory | another name for long-term memory individuals must refer to the information in long term memory when performing most tasks |
| free recall procedure | remember a list of items |
| primacy effect | good recall at the beginning |
| recency effect | good recall at end of list |
| peak procedure | used to measure animal timing |
| weber's law | states that the amount a stimulus must be changed before the change is detectable is proportional to the size of the stimulus |
| pacemaker | using movement as a marker; internal clock which allows the animal to measure |
| behavioral theory of timing | states that animals use their own behaviors to measure duration |
| counting | procedures used conditional discrimination task |
| experimental evidence | animals can't count but they can discriminate. |
| serial pattern learning | animals may learn simple associations between adjacent items --animals may learn a more abstract rule: food decrease over trails until no more --animals may learn something about the overall structure of a sequence |
| chunking | division of a long list of items into proportions of more manageable size for the purpose of ease of memorization --animals and people can do it |
| language and reasoning | teaching language to animals |
| imitation | without human language quality --never initiate conversation --use to get reinforcers recent research is more optomistic --some use of very basic grammar --used to communicate with one another without reinforcement |
| language | -linguistic capacities that animals have demonstrated are quite limited -animals do sometimes use their signs to communicate with other animals or with people -evidence is growing which show that a number of different species can learn at least some basic principles of grammar |
| object permanence | understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible |
| analogies | this is a statement of the form "A is to B as C is to D" |
| transitive inference | If A < B and B< C, than A < C |
| summary | delayed matching to sample and radial-arm maze are two procedures for examining short-term memory in animals |
| summary | research shows that pigeons can remember several hundred slides; evidence for long-term memory in animals --animals can detect repeating serial patterns of stimuli and learn lists of stimuli via chunking --when researchers have tried to teach language to animals, the responses resemble human language to some respect |
| summary | some chimpanzes have learned to use more than 100 signs or symbols for words --other studies have shown that several species can learn the meanings of gestures, symbols or spoken words --some animals can perform abstract reasoning tasks |
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