Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Sentience Does Not Require “Higher” Cognition, Giorgio Vallortigara

Animal Sentience

I agree with Marino (2017a,b) that the cognitive capacities of chickens are likely to be the same as those of many others vertebrates. Also, data collected in the young of this precocial species provide rich information about how much cognition can be pre-wired and predisposed in the brain. However, evidence of advanced cognition — in chickens or any other organism — says little about sentience (i.e., feeling). We do not deny sentience in human beings who, because of cognitive deficits, would be incapable of exhibiting some of the cognitive feats of chickens. Moreover, complex problem solving, such as transitive inference, …

Misperceiving And Underestimating The Ubiquitous Chicken, Carrie P. Freeman

Animal Sentience

Marino has provided an accurate and nuanced view about chickens’ complex capabilities as sentient individuals. I explore the implications of these findings for scholars as well as for activists in the protection of farmed animals.

Is Psychological Science Committing “Suicide” By Linguistic Muddling?, Roger K. Thomas

Animal Sentience

Beginning mainly with the “cognitive revolution” in psychology in the latter half of the 20^th century, psychological science has been committing “suicide” slowly via linguistic muddling. Peña-Guzmán’s target article is but one of thousands of cuts contributing to this death by “suicide.” Having said that, given the current state of affairs in animal cognition research, there is much to commend in Peña-Guzmán’s article. I leave that to others, however. This commentary explains how the suicide by muddling of psychological science is happening in general, with the understanding that it applies also to Peña-Guzmán’s target article.

On Assisted Suicide, Clark Glymour

Animal Sentience

What would be the moral implications of the capacity for suicide in nonhuman animals? Humans can be helped to end their lives if they no longer find them bearable. Should captive animals not be given the same possibility?

Human Classifier: Observers Can Deduce Task Solely From Eye Movements, Brett Bahle, Mark Mills, Michael Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Computer classifiers have been successful at classifying various tasks using eye movement statistics. However, the question of human classification of task from eye movements has rarely been studied. Across two experiments, we examined whether humans could classify task based solely on the eye movements of other individuals. In Experiment 1, human classifiers were shown one of three sets of eye movements: Fixations, which were displayed as blue circles, with larger circles meaning longer fixation durations; Scanpaths, which were displayed as yellow arrows; and Videos, in which a neon green dot moved around the screen. There was an additional Scene manipulation …

Objective Measurement Of Sleep By Smartphone Application: Comparison With Actigraphy And Relation To Cognition, Mood, And Self-Reported Sleep, Taylor Maynard

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Developmental Manganese Neurotoxicity In Rats: Cognitive Deficits In Allocentric And Egocentric Learning And Memory, Nina Atanasova, Robyn M. Amos-Kroohs, Laurie L. Davenport, Zuhair I. Abdulla, Matthew R. Skelton, Charles V. Vorhees, Michael T. Williams

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Self, Death, And Suicide: Does An Animal Know Of These?, Carolyn A. Ristau

Animal Sentience

Peña-Guzmán makes a strong case, using examples from the media and scientific literature, that many captive animals suffer severely. In examining the possibility of animal suicide, he dismisses the need for “reflective self-subjectivity” and “intent” in suicidal behavior. He claims that at least some animals understand “death,” citing examples of behavior he deems to be death “rituals.” But these can be more simply interpreted. The possibility of animal suicide remains more dubious than Peña-Guzmán suggests.

Changes In Behavior And Emotion Under Chicken Domestication, Martin Johnsson

Animal Sentience

Marino’s target article provides an overview of chickens’ cognition, emotion, and personality, with the aim of changing how people view chickens. In this commentary, I will agree that chickens deserve better than their reputation, but contend with a statement about the lack of behavioral change under chicken domestication.

Review Of Altered States: Buddhism And Psychedelic Spirituality In America By Douglas Osto, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Participant Self-Assessment Of Development Center Performance, Ryan Powley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In order to navigate the political and cultural realities of modern organizations, individuals must possess an accurate self-perception (Ostroff, Atwater, & Feinberg, 2004). One way to gauge the accuracy of a person's self-perception is to compare that individual's self-assessment against other people's assessments of him or her. This technique is known as self-other rating agreement (SORA). Heneman (1980) posited that development centers are an ideal setting in which to study self-assessment and SORA. The present study examined self-assessment and SORA in development centers. Particular attention was paid to exercises, competencies, and gender differences in self-ratings and SORA. Correlations and t-tests …

A Measurement Of Campus Presence: The Cognitive Link Between Campus Engagement And Positive Outcomes In College Students, Daniel M. Kleiman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Prior research has shown that positive psychological states and attitudes are known outcomes in students who are engaged on their college campus. Although many studies prove this to be evident, literature lacks examination between these two variables. The purpose of the current study was to find a cognitive link between student engagement and the measured outcomes of self-esteem, college self-efficacy, college affiliation, and levels of optimism/pessimism. The study proposed that there is a process of developing an internal sense of presence on campus, which occurs in those students that are actively engaged in activities outside of the classroom. Individual personality …

Do Different Personality Types Differ In Level Of Confirmation Bias?, Allison J. Long

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this research study was to determine if there is a correlation between personality type and level of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the idea that people are more likely to agree with opinions already similar to their own and they will actively seek out that opinion. The NEO Five Factor Inventory was administered to determine the subjects’ levels in openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The Confirmation Inventory was administered to determine the level of confirmation bias. It was predicted that people high in openness will score low in confirmation bias; people who score high …

The Relationship Between Sleep, Working Memory, And Decision Making In Young And Old Adult Populations, Melissa G. Merz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Sleep is known to influence basic tasks concerning working memory, reaction time and executive functioning (Silva, Wang, Ronda, Wyatt, & Duffy, 2010; Nebes, Buysse, Halligan, Houck, & Monk, 2009). However, the amount that sleep influences these functions varies from study to study possibly due to differences in age and task design. Aim 1A of this study is to determine if sleep quality affects working memory. Aim 1B of this study is to determine if age affects sleep quality and working memory in comparison of young and old adult populations. Finally, Aim 2 of this study is to determine if there …

Language Complexity, Belief-Consistency And The Evaluation Of Policies, Matthew H. Goldberg, Cheryl L. Carmichael

Publications and Research

Policy proposals often contain complex legal, technical, or scientific jargon, making it difficult for people to evaluate their favorability toward the policy. We proposed one experiment testing the effect of language complexity on people’s evaluation of a policy proposal as moderated by their initial policy beliefs. We hypothesized that when a policy was consistent with one’s beliefs or if participants had no policy preference, they would evaluate it more favorably when it was simple than when it was complex; when a policy was inconsistent with one’s beliefs, they would evaluate it less unfavorably when it was complex than when it …

Flocks, Swarms, Crowds, And Societies: On The Scope And Limits Of Cognition, Zachariah A. Neemeh

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Traditionally, the concept of cognition has been tied to the brain or the nervous system. Recent work in various noncomputational cognitive sciences has enlarged the category of “cognitive phenomena” to include the organism and its environment, distributed cognition across networks of actors, and basic cellular functions. The meaning, scope, and limits of ‘cognition’ are no longer clear or well-defined. In order to properly delimit the purview of the cognitive sciences, there is a strong need for a clarification of the definition of cognition. This paper will consider the outer bounds of that definition. Not all cognitive behaviors of a given …

Cognitive And Emotional Processes Involved In The Experience Of Objects As Holy Or Transcendent, Lotte J. Pummerer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, attitudes about religion/spirituality have become more pluralistic (Pew Research Center, 2015a). At the same time, the number of individuals who identify themselves as nonreligious, atheist or agnostic are growing (Pew Research Center, 2015b), yet we are lacking words and research to describe their attributions of transcendence in language not bound to religious concepts. This study aims at examining both concepts – holiness and transcendence – in their similarities and differences through assessing cognitive and emotional processes involved in experiences of objects.

The study consisted of two parts with a total of 206 Christian and 52 nonreligious/atheistic/agnostic participants. …

The Effect Of Social Influence On Perception Of Tornado Warnings, Jason A. Parker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Tornado activity annually results in many deaths throughout the U.S. As a result, the emergency alert system (including tornado warnings) has made considerable advancements throughout the past few decades. However, continued improvements could be made to warning content that aid to facilitate adaptive decision-making by increasing individuals’ motivation to respond. One method that could increase adaptive responses to warnings is by including the modality of descriptive social information within the warning. Research suggests that normative social influence acts as a powerful motivator for individuals to conform toward the witnessed or perceived behaviors of others. The current study examined the impact …

Intertemporal Choice And Delayed Gratification, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

A parasitoid wasp has deposited half of her eggs in a host. She now faces the choice between depositing her remaining eggs in the same host or searching for another. Continuing to deposit in the current host provides the immediate payoff of completing her reproductive duties, allowing her to move on to other activities such as foraging or searching for another mate. Searching for another host, in contrast, delays the payoffs of reproducing until a suitable host is found. This wasp faces an intertemporal choice—that is, a choice between options that involve payoffs available at different times (Read, 2004; Stevens, …

Cannabis Use Frequency And Mood On Creativity, Caitlin Clark

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study examines the relationship between cannabis use (infrequent, moderate, and heavy use) and one’s mood (neutral, positive, and negative) on creativity. Folk ideas of creativity and the relationships between cannabis use and mood may not reflect the real relationship between these factors (e.g. regarding cannabis use, it is perceived to be linked with higher rates of creativity; regarding mood, negative states [i.e. tortured artist] are thought to fuel creativity). Although both cannabis use and mood have been found to influence creativity independently, the current study is unique in its aims to identify whether cannabis use and mood interact to …

The Effects Of Pornography On Gay, Bisexual, And Queer Men's Body Image: An Experimental Study, Neil Gleason

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Because gay male pornography often depicts idealized images of male bodies and is widely consumed by gay men, recent studies have investigated the relationship between gay men's pornography consumption and body image. However, the limited research on the subject has reported conflicting results and has only utilized correlational and qualitative methodologies. This is this first known experimental study to investigate the impact of pornography on gay, bisexual, and queer men's body image. Eighty-seven gay, bisexual, and queer men were assigned to watch either an "amateur" pornographic video, "professional" pornographic video, or a nature video, and then completed several body image …

The Reflection And Reification Of Racialized Language In Popular Media, Kelly E. Wright

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This work highlights specific lexical items that have become racialized in specific contextual applications and tests how these words are cognitively processed. This work presents the results of a visual world (Huettig et al 2011) eye-tracking study designed to determine the perception and application of racialized (Coates 2011) adjectives. To objectively select the racialized adjectives used, I developed a corpus comprised of popular media sources, designed specifically to suit my research question. I collected publications from digital media sources such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Fortune by scraping articles featuring specific search terms from their websites. This experiment seeks …

Processing Of Spatial Information In Social And Non-Social Stimuli By Opioid-Exposed And Non-Exposed Newborns, Alyson J. Hock

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The ability to process information from faces is important for effective social functioning. Adults are experts at this function. It has been suggested that the encoding of configural spatial relations among facial features (e.g., the distance between the eyes) contributes to this expertise. I investigated the developmental origin of face processing expertise by studying typically developing newborns’ sensitivity to the distance between the eyes and between the nose and the mouth in face stimuli. Further, I investigated whether prenatal opioid exposure is associated with neonates’ processing of spatial information in social and non-social stimuli. Infants with prenatal opioid-exposure are at …

Female Superiority In Social Cognition: Can Pretend Play Help The Boys Catch Up?, Maria Weiss

Scripps Senior Theses

The effect of pretend play on 150 (~ 75 girls; 75 boys; M=3 yro) preschool children’s social cognition will be assessed through a semester long intervention study. Research has reported a trend of female superiority in empathy and ToM and a likelihood of young girls to engage in pretend play more frequently and to a higher degree than young boys. Previous research has also found a relationship between play and social cognition, as through the act of imagination, one is able to thoroughly take on the perspectives of someone other than the self. This study attempts to show a …

What Can Vigilance Tell Us About Fear?, Guy Beauchamp

Animal Sentience

Animal vigilance is concerned with the monitoring of potential threats caused by predators and conspecifics. Researchers have argued that threats are part of a landscape of fear tracking the level of risk posed by predators and conspecifics. Vigilance, which is expected to vary with the level of risk, could thus be used as a measure of fear. Here, I explore the relationship between vigilance and fear caused by predators and conspecifics. The joint occurrence of vigilance and other physiological responses to fear, such as increased heart rate and stress hormone release, would bolster the idea that vigilance can be a …

Operationalizing Fear Through Understanding Vigilance, Ralph Adolphs

Animal Sentience

Beauchamp’s target article raises important questions about the features that often accompany fear. How reliable an indicator of fear is vigilance? Is it constitutive, cause, or consequence of fear? These questions force us towards a clearer definition of “fear.”

Canine Emotions As Seen Through Human Social Cognition, Miiamaaria V. Kujala

Animal Sentience

It is not possible to demonstrate that dogs (Canis familiaris) feel emotions, but the same is true for all other species, including our own. The issue must therefore be approached indirectly, using premises similar to those used with humans. Recent methodological advances in canine research reveal what dogs experience and what they derive from the emotions perceptible in others. Dogs attend to social cues, they respond appropriately to the valence of human and dog facial expressions and vocalizations of emotion, and their limbic reward regions respond to the odor of their caretakers. They behave differently according to the …

Social Dog — Emotional Dog?, Stefanie Riemer

Animal Sentience

Based on their high sociability and their capabilities in social cognition, we should conclude that dogs experience rich emotions in the social domain. I discuss the importance of dog-human attachment and some of the controversial evidence for so-called secondary emotions, which leaves many questions to answer.

Empathy In Dogs: With A Little Help From A Friend – A Mixed Blessing, Sabrina Karl, Ludwig Huber

Animal Sentience

Kujala (2017) presents an extensive overview of existing research on canine emotions in comparison to those of other non-human animals and humans. This commentary provides some additional research results on the intensively debated field of empathy in dogs. We focus on recent advances in the understanding of a fundamental building block of empathy — emotional contagion — and on dogs’ remarkable sensitivity for human emotions, including the skills of assistance dogs.

The Multiple Facets Of Empathy, Magdalena Boch, Claus Lamm

Animal Sentience

We discuss the definition of empathy provided by Kujala (2017) and argue that research in this field, in assigning the cognitive component of empathy only a secondary role, misses crucial information. Further knowledge about dogs’ ability for higher cognitive processes helps (a) in interpreting results such as potential prosocial behavior in dogs and (b) sheds light on the question of whether abilities like perspective-taking and self-other distinction are uniquely human.