Cognitive Ecology

在这里，吉列特博士提出了一个系统来研究关于身体问题的信息是如何通过社交方式学习的：鸟类的筑巢。通过观察他人来学习的能力，被称为社会学习，使动物（包括人类）能够学习如何解决问题，而无需进行耗时的试错学习。社会学习被认为是形成和维持文化传统的基石。虽然学习吃什么食物，与谁交配，唱什么歌，避开谁已经得到了很好的研究，但当动物与环境的物理特征（物理认知）相互作用和操纵时，我们对社会学习所起的作用知之甚少。动物身体认知的一个受到广泛关注的例子是工具的使用。长期以来，我们一直被鸟类筑巢的美丽和多样性所吸引。对这些鸟来说，筑巢是它们繁殖成功的关键；如果鸟巢建对了，它们就有机会羽翼丰满，如果鸟巢建错了，它们肯定会失败。尽管鸟巢很重要，但人们仍然不知道鸟类是如何知道筑巢的。几乎每只鸟都会建造某种类型的巢来产卵和养育后代。因为这将鸟与环境紧密地联系在一起，建筑师可以从观察他人的成功和失败中学到很多东西。鉴于气候变化，建造合适的巢穴是一项特别重要的成就。因为筑巢的特殊性，以及更普遍的建造行为，在动物中是很常见的，这个项目为旨在理解社会学习进化的更大的比较分析奠定了基础。除了具体研究学习和社会学习在筑巢行为中的作用外，本研究项目的总体长期目标是了解个体认知差异的原因和后果，包括为什么一些动物似乎更依赖于社会信息，而不是他们自己可以获得的信息。为了实现这些目标，吉列特博士和她的团队将采用综合方法，使用几种鸣禽，包括黑顶山雀和斑马雀。吉列特博士将在野外和实验室中研究筑巢的行为和认知，以及其他行为，包括研究大脑和行为之间的直接联系。

Here Dr. Guillette proposes a system to study how information about physical problems may be learned socially: Nest building in birds. The ability to learn from watching others, called social learning, allows animals (including humans) to learn how to solve problems without engaging in time-consuming trial-and-error learning. Social learning is thought to be a cornerstone to forming and maintaining cultural traditions. While learning what food to eat, with whom to mate, what song to sing, and who to avoid from others has been well studied, we know much less about the role social learning plays when animals are interacting with and manipulating physical features of their environment (physical cognition). One example of physical cognition in animals that has received much attention is tool use.We have long been fascinated by the beauty and diversity of nests that are built by birds. For the birds themselves, building the correct nest is key to their reproductive success; if they get the nest right, they have a chance to fledge young, if they get the nest wrong, they will surely fail. Despite the importance of nests, it is still not known how a bird knows what nest to build. Almost every bird builds some type of nest in which to lay eggs and rear young. As this intimately links a bird to the environment, a builder stands to learn a lot from observing both the success and failure of others. In the light of climate change, building the right nest is an especially important accomplishment. Because nest building specifically, and construction behaviour more generally, is common among animals, this projects lays the ground work for a larger comparative analysis aimed at understanding the evolution of social learning.In addition to examining the role of learning and social learning in nest-building behaviour specifically, the overarching, long-term goals of this research program are to understand the causes and consequences of among-individual variation in cognition, including why some animals seem to rely more on social information compared to information they can acquire themselves. To accomplish these goals, Dr. Guillette and her team will take integrative approach, using several songbird species, including black-capped chickadees and zebra finches. Dr. Guillette will examine behaviour and cognition of nest building and other behaviours in the wild and in the laboratory, including examining the direct link between the brain and behavior.