Cognitive Ecology: The Evolutionary Ecology of Information Processing and Decision Making - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226169332 ISBN 13: 9780226169330

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1998

Synopsis

How does the environment shape the ways an animal processes information and makes decisions? How do constraints imposed on nervous systems affect an animal's activities? To help answer these questions, Cognitive Ecology integrates evolutionary ecology and cognitive science, demonstrating how studies of perception, memory, and learning can deepen our understanding of animal behavior and ecology.

Individual chapters consider such issues as the evolution of learning and its influence on behavior; the effects of cognitive mechanisms on the evolution of signaling behavior; how neurobiological and evolutionary processes have shaped navigational activities; functional and mechanical explanations for altered behaviors in response to changing environments; how foragers make decisions and how these decisions are influenced by the risks of predation; and how cognitive mechanisms affect partner choice.

Cognitive Ecology will encourage biologists to consider how animal cognition affects behavior, and will also interest comparative psychologists and cognitive scientists.

About this title

About the Author

Reuven Dukas is associate professor of psychology, neuroscience, and behavior, and a member of the Animal Behaviour Group at McMaster University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226169332
• ISBN 13: 9780226169330
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 430
• Editor: Dukas Reuven