300118 VO Animal Cognition 1 (2009W)

The first part provides a comprehensive overview of the processes leading to perception, learning and memory. In addition to the mechanisms, covering both cause and development, it will focus on function, covering both survival value and evolution, and applied issues, covering the relevance for animals in human society, animal welfare, conservation and human behavior. Its seven units include the following issues: a history of ethology, stimulus perception, brain and behavior, development of cognitive behavior with imprinting and sensitive periods, the "nature/nurture" debate, genes and cognition, associative processes of learning, the shift in learning theory, types of representation, and memory.