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Cognitive abilities in reptiles: individual learning ability vs. interspecies comparison
Víšková, Linda ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Kverková, Kristina (referee)
The cognitive abilities of "reptiles" have long been a neglected topic compared to research on cognition in two other groups of tetrapods - mammals and birds. Recently, however, studies testing selected aspects of various cognitive abilities in "reptiles" have become quite abundant. In this thesis, the different types of cognitive tasks studied were determined (focusing on numerical abilities, spatial learning, reversal learning, visual discrimination, social learning, "problem-solving" or operant conditioning) and then the methods of testing them in "reptiles" were discussed in detail. Subsequently, within the paraphyletic group "reptiles", the given cognitive abilities for each family (and specific species) were mapped with respect to their phylogeny. A general problem in some studies was the smaller number of subjects tested (minimum 1, maximum 559, median 15) relative to the often great number of factors studied (minimum 1, maximum 14, median 4) and the wide interindividual variability in cognitive performance. Although the amount of work on the cognitive abilities of "reptiles" has been rising over the last decade, qualitative analysis suggests the presence of simpler types of cognition. A quantitative or phylogenetic analysis of "reptilian" cognitive abilities has so far been precluded by low...
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Effect of stress level on operant conditioning
Lukavská, Markéta ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Santariová, Milena (referee)
Stress is a normal adaptive process and a natural response of the body to those events which are somehow difficult for the individual. It also plays an important part in forming cognitive abilities of animals such as learning. For learning an adequate reaction to the individual's environment it is adaptive to take in as much information as possible, learn to put it into context and react based on it (cognitive strategy). This strategy can help in an ever changing environment as it causes the individual to broaden the range of their behavioural responses and increases the chance of survival. This makes the operant learning a highly desirable method. That is unless the animal finds itself in a situation which calls for a quick response (high level of excitement/agitation) in which case there is no time for processing of information as it is crucial to react instantly (habitual learning - habit strategy). Habitual learning is effective even at a high level of stress when there is "no time" for the operant learning. Operant learning requires the individual's involvement and therefore also the motivation to execute specific behaviour which is then strengthened (in a positive or negative way). In terms of motivation it is a choice between saving energy or safety and the possibility of achieving a...
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The great tit (\kur{Parus major}) as a model species in spatialy cognitive tasks
NÁCAR, David
In this thesis the spatial cognitive experiment with great tits (Parus major) as a model species is described. In this experiment tits learnt to respond to one of four response keys according the presented stimuli. Two types of stimuli were used: one of them contained configural information about response keys, but the other didn´t. The experiment tested the difference of using these two types of spatial information in great tits in two experimental designs. In the first design stimuli were presented in computer screen, in the other they were presented in the floor of experimental chamber. The thesis then discusses the performance of tits in two types of stimuli and two versions of experimental design and compares these results with pigeons in similar experiment.
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How do birds categorize real and abstract objects?
NÁCAR, David
This thesis reviews the experiments about the visual categorization in birds, especially pigeons, based on the operant conditioning and employed both real and abstract objects. These experiments are focused on the simple object recognition, complex concept formation and the picture-object recognition. This thesis tries to find the reasons of the inconsistences among conclusions of these experiments
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