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Evolution of cognition

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Evolution of Cognition is the idea that life on earth has gone from organisms with little to no cognitive function to a greatly varying display of cognitive function that we see in organisms today.The definition of cognition varies by discipline, psychologists tend define cognition by human behaviors, while ethologists have widely varying definitions based on animal behaviors. Cognition is largely studied by observing behavior, which makes studying extinct species difficult.

Researchers often use a comparative cognitive approach to studying the evolution of cognition. This is accomplished by comparing a specific cognitive ability of closely and distantly related species to make prediction of when and how that cognitive ability has evolved[1][2][3].

Methods of studying cognitive evolution

The main method of studying the evolution of cognition is by using a comparative cognitive approach[2][1][3]. This is accomplished by selecting a cognitive ability and comparing it between closely related species and distantly related species. For example, a researcher may want to analyze the connection between spatial memory and food caching behavior. By examining two closely related animals (chickadees and jays) and/or two distantly related animals (jays and chipmunks), hypotheses could be generated about when and how this cognitive ability evolved.

Convergent evolution of cognition

Higher cognitive processes have evolved in many closely and distantly related animals. Some of these examples are considered convergent evolution, while others most likely shared a common ancestor that possessed higher cognitive function.

  • Humans Humans possess possibly the highest level of cognitive function on earth. Some examples of their cognitive function include: high levels of motivation, self awareness, problem solving, language, culture, and many more.[4][5][6].
  • Cetaceans Cetaceans (dolphins and orcas) shown higher levels of cognition including: problem solving, tool use, and self recognition.
  • Hyenas Hyenas live in highly cognitive social groups. They demonstrated behavior of feigning death to avoid conflicts with predators.
  • Apes Apes have shown cognitive abilities such as: problem solving, tool use, communication, language, theory of mind, culture, and many more[7][1].
  • Canids Canines have shown high level cognitive abilities such as: object permanence, social learning, and episodic memory[8].
  • Elephants Elephants display many high cognitive behaviors, including those associated with grief, learning, mimicry, play, altruism, tool use, compassion, cooperation,[9]
  • Corvids The crow family demonstrates many high functioning cognitive abilities such as: problem solving, spatial temporal memory, mental time travel, and a particularly wide variety of tool usage.[10][11][12]
  • Parrots Parrots have displayed cognitive functions such as: tool use, problem solving, and mimicry of human speech.[12]

Not all of the examples above are convergent evolution. Some of them most likely share a common ancestor that possessed high cognitive abilities. This was then passed down to their ancestors and is present in the closely related species. For example, apes and humans most likely had a common ancestor with high levels of cognition, and as the two species diverged they both possessed this trait.

Selection pressure for cognition

Social living

Social living is thought to have co-evolved with higher cognitive processes.It is hypothesized that higher cognitive function evolved to mitigate the negative effects of living in social groups. For example, the ability to recognize individual groups members could solve the problem of cheating behavior. If individuals within the group can keep track of the cheaters, then they can punish or exclude them from the group. There is also a positive correlation between relative brain size and aspects of sociality in some species[13][14] Animals that live in social groups benefit in several ways. First, some animals, such as elephants, reduce the threat of predation by living in large social groups. Other animals like wolves have access to larger or more dangerous prey by living and hunting in groups. In addition, animals that live in social groups can utilize division of labor. For example, some colonies of ants have certain individuals that specialize in finding food and others that protect their nest. Finally, living in social groups allows for easier access to mates. While these advantages help the animals survive and reproduce, living in social groups has some disadvantages such as conflicts between individuals. Also, some animals display cheating behavior while living in social groups.

Sex, mating, and relationships

Many animals have complex mating rituals that have evolved to require higher levels of cognition to evaluate. Birds are well known for their intense mating displays including swan dances that can last hours or even days[15].

Another hypothesis is that higher levels of cognition evolved to need to form longer lasting relationships. Animals that form pair bonds and share parental responsibilities produce offspring that are more likely to survive and reproduce. The cognitive requirements for this type of mating include the ability the differentiate individuals from their group and resolve social conflicts[14].

Finding, extracting, and protecting food

Another hypothesis for the evolution of cognition is that cognition allowed individuals to gain access to food and resources that were previously unavailable. For example, the genetic mutation for color vision allowed for a greatly increased efficiency in finding and foraging fruit[2]. Food caching behavior displayed in some birds and mammals is an example of a behavior that may have co-evolved with higher cognitive processes that would allow these animals to store food for later consumption. This behavior allows animals to take advantage of a temporary surplus in food, and consume it later. Corvids have displayed incredible abilities to create and remember the locations of up to hundreds of caches[16]. In addition, there evidence that this is not just an instinctual behavior, but a example of future planning. Jays have been found to diversify the types of food they cache, possible indicating they understand the need to eat a variety of food.

Some supporters of this hypothesis suggest that higher cognitive processes require a large brain to body ratio. This higher brain to body size ratio in turn requires a large metabolic input to function. The idea is that there two processes (greater access to food and the brain's growing need for energy) may have snowballed the evolution of these two features.

Technology, tools, innovation, and culture

The cognitive ability to use tools and pass information from one generation to the next is thought to have been a driving force of the evolution of cognition. Many animals have posses the ability to use tools including: primates, elephants, cetaceans, birds, fish, and some invertebrates[3]. These abilities vary widely in the degree to which the animal uses the tool. For example, sea otters have been observed using a rock to break open snail shells, while primates and New Caledonian crows have demonstrated an ability to fashion a new tool for a specific use[17]. The ability to use tools seems to provide animals with a fitness advantage, usually in the form of access to food previously unavailable.

Some animals have demonstrated the ability to pass information from one generation to the next (culture) including: primates, cetaceans, and birds. Primates and birds can pass information of specific tool use strategies on to their offspring who can, in turn, pass it on to their offspring. In this way, the information can remain in a group on individuals even after the original users are gone. One famous example of this is in a group of macaque monkeys in Japan. Researchers studying this species observed these monkeys feeding behavior in a population in Japan. The researchers witnessed one female, named Imo, realize that by washing potatoes in the nearby river you could remove much more sand and dirt then by simply wiping it off. Over the next few generations the researcher saw this behavior begin to appear in other individuals throughout the group[18].

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Matsuzawa, Tetsuro (2009-10-01). "The chimpanzee mind: in search of the evolutionary roots of the human mind". Animal Cognition. 12 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1007/s10071-009-0277-1. ISSN 1435-9448.
  2. ^ a b c Dukas, Reuven (2004). "Evolutionary Biology of Animal Cognition". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 35: 347–374.
  3. ^ a b c van Horik, Jayden; Emery, Nathan J. (2011-11-01). "Evolution of cognition". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science. 2 (6): 621–633. doi:10.1002/wcs.144. ISSN 1939-5086.
  4. ^ Premack, David (2007-08-28). "Human and animal cognition: Continuity and discontinuity". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (35): 13861–13867. doi:10.1073/pnas.0706147104.
  5. ^ Boesch, Christophe. "What makes us human (Homo sapiens)? The challenge of cognitive cross-species comparison". Journal of Comparative Psychology. 121 (3): 227–240. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.121.3.227.
  6. ^ Heyes, Cecilia (2012-08-05). "New thinking: the evolution of human cognition". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 367 (1599): 2091–2096. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0111. ISSN 0962-8436. PMID 22734052.
  7. ^ Mendes, Natacha; Hanus, Daniel; Call, Josep (2007-10-22). "Raising the level: orangutans use water as a tool". Biology Letters. 3 (5): 453–455. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0198. ISSN 1744-9561. PMID 17609175.
  8. ^ Fugazza, Claudia; Pogány, Ákos; Miklósi, Ádám (2016). "Recall of Others' Actions after Incidental Encoding Reveals Episodic-like Memory in Dogs". Current Biology. 26 (23): 3209. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.057. PMID 27889264.
  9. ^ Plotnik, J. M.; Lair, R.; Suphachoksahakun, W.; de Waal, F. B. M. (2011). "Elephants know when they need a helping trunk in a cooperative task". PNAS. 108: 5116–5121. doi:10.1073/pnas.1101765108. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  10. ^ Seed, Amanda M.; Tebbich, Sabine; Emery, Nathan J.; Clayton, Nicola S. "Investigating Physical Cognition in Rooks, Corvus frugilegus". Current Biology. 16 (7): 697–701. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.066.
  11. ^ "Evidence for Large Long-Term Memory Capacities in Baboons and Pigeons and Its Implications for Learning and the Evolution of Cognition on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  12. ^ a b "Cognitive Ornithology: The Evolution of Avian Intelligence on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  13. ^ Dunbar, R. I. M.; Shultz, Susanne (2007-09-07). "Evolution in the Social Brain". Science. 317 (5843): 1344–1347. doi:10.1126/science.1145463. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17823343.
  14. ^ a b Emery, Nathan J.; Seed, Amanda M.; Bayern, Auguste M. P. von; Clayton, Nicola S. (2007-04-29). "Cognitive adaptations of social bonding in birds". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 362 (1480): 489–505. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1991. ISSN 0962-8436. PMID 17255008.
  15. ^ Meades, Sian (2016-04-18). "These birds have the most INCREDIBLE mating ritual that lasts FIVE days". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  16. ^ Sherry, David. "Food storage by black-capped chickadees: Memory for the location and contents of caches". Animal Behaviour. 32 (2): 451–464. doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(84)80281-x.
  17. ^ Bird, Christopher D.; Emery, Nathan J. (2009-06-23). "Insightful problem solving and creative tool modification by captive nontool-using rooks". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (25): 10370–10375. doi:10.1073/pnas.0901008106.
  18. ^ K, Alfred. "Monkeys Washing Potatoes | Alfred K". alfre.dk. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
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