Griffin, A.S., and Guez, D. (2016) Bridging the gap between cross-taxon and within-species analyses of behavioral innovations in birds - making sense of discrepant cognition: innovation relationships and the role of motor diversity. In: Naguib, Marc, Mitani, John C., Simmons, Leigh W., Barrett, Louise, Healy, Sue, and Zuk, Marlene, (eds.) Advances in the Study of Behavior. Academic Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, pp. 1-40.

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Abstract

Behavioral innovations, the invention of new behaviors or the use of preexisting ones in new contexts, are increasingly considered an essential source of behavioral plasticity, yet the mechanisms by which they arise are poorly understood. In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on the role of cognition. Here, we review briefly key findings from large-scale comparative research and, in more detail, those from experimental work on innovation. We draw attention to the high degree of inconsistency among empirical findings relating interindividual variation in innovativeness to interindividual variation in learning performance. We go on to propose a model that reconciles the possible (but perhaps controversial) existence of positive associations between cognition and innovation at the cross-taxon level with inconsistent associations at the within-species level. A key component of the model is the possibility that the association between cognition (ie, brain size) and innovativeness is not causal. Rather, it arises as a consequence of correlated evolution because both cognition and diet generalism evolve in response to environmental variability. Furthermore, motor diversity constitutes a proximate link between diet generalism and innovativeness.

Item ID:	44835
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-0-12-804787-3
ISSN:	2162-8823
Keywords:	behavioral flexibility; cognition; Common (Indian) myna; diet generalism; innovation; innovative problem solving; intelligence; motor diversity; motor flexibility
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2017 04:13
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310901 Animal behaviour @ 40% 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified @ 60%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970117 Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences @ 50%
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