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Jeff Alberts Professor of Psychology |
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Meredith West Professor of Psychology & Biology |
| C E N T E R F O R T H E I N T E G R A T I V E S T U D Y O F A N I M A L B E H A V I O R |
| F A L L 2 0 0 1 G R A D U A T E S E M I NA R |
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Social Learning, Social Intelligence, and Social Brains (A501 / P657) |
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Jeff Alberts Professor of Psychology |
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Meredith West Professor of Psychology & Biology |
| PROSPECTUS . READINGS . CLASS SCHEDULE |
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C O U R S E D E S C R I P T I O N In many animals, we know that behavior is learned, develops, and is culturally transmitted in social interactions and that these social interactions are often characterized by rules or heuristics that depend on the presence of specific social environments. Conventional methodologies, however, have mainly focused on isolating individuals from their social context or dividing social groups into unnaturally small units to facilitate study. Thus, to study behavior in socially and environmentally realistic contexts requires a major leap forward - a paradigm shift. While we believe that individual learning is an important mechanism for adaptive responses, there is more than individual learning and intelligence in populations of animals. Social intelligence, the exhibition of adaptive capabilities beyond the individual, also contributes to the creation, facilitation, and maintenance of critical behaviors. Our seminar will focus on understanding social learning and social intelligence, social development, and social brains. We will stress identifying new methodologies now available to handle the complexity of studying animals socially such as agent-based modeling, computational bioscience, use of animats and robots, and mew methods of data collection and analyses such as voice-recognition. We will invite experts in these fields, as well read the new (and old!) literature of social and developmental ecologies. Short essays or précis will be required for various topics, as well as student presentations on readings. Among the specific subjects covered will be evidence for use of basic learning processes such an operant conditions in the field and evidence of effects of social contexts on learning processes in the lab (e.g. acoustic startle), anti-predator behavior in fall webworms and squirrels, mate copying and imitation in fish and quail, huddling in rats, song learning in birds and its correlative neurobiology, modeling of social organization in ants, producer-scrounger strategies and spatial learning in avian and mammalian foraging, and the never-ending search for a phylogeny of social complexity and intelligence in primates and other taxa. Visiting Guest Lecturers: We are fortunate that the following scholars have agreed to visit campus and meet with the class: Louis Lefebvre (McGill University) |
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R E A D I N G S SOURCES and READINGS (Copies on file at CISAB) 5 OCTOBER King, A.P. and M.J. West. In press 2001. The ontogeny of competence. In: R. Lickliter & D. Lewkcowicz (eds.) Conceptions of Development. (Full Text PDF) Dunbar, R.I.M. 1998. The evolutionary implications of social behavior. In: H.C. Plotkin (Ed.) The role of behavior in evolution (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 165-188 (Chapter 6). Gotlieb, Gilbert. 1976. The roles of experience in the development of behavior and the nervous system. In: G. Gottlieb (Ed). Neural and behavioral specificity (NY: Academic Press), pp. 25-53. 9 NOVEMBER West, M.J., A.P. King, & D. White (in press 2001) Discovering culture. IN: Frans deWaal & Peter Tyack (eds.). Animal Social Intellience and complexity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). West, M.J. & A.P. King (in press 2001). Science lies its way to the truth...really. IN: Elliot Blass (ed.) Handbook of behavioral neurobiology (NY: Plenum Press). (REFS for Blass chapter). 14 DECEMBER Gilbert, Scott F. 2001. Ecological developmental biology: Developmental biology meets the real world. Developmental Biology READINGS to PREPARE for VISITORS: LEFEBVRE Lefebvre, Louis, Nikoleta Juretic, Nektaria Nicolakakis, Sara Timmermans. (Submitted 2001) Is the link between forebrain size and feeding innovations caused by confounding variables? A study of Australian and North American birds. Animal Cognition. (Full Text PDF) Webster, Sandra J. and Louis Lefebvre. (In press 2001) Problem solving and neophobia in a Columbiforme-Passeriform assemblage in Barbados. Animal Behavior 61. (Full Text PDF) Golberg, Joanna L., James W.A. Grant, and Louis Lefebvre. 2001. Effects of the temporal predictability and spatial clumping of food on the intensity of competitive aggression in the Zenaida dove. Behavioral Ecology 12(4):490-495. (Full Text PDF) Lefebvre, L., P. Whittle, E. Lascaris, and A. Finkelstein. 1996.Feeding innovations and forebrain size in birds. Animal Behaviour 53:549-560. Seferta, A., P.J. Guay, E. Marzinotto, and L. Lefebvre. (In press 2001) Learning differences between feral pigeons and zenaida doves: The role of neophobia and human proximity. Ethology. Nicolakakis, N. and L. Lefebvre. 2000. Forebrain size and innovation rate in European birds: Feeding, nesting and confounding variables. Behaviour 137:1415-1429. Lefebvre, L., B. Palameta, and K.K. Hatch. 1996. Is group-living associated with social learning? A comparative test of a gregarious and a territorial Columbid. Behaviour 133:241-261. Dolman, C.S., J. Templeton, and L. Lefebvre. 1996. Mode of foraging competition is related to tutor preference in Zenaida aurita. Journal of Comparative Psychology 110(1):45-54. SCHANK: Schank, J.C. 2001. Beyond reductionism: refocusing on the individual with individual-based modeling. Complexity 6(3):33-40. Schank, J.C. & J.R. Alberts. 2000. The developmental emergence of coupled activity as cooperative aggregation in rat pups. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 267:2307-2315 (Abstract). HA: - Cancelled - FRAGASZY: Fragaszy, D. and S. Perry. in prep 2001. "Towards a biology of traditions" IN: D. Fragaszy and S. Perry (Eds.) The Biology of traditions: Models and evidence. Cambridge University Press. JARVIS: Jarvis, E.D., S. Ribeiro, J. Vielliard, M. DaSilva, D. Ventura, and C.V. Mello. 2000. Behaviorally-driven gene expression reveals hummingbird brain song nuclei. Nature 406:628-632. (Full Text PDF) |
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F A L L 2 0 0 1 C L A S S S C H E D U L E Course Registration: By permission of the instructor Meeting Time: Fridays, noon - 2 pm Location: CISAB seminar room Public Lectures: Fridays at noon, Psychology Building, Room 128 Plus: Informal meetings with visiting speakers, TBA N.B.: Hit RELOAD on your browser to make sure you are viewing the most recently updated syllabus September 14 -- Organizational meeting, noon, Psychology 128 : CANCELLED September 24 -- Organizational meeting, 9:30 am, CISAB seminar room / read Lefebvre for class September 28 -- Louis Lefebvre public talk October 5 -- READINGS: Social Learning Outline; King & West (in press); Dunbar (1998); Gottlieb (1976) October 12 -- October 19 -- Jeff Schank public talk October 26 -- November 2 -- class cancelled November 9 -- READINGS: West, King, & White (in press 2001); West & King (in press 2001) November 16 -- James Ha public talk (lecture cancelled) November 22 -- Thanksgiving holiday November 23 -- November 30 -- Dorothy Fragaszy public talk December 7 -- Erich Jarvis public talk December 14 -- READING: Gilbert (2001) / NOTE : meet in CISAB seminar room |
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