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Differences Teach Us More Than Similarities : The Need for Evolutionary Thinking in Comparative Cognition

Reber, Stephan A. LU (2024) In Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews 19. p.49-53
Abstract

A persistent anthropocentric school of thought prevents comparative cognition from truly joining the evolutionary sciences, which often view “cognition” as an alien subject to the study of life. In this article, I argue that cognition is indeed inherent to all life and that we could study the evolution of cognitive skills like any other species-specific trait if we stop elevating convergence over differences, adopt an inclusive working definition of cognition, and choose new model organisms with a strong focus on phylogeny.

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
animal cognition, cognitive evolution, embodied cognition, neuron number, phylogeny
in
Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews
volume
19
pages
5 pages
publisher
Comparative Cognition Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85193023125
ISSN
1911-4745
DOI
10.3819/CCBR.2024.190006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
603405b0-f16d-4299-be25-e4cf2bc861d3
date added to LUP
2024-05-28 14:06:08
date last changed
2024-05-28 14:07:25
@article{603405b0-f16d-4299-be25-e4cf2bc861d3,
  abstract     = {{<p>A persistent anthropocentric school of thought prevents comparative cognition from truly joining the evolutionary sciences, which often view “cognition” as an alien subject to the study of life. In this article, I argue that cognition is indeed inherent to all life and that we could study the evolution of cognitive skills like any other species-specific trait if we stop elevating convergence over differences, adopt an inclusive working definition of cognition, and choose new model organisms with a strong focus on phylogeny.</p>}},
  author       = {{Reber, Stephan A.}},
  issn         = {{1911-4745}},
  keywords     = {{animal cognition; cognitive evolution; embodied cognition; neuron number; phylogeny}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{49--53}},
  publisher    = {{Comparative Cognition Society}},
  series       = {{Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews}},
  title        = {{Differences Teach Us More Than Similarities : The Need for Evolutionary Thinking in Comparative Cognition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3819/CCBR.2024.190006}},
  doi          = {{10.3819/CCBR.2024.190006}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}