Animal Learning and Cognition - Essay Example

Animal Learning and Cognition Cognition is an ability to receive and process information in the brain in a way as to interpret it and act accordingly. The highest level of cognition observed so far is in human beings but, some animals such as; rats, pigeons and chimpanzees have also shown certain levels of learning and cognition. Experiments are performed all around the world on everyday basis to observe and analyze how animals learn in order to make them more useful for the human race. When we talk about numerical competence, this trait or ability has been so far shown to be unique to the human race only but now with more in depth studies, we get to know that animals also have these numerical skills. These skills were judged on the basis of object tracking system, semantic congruity, transitive inference and language skills of animals. The dimension of animal intelligence is a vital component of the analyses regarding animal cognition and learning that essentially serve the same purpose. As demonstrated in a series of experiments conducted on rats and pigeons by Skinner, the data revealed how animals acquired learned behaviors through training. This experiment also indicated the learning processes of animals through a sense of positive reinforcers (Pearce, 2008). In the experiment, there was an exigency between the behavior and the unconditioned stimulus. Upon pulling down a lever, the rats and pigeons got access to a food reward. This reward trained the animals to pull down the lever in order to get food. This demonstrated the learning which occurred among the animals enabling them to pull the lever even in the absence of a food reward. This idea of learning can be explained through the reinforcement theory which suggests the increased probability of behaviors which are rewarded positively, which in this case was the food. The aforementioned discussion establishes the existence of a relationship between intelligence and learning, yet it is important to identify that the scope of any research which is directed towards exploring the realm of intelligence in the animal kingdom must take into account the inherent differences of the species. Pearce (2008) categorizes such variations as contextual variables that must be considered to address the differences between cognition factors amongst animals. Moreover, the scope of learning in animals recognizes that they do possess cognitive capacities in order to solve problems and learn in an unsupervised manner. All environments enable the “agents” to form a predictive model of the external setting by means of environmental precepts. However, even these are rough ideas and not enough to generate actions. In this case positive and negative reinforcers play a vital role in helping the agent to determine the possible set of actions. These processes of learning can also be applied to animals as “agents”. According to Russell (n.d.), animals are “hardwired” in order to recognize the rewarding and punishing stimuli in order to distinguish them from ordinary sensory impulses. The process allows animals to learn how to distinguish from the rewarding and punishing stimuli in order to judge whether or not to execute a certain action or behavior. Again, this demonstrates learning occurring among animals which helps them to decide actions, solve problems, and survive in their natural environment. Object tracking system is another cognitive ability animals show with learning and numerical competence. It is both intriguing and surprising how pigeons when fly miles away from their homes come back safely at that same place at night. Also, other animals when go out in search of food come back at their homes safe and sound and do not stray away. Pigeons were of keen interest while studying this behavior in animals and birds since they were harmless and easy to study. It was observed that pigeons when fly away from home, memorize certain landmarks and their directions. When they are returning back home they simply follow these landmarks and return safely. A bee when comes to her hive starts dancing wildly, conveying the directions of a food source to her mates. Similarly all other animals have their ways of memorizing and tracking objects as well as conveying the directions to fellow animals. The contexts in which animals operate require them to solve problems, organize concepts, reason, and plan their actions. Their cognitive capacities enable them to organize sensory information while making sense of various abstract dimensions. All species of animals possess certain level of animal intelligence however some including gorillas, chimpanzees, and dogs possess higher learning capabilities in terms of object permanence. However, other species of animals do not exhibit such higher capabilities of learning and may be deceived for the existence of an object. Early studies on animal intelligence and learning proved their cognitive abilities which displayed certain behaviors and responses based on training. These results showed that the process of learning also occurred among animals and it was significantly important in enabling them to develop a mental model of their surroundings. The preceding analysis aids the development of a conclusion which suggests that animal learning and cognition comprises of various elements that are analogous to humans, however, the manner in which these elements are assessed within the context of animal learning is distinguishable. Despite of sharing certain similarities the notion of memory, its conception and structural framework with regard to animals is largely different from that of humans because experimental mechanisms do not allow researchers to study concepts such as episodic memory or episodic-like memory on animal subjects on a comprehensive scale. Thus, research conclusions on this aspect of animal learning remains restricted on the other hand research advancements in the field of animal intelligence and learning behaviors through reinforcement theories presents positive implications for further research. In the experiments for classical conditioning and operant conditioning, the animals demonstrated a behavior characterized by learned intelligence. Once the animals had acquired the learned behavior, they produced similar response even in the absence of the food reward. A more interesting study carried out on rats revealed the difference between short term training and long term training. When animals can possess enough intelligence to learn from experiences they are surely intelligent enough to realize the differences in the stimuli. In this experiment, the rats under experiment changed their behavior after recognizing the devaluation of sucrose in the food magazines. The results suggested that with short term training, the rats seemed to perceive the water magazine as though it was sucrose. However, through an extensive training the rates seemed to understand that the water is not sucrose but may be present in the food magazine (Delamater, 2011). This reflects the cognitive abilities of animals to understand the changes in their learning as they come across other variables in the environment. Semantic congruity when related to animal behavior and numerical competence was studied; it was found out that animals have a level of semantic congruity. They can use this cognitive skill to convey messages to their fellow animals. Semantic congruity works on the basis of certain code models. All the living beings that have some cognitive ability can develop codes in order to convey messages to other animals. They can convey the directions of a food source. They can convey feelings and emotions. Since semantic congruity is used to convey coded messages, transitive inference is used to interpret what is being told to the other animal. Animals learn and interpret the messages conveyed to them. When we talk about this behavior and cognitive ability in animals, we can go to some of the daily life examples as that of dogs and other pets. They learn to interpret what is being told to them by their owners and act accordingly. Initially it would be hard for your pet dog to follow your orders but then as they learn to interpret your signs, they would sit, stand and fetch the ball on commands. Again, these commands should be very specific so that the animal should know what they are being told to do. Talking about language, animals use, learn and interpret sign language. It would be very easy for them convey a message through certain gestures and act accordingly. Bee dancing, dogs barking and doing gestures and other animals doing their specific movements can be taken as their sign language to convey their messages. Hence in a nutshell, numerical competence relies on these four pillars of cognition. Animals have certain levels of numerical cognitions for example a chimpanzee can tell the number of dots o the screen and then point towards the right number on the table provided to him. These cognitive abilities when trained and tested properly can be of good use. But, further experiments are required in order to specify what animals possess what abilities. References Delamater, A. R. (2011). At the interface of learning and cognition: an associative learning perspective. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 24 pp. 389-411. Emmerton, J. (2002). Birds' judgments of number and quantity. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/avc/emmerton/#Section 4 [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014]. Pearce, J. M. (2008). Animal Learning and Cognition: An Introduction. Hove, East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press. Russell, S. (n.d.). Handbook of perception and cognition, vol.14. [e-book] Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~russell/papers/hpc-machine-learning.pdf [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014]. Shettleworth, S. J. (2009). Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press. Wynne, C. D. L. (2013). Animal Cognition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More