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William D. Timberlake Professor of Psychology |
| 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 |
| S P R I N G 2 0 0 2 G R A D U A T E S E M I NA R |
| Learning & Evolution (A501 / P717) |
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William D. Timberlake Professor of Psychology |
| 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 Content The purpose of this course is to provide students with exposure to current topics and literature on evolution and learning and an appreciation of related conceptual issues. The majority of the literature will be drawn from work with nonhuman animals, but relevance and similarities to the literature in human learning and behavior will be important. We will consider issues relevant to the evolution of mind, including imitation, deception, self labeling and recognition, enumeration, logical inference, and complex planning. We will ask how species can be compared, and examine how learning and evolution interact from the view of cost-benefit (ecological) analyses, and the phylogeny of neurophysiological mechanisms and behavior. We will also consider the importance of culture, domain specific versus general mechanisms, and the ability to model the relation of evolution and learning using computational simulations based on genetic algorithms. Student Responsibilities Students will be expected to do weekly readings, ask and answer questions, and participate and take sides in discussions. They will also be responsible for several presentations on specific readings and/or topic areas. They will produce a final paper of 18-25 pages related to evolution and learning. Reading materials will be selected from both books and journals. It will help the student to be familiar with either learning, evolution, or both. Visiting Guest Lecturers: We are fortunate that the following scholars have agreed to visit campus and meet with the class: R. Stimson Wilcox |
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R E A D I N G S READINGS to PREPARE for VISITORS: STIM WILCOX Wilcox, R.S., R.R. Jackson, and K. Gentile. 1996. Spiderweb smokescreens: Spider trickster uses background noise to mask stalking movements. Animal Behavior 51:313-326. Jackson, R.R. and R.S. Wilcox. 1998. Spider-eating spiders. American Scientist 86:350-357. Wilcox, R.S. and R.R. Jackson. 1998. Cognitive abilities of araneophagic jumping spiders. In: R. Balda, I. Pepperberg, and A.C. Kamil (eds.) Animal cognition in nature. (San Diego: Academic Press). RUSS FERNALD Fernald, R.D. and S.A. White. 1999. Social control of brains: From behavior to genes. In: M.S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences, 2nd Edition (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 1193-1208. (Full Text WORD Reprint) Hofmann, H.A., M.E. Benson and R.D. Fernald. 1999. Social status regulates grwoth rate: Consequences for life-history strategies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96:14171-14176. (Full Text PDF) Hofmann, H.A. and R.D. Fernald. 2000. Social status controls somatostatin-neuron size and growth. Journal of Neuroscience 20:4740-4. (Full Text PDF) CELIA HEYES Heyes, C.M. & E. Ray. 2000. What is the significance of imitation in animals? Advances in the Study of Behavior 29: 215-245. Campbell, F., C.M. Heyes, & A. Goldsmith. 1999. Simultaneous stimulus and response learning by observation in the European starling using a two-object / two-action. Animal Behaviour 58: 151-158. Heyes, C.M. 2001. Causes and consequences of imitation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5: 253-261. (Full Text PDF) Heyes, C.M. 2001. Evolutionary psychology in the round. In: C.M. Heyes & L. Huber (Eds.) Evolution of Cognition. (MIT Press), pp. 1-21. Heyes, C.M. & E.D. Ray. (in press, 2001) Distinguishing intention-sensitive from outcome-sensitive imitation. Developmental Science. NICKY CLAYTON Clayton, N.S. and A. Dickinson. 1998. Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature 395: 272-278. (Full Text PDF) Emory, N.J. and N.S. Clayton. 2001. It takes a thief to know a thief: Effects of social context on prospective caching strategies in scrub jays. Nature 414: 443-446. (Full Text PDF) Clayton, N.S, D.P. Griffiths, N.J. Emery, and A. Dickinson. 2001. Elements of episodic-like memory in animals. Phil. Trans. Royal Society London B 356(1413): 1483-1491. Griffiths, D.P., A. Dickinson, and N.S. Clayton. 1999. Episodic memory: What can animals remember about their past? Trends in Cognitive Science 3(2): 74-80. (Full Text PDF) |
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S P R I N G 2 0 0 2 C L A S S S C H E D U L E Meeting Time: 1:30-2:15 pm Monday and Friday Location: Psychology Building, Room 115 Public Lectures: Friday at 12:15pm in Glenn Black Laboratory, Room 101 (next to Mathers Museum, 9th & Fess Streets) Plus: Informal meetings with visiting speakers, TBA January 7 -- January 11 -- January 14 -- January 18 -- January 21 -- January 25 -- January 28 -- February 1 -- Speaker: Stim Wilcox : "Deceit Amongst The Webbing: Aggressive Mimicry And Cognitive Abilities in Portia Jumping Spiders" February 4 -- February 8 -- February 11 -- February 15 -- February 18 -- February 22 -- Speaker: Russ Fernald : "Social Regulation of the Brain: Status, Sex and Size" February 25 -- March 1 -- March 4 -- March 8 -- March 11 -- SPRING BREAK March 15 -- SPRING BREAK March 18 -- March 22 -- Speaker: Nicky Clayton : "Mental Time Travel by Food Caching Scrub-Jays" March 25 -- March 29 -- April 1 -- April 5 -- April 8 -- April 12 -- April 15 -- April 19 -- Speaker: Celia Heyes : "Imitation: General Mechanism or Innate Module?" April 22 -- April 26 -- |
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