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Performance of birds in model cognitive tasks: a cross-taxon comparison
Schlőglová, Nikola ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Kahounová, Hana (referee)
Bird cognition is an immensely complex topic. Many factors influence how birds acquire, process and act upon obtained information. Some bird groups outshine others regarding their cognitive skills, and the underlying reasons for these differences are extensively researched and discussed. Birds naturally face varying environmental factors that could have driven the evolution of specialised cognitive adaptations not generalisable across all contexts. In contrast, some birds perform well in a broad range of cognitive tasks and may possess general intelligence. Model cognitive tasks help us gain standardised data on birds' cognitive performances to compare them across different taxa, which enables us to identify potential parallels. This thesis covers selected model cognitive tasks: string-pulling tasks, reasoning by exclusion tasks, transitive inference tasks, tasks related to mirror use and reversal learning tasks, for which it analyses and compares the performance of both well-studied and understudied bird taxa. The thesis describes the selected cognitive tasks, summarises available data and highlights correlations between birds' performances and other factors while discussing possible explanations for their varying performances. Finally, the thesis addresses the question of general intelligence...
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Interaction between animal cognition and animal personality
Houšková, Markéta ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Šíchová, Klára (referee)
Personality is an important characteristic of individual variability which in some way restricts the full behavioural flexibility. Generally, it is not known, what is the relationship between environmental variability and variability in cognitive abilities of animals? More specifically, how this relationship impacts on the evolution of behavioural plasticity and the expression of animal personality. It is assumed that there is a correlation between the type of personalities and cognitive abilities but mutual causal relationship of this interaction is not yet fully understood. Proactive types of personalities in cognitive tests seem to be neophilic but slower in adapting to changes in the environment or in the analysing of signals with the changed meaning (reversal learning). On the contrary, reactive types of personalities are probably neophobic, they less risk and they are more flexible. However, it is questionable whether these behavioural types have an influence on cognitive abilities and how this influence manifests itself specifically to them. In this thesis, we will focus on whether and how different types of personalities are reflected in these cognitive abilities for each species and what is the methodology for testing these dependencies. Key words: animal personality, coping style,...
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Interaction between animal cognition and animal personality
Houšková, Markéta ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Šíchová, Klára (referee)
Personality is an important characteristic of individual variability which in some way restricts the full behavioural flexibility. Generally, it is not known, what is the relationship between environmental variability and variability in cognitive abilities of animals? More specifically, how this relationship impacts on the evolution of behavioural plasticity and the expression of animal personality. It is assumed that there is a correlation between the type of personalities and cognitive abilities but mutual causal relationship of this interaction is not yet fully understood. Proactive types of personalities in cognitive tests seem to be neophilic but slower in adapting to changes in the environment or in the analysing of signals with the changed meaning (reversal learning). On the contrary, reactive types of personalities are probably neophobic, they less risk and they are more flexible. However, it is questionable whether these behavioural types have an influence on cognitive abilities and how this influence manifests itself specifically to them. In this thesis, we will focus on whether and how different types of personalities are reflected in these cognitive abilities for each species and what is the methodology for testing these dependencies. Key words: animal personality, coping style,...
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