Natural History and Cognition

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9421807 Kamil A major challenge confronting biology today is to understand the evolution and adaptive significance of cognitive abilities. In order to meet this challenge, biologists have begun to investigate how cognitive abilities are actually used by animals in confronting the problems they face in nature. This information, in turn, leads to hypotheses about how different species may possess differing suites of cognitive abilities. In the proposed research, Drs. Kamil and Balda will use a comparative approach, studying closely related species whose natural histories are different. Because the natural histories differ, the species confront somewhat different challenges in nature and therefore, they hypothesize, possess differing cognitive abilities. In one set of experiments, they will investigate difference in spatial memory that are associated with species differences in dependence on stored food whose locations are remembered by food-caching animals. In another set of experiments, they will test for differences in cognitive ability among species who differ in sociality. These two sets of experiments will further our understanding of the evolution of cognition and of the role of cognitive abilities in the natural world.