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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper this component of cognitive science that addresses animal intelligence and cognition. Because of the many disciplines that cognitive science encompasses, there are widely varied views and applications of research. Not all are convinced that cognitive ethology is a valid course of study, particularly in terms of the philosophy of mind branch of cognitive science. Researchers studying language and communication in animals hold very different opinions. The research presented in this paper points to the validity of the discipline, however. The paper discusses research with rhesus monkeys, the bottlenose dolphin and Alex the Congo African Grey parrot, while also providing information on the origin of the discipline in Donald Griffin’s 1976 book, “The Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience.” Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSpsyCogEthology.rtf
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paradigm that informs and involves several disciplines, including artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, cognitive ethology, and the philosophy of mind" (Peterson, 1997; p. 615). Because of the many disciplines
that cognitive science encompasses, there are widely varied views and applications of research. Not all are convinced that cognitive ethology is a valid
course of study, particularly in terms of the philosophy of mind branch of cognitive science: "Cognitive ethologists follow the principle of conservatism in determining whether to attribute mental states
to animals, but the principle does not appear to be justified" (Sober, 2001; p. 225). Researchers studying language and communication in animals hold very different opinions. Origins
Cognitive ethology had its beginnings in the 1970s, stemming from the work of Donald Griffin in his 1940s research of bats use of sonar to
navigate and to locate prey (Snowdon, 1991). That work was regarded as being "among the most technically sophisticated and intellectually exacting research on animal behavior" (Snowdon, 1991; p. 813),
but Griffins subsequent publications on the subject in 1976 and 1984 resulted in questioning by the scientific community of whether Griffins work had remained valid with the passage of time.
Those misgivings largely fell away with Griffins studies into the communication systems of bees. He used that work to prove animal cognition,
concluding "that the buzzing of bees was a symbol of their communication, signifying animal awareness" (Lewin, 1994; p. 29). It was that work that later evolved into the discipline
of cognitive ethology. Research Though Griffins early work was with bee colonies, most research has centered on "higher" animals such as Rhesus monkeys
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