Students from Animal cognition course

Last Friday 20 students from the course in Animal Cognition visited the station. The course is given every second year and earns 7,5 credits.

"The course introduces important aspects of the zoological study of cognition, i.e. knowledge and research about other biological information- and knowledge systems than humans, in particular nonhuman primates and corvids. The course also discusses what can be learnt by comparing the cognition of different species and the common pitfalls in conclusions that this can entail."

To give the students some insight in empirical research and field work, they can either visit LU Primate Research Station in Furuvik, or the Corvid Cognition Station.

Here, Mathias gave an introductory lecture on why we study corvid cognition, and Can and Katarzyna presented their research. Some of the students met the ravens, who seemed content with the visitors.

//Helena

New paper on animal future‐oriented cognition

 

Last week WIREs Cognitive Science published an opinion piece by Mathias Osvath,  trying to sort out "the theoretical and terminological muddle" framing the ongoing debate on animal future- oriented cognition. Many researchers still remain convinced that no species other than human beings is able to anticipate future needs or otherwise live in anything other than the immediate present moment. However, rather than being based on empirical data, Osvath argues that this conviction might be the consequence of "largely unquestioned theoretical divides": therefore, putting animal prospection research into the context of evolution and contemporary cognitive science is of utmost importance for the future of this field.

The abstract of the paper: "Putting flexible animal prospection into context: escaping the theoretical box" can be found HERE. Please contact our research group if you are interested in the full pdf.

/Helena