Janmaat Karline R L, de Guinea Miguel, Collet Julien, Byrne Richard W, Robira Benjamin, van Loon Emiel, Jang Haneul, Biro Dora, Ramos-Fernández Gabriel, Ross Cody, Presotto Andrea, Allritz Matthias, Alavi Shauhin, Van Belle Sarie
Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
iScience. 2021 Apr 15;24(4):102343. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102343. eCollection 2021 Apr 23.
Within comparative psychology, the evolution of animal cognition is typically studied either by comparing indirect measures of cognitive abilities (e.g., relative brain size) across many species or by conducting batteries of decision-making experiments among (typically) a few captive species. Here, we propose a third, complementary approach: inferring and comparing cognitive abilities through observational field records of natural information gradients and the associated variation in decision-making outcomes, using the ranging behavior of wild animals. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, we present the results of a global survey assessing the availability of long-term ranging data sets from wild primates and the willingness of primatologists to share such data. We explore three ways in which such ranging data, with or without the associated behavioral and ecological data often collected by primatologists, might be used to infer and compare spatial cognition. Finally, we suggest how ecological complexity may be best incorporated into comparative analyses.
在比较心理学领域，动物认知的进化通常通过两种方式进行研究：一是比较众多物种间认知能力的间接测量指标（如相对脑容量）；二是（通常在）少数圈养物种中开展一系列决策实验。在此，我们提出第三种互补方法：利用野生动物的活动范围行为，通过对自然信息梯度及相关决策结果变化的观察性实地记录来推断和比较认知能力。为证明我们提议的可行性，我们展示了一项全球调查的结果，该调查评估了来自野生灵长类动物的长期活动范围数据集的可获取性以及灵长类动物学家分享此类数据的意愿。我们探讨了三种可利用此类活动范围数据（无论是否包含灵长类动物学家通常收集的相关行为和生态数据）来推断和比较空间认知的方法。最后，我们建议如何能最好地将生态复杂性纳入比较分析中。
