Comparative Learning and Cognition

Comparative Learning and Cognition offers a comprehensive analysis of experimental and field research on learning, cognition, and behavior in nonhuman animals. Over the past two decades, the field has advanced significantly. While still firmly rooted in the study of behavior, contemporary research now interweaves principles from neuroscience and human cognition. This book emphasizes behavioral plasticity and integrates evolutionary, neuroscientific, and comparative perspectives in examining topics such as associative and nonassociative learning, social learning, tool use, navigation, and communication in nonhuman animals. With its integrative approach, this is an essential text for core psychology courses on comparative learning and cognition.

Table of Contents:
About the Authors Part I: Foundations Chapter 1: Evolution: A context for comparative learning and cognition 1 Evolution 1.1 Evidence Molecular evidence Embryology Anatomy Biogeography Paleontology Contemporary evidence Domestication 2 Natural selection and adaptation 2.1 Logic of natural selection 2.2 Natural selection Field observations and experiments 2.3 Types of direct fitness Measuring Lifetime Reproductive Success (LRS) 2.4 Natural selection and diversity Traits contributing to survival Correlated traits Direct fitness and adaptation 2.5 From morphology to behavior 2.6 Sexual selection and the brain 3 Diversity of life 3.1 Taxonomy of life 3.2 Animal phyla 3.3 Ediacaran and Cambrian faunas 3.4 Evolution of chordates 3.5 Hominins Early hominins Homo Archaic humans Early and recent modern humans 4 Evolution of the vertebrate brain and behavior 4.1 Key innovations of vertebrates 4.2 Agnathan brains 4.3 Regions of the vertebrate brain Spinal cord Rhombencephalon and mesencephalon Diencephalon 4.4 Telencephalon Subdivisions Fish telencephalon Striatum Limbic system Origin and evolution of the cortex 4.5 Principles of brain size Selective breeding for brain size Relative brain size Comparative and developmental aspects of encephalization Brain size and intelligence Behavioral specializations and the brain Glossary References Chapter 2: Fundamentals of stimulus control 1 Properties of a stimulus 1.1 Evolutionary framework 2 Stimulus control 2.1 Response probability Reflexes 2.2 Response strength 2.3 Associative learning Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning. Operant (or instrumental) conditioning Motivational control of operant behavior Stimulus control of operant behavior 2.4 Generalization and discrimination 3 Stimulus control over other properties of behavior 3.1 What does the behavior look like? 3.2 When does the behavior occur? 3.3 Where does the behavior occur? 4 The nature of the reinforcer 5 Contiguity, contingency, and relative validity 6 Summing up Glossary References Part II: Learning Chapter 3: Learning in simple systems 1 Phenomena and mechanisms 1.1 What is a learning phenomenon? 1.2 Levels of mechanistic analysis 1.3 Species similarity in learning phenomena 1.4 Species differences in learning phenomena 2 Invertebrate learning 2.1 Cnidarian neurons 2.2 The nervous systems of bilateral animals 2.3 Properties of habituation 2.4 Habituation in cnidarians 3 Behavioral and neural plasticity in nonassociative learning 3.1 Habituation and dishabituation 3.2 Short-term and long-term habituation 3.3 Neural basis of short-term habituation: C. elegans 3.4 Neural basis of short-term habituation: A. californica 3.5 Neural basis of long-term habituation: C. elegans 3.6 Neural basis of long-term habituation: A. californica 4 Cellular bases of sensitization 4.1 Short-term sensitization 4.2 Dishabituation and short-term sensitization in A. californica 4.3 Long-term sensitization 4.4 Evolution of sensitization in mollusks 4.5 Generality of the neural mechanisms of nonassociative learning 5 Associative learning and cognition in invertebrates 5.1 Associative learning in basal invertebrates 5.2 Associative learning in mollusks 5.3 Associative learning in arthropods 5.4 Learning mutants in fruit flies 5.5 Invertebrate cognition 5.6 Parallel evolution from common cell-molecular mechanisms 6 Behavioral plasticity in aneural organisms 6.1 Some conceptual issues 6.2 Learning in aneural organisms Bacteria and archaeon Protists Plants Fungi Basal animal phyla 6.3 What are nervous systems good for? Glossary References Chapter 4: Associative learning: Acquisition 1 Introduction 2 Associative processes 2.1 Contiguity Contiguity in Pavlovian conditioning Contiguity in operant conditioning 2.2 Comparative and developmental generality of contiguity 2.3 Learning/performance dichotomy 2.4 What is learned in Pavlovian conditioning? 2.5 What is learned in operant conditioning? 2.6 Hierarchical associations: Occasion setting 2.7 Neurobiology of stimulus contiguity in mammals Long-term potentiation and depression From brain slice to behavior SàS and SàR associations in the brain 3 Acquisition factors 3.1 Beyond contiguity: Salience, magnitude, and temporal factors 3.2 Signalàoutcome relevance 3.3 Signal-context interactions 3.4 Conditioned reinforcement 3.5 Operant contingencies Positive reinforcement Punishment Omission Escape Avoidance 4 Inhibitory conditioning 4.1 Summation and retardation tests Detection issues Control issues Reduced generalized excitation Differential generalization of excitation Attentional enhancement Attentional decrement Contextual blocking Stimulus generalization decrement 4.2 Neurobiology of inhibitory conditioning 5 Schedules of reinforcement 6 What is a reinforcer? 7 Situational generality of associative learning 7.1 Interoceptive CSs 7.2 Sexual reinforcement 7.3 Conditioned immunomodulation 7.4 Conditioning of allergies 7.5 Drug tolerance Glossary References Chapter 5: Associative learning: Integration 1 Introduction 2 Extinction and learning 2.1 Procedure, phenomenon, mechanism 2.2 Unlearning vs. parallel associations 3 Perception and learning 3.1 Compound conditioning 3.2 Overshadowing and blocking effects 3.3 Signal-context interactions 4 Attention and learning 4.1 Latent inhibition 4.2 Comparative studies of latent inhibition 4.3 Intra- vs. extra-dimensional transfer 4.4 Perceptual learning 5 Motivation and learning 5.1 Incentive value 5.2 Wanting and liking 6 Emotion and learning 6.1 Fear/threat 6.2 Neurobiology of fear Signal and contextual fear Fear extinction Consolidation and reconsolidation of fear memories 6.3 Frustration Aftereffects Anticipatory effects Comparative and developmental studies 6.4 Frustration, memory update, and emotional activation 6.5 Neurobiology of fear and frustration in vertebrates 7 Choice and learning 7.1 Matching 7.2 Matching and drug dependence 7.3 Undermatching, overmatching, and maximizing 7.4 Delay discounting Glossary References Chapter 6: Associative learning: Interactions 1 Introduction 2 Interactions between elicited and reinforced behaviors 2.1 Equipotentiality 2.2 Misbehavior 2.3 Adjunctive behavior Brain mechanisms of schedule-induced polydipsia 2.4 A defensive response system 3 Escape and avoidance learning 3.1 Avoidance conditioning 3.2 Escape conditioning 3.3 Neurobiology of avoidance learning 3.4 Learned helplessness 4 Impulsivity and self-control 4.1 The marshmallow test 4.2 Self-control in other animals 4.3 Substance-use disorders and impulsivity 4.4 Neurobiology of substance use disorders Reward circuitry Withdrawal symptoms and circuitry 5 Pavlovian control of operant behavior 5.1 Conditioned suppression of operant behavior 5.2 Pavlovian-instrumental transfer General and specific transfer Neurobiology of PIT Relevance of PIT Glossary References Chapter 7: Social learning 1 Introduction 2 From individual to social learning 2.1 Individual recognition 2.2 Kin recognition 2.3 Feeding and social learning 2.4 Predator recognition 2.5 Social reinforcement 2.6 From social reinforcement to reproductive success 2.7 Imitation 3 Imprinting in precocial birds 3.1 Properties 3.2 Motivational factors 3.3 Learning factors 3.4 Neurobiology of imprinting 3.5 Sexual imprinting 3.6 Imprinting-like phenomena in other species 4 Early social learning 4.1 Attachment 4.2 Attachment in primates 4.3 Early social restriction 5 Tool use and culture 6 Teaching Glossary References Part III: Cognition Chapter 8: Timing behavior 1 Introduction: Cognition 2 Circadian Timing 2.1 Behavioral evidence 2.2 Neurobiology of circadian rhythms 3 Interval Timing 3.1 Scalar timing theory Time-production tasks Time-perception tasks 3.2 Oscillators and nonlinear timing 3.3 Time as a stimulus property Acquisition Extinction Postextinction relapse of the CR Cue competition and integration based on timing 4 Where is timing in models of conditioning? 5 Can nonhuman animals time travel? Glossary References Chapter 9: Spatial behavior 1 Introduction: Spatial behavior 2 Migration and large-scale spatial behavior 3 Small-scale navigation 3.1 Path integration 3.2 Beacon homing 3.3 Route behavior 3.4 Map-like spatial behavior 4 Location as a stimulus property 4.1 Acquisition and extinction 4.2 Generalization and discrimination 4.3 Cue competition 5 Spatial integration 6 Where is location in models of conditioning? 7 Neurobiology of spatial behavior 7.1 Insects 7.2 Mammals Glossary References Chapter 10: Categories, concepts, and numerical competence 1 Conceptual behavior 2 Generalization and discrimination revisited 3 Acquired distinctiveness and equivalence 3.1 Procedures 3.2 Stimulus equivalence and emergent relations 3.3 Real-world applications 4 Multiple-exemplar training 4.1 Perceptual categories Basic level Subordinate level Superordinate level 4.2 Relational categories 4.3 Relation between relations 5 Theories and models of conceptual behavior 5.1 Linear feature models 5.2 Exemplar theory 5.3 Prototype theory 5.4 Neurobiology and neural networks 6 Numerical competence 6.1 Approximate numerical magnitude 6.2 Counting Glossary References Chapter 11: Communication and language 1 Animal signals 2 Avian vocal learning 2.1 Calls 2.2 Vocal learning 2.3 Age-dependent plasticity 2.4 Dialects 2.5 Age-independent plasticity 2.6 Brain mechanisms avian song learning Brain circuit Patterns of gene expression 2.7 From proximate to ultimate causation 3 Referential calls in mammals 4 Human language 4.2 Properties 4.2 Basic functions 4.3 Verbal operants Intraverbals, mands, and tacts 5 Teaching language to nonhuman animals 5.1 Brief history 5.2 Language production Hand gestures Symbols 5.3 Language comprehension 5.4 Language training in nonprimate species Glossary References

About the Author :
Mauricio R. Papini is Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University, U.S.A. Kenneth J. Leising is Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University, U.S.A.

Review :
"The book by Papini and Leising constitutes a valuable and comprehensive contribution to the study of the relationship between evolution and behavior across different species. It presents an updated and thorough view of comparative psychology, addressing evolutionary perspectives on learning processes and animal cognition. I highly recommend this book for researchers and students seeking to deepen their understanding of the evolution of biological, psychological, and social aspects related to animal behavior." -Luis Gonzalo de la Casa, Professor, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain "This book offers a fresh and insightful perspective on comparative learning and cognition, grounding current research within a robust evolutionary framework. Clearly written and highly engaging, it will be an invaluable resource for both graduate seminars and advanced undergraduate courses. I look forward to incorporating it into my teaching." -Suzanne E. MacDonald, Professor, York University, Toronto, Canada "This textbook offers a precise and balanced introduction to learning and cognition across species. By focusing on behavioral mechanisms—such as association, reinforcement, timing, categorization, and communication—and grounding them in neurobiological evidence, it serves as a reliable resource for both students and experts in comparative cognition." -Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Primatologist and former Director of Kyoto University Primate Research Institute "Papini and Leising integrate evolution thoroughly into their updated discussion of animal learning, scaffolding the reader's understanding much like evolutionary processes scaffolded cognition from simple building blocks to more complex processes. This book presents a much needed integrative approach to comparative cognition and is a welcome addition to a sparse selection of comparative texts." -Jennifer Vonk, Professor of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA "This is a remarkable book, remarkable for its solid grounding in evolutionary theory, for the breadth of its coverage (from behavioral plasticity in bacteria to language learning in primates), and for the depth of its scholarship, integrating behavioral and neural levels of analysis." -Michael Domjan, The University of Texas at Austin and Doctorem Honoris Causa, Konrad Lorenz University