Tribute to Tinbergen: The Place of Animal Behavior in Biology

Tinbergen is famous for emphasizing behavioral fieldwork and experimentation under natural circumstances, for founding the field of ethology, for getting a Nobel Prize, and for mentoring Richard Dawkins. He is known for dividing behavior studies into physiology, development, natural selection, and evolutionary history. In the decades since Tinbergen was active, some of the best research in animal behavior fuses Tinbergen\u27s questions, connecting genes to behavioral phenotypes, for example. Behavior is the most synthetic of the life sciences, because observing the actions of an organism can tell us what all those physical and physiological traits are for. Insights from behavior tell us how traits in one individual impact those in another in ways that challenge our definition of an organism. Behavioral conflict and cooperation among animals has led to theory that explains within-organism conflict and cooperation and human malfunctions of many kinds. Darwin certainly began the evolutionary study of behavior, but Tinbergen brought it forward to the heart of biology. The challenge for the future is to apply concepts from animal behavior across biology with tools that would have amazed Tinbergen

Toward an integrative understanding of social behavior: new models and new opportunities.

Social interactions among conspecifics are a fundamental and adaptively significant component of the biology of numerous species. Such interactions give rise to group living as well as many of the complex forms of cooperation and conflict that occur within animal groups. Although previous conceptual models have focused on the ecological causes and fitness consequences of variation in social interactions, recent developments in endocrinology, neuroscience, and molecular genetics offer exciting opportunities to develop more integrated research programs that will facilitate new insights into the physiological causes and consequences of social variation. Here, we propose an integrative framework of social behavior that emphasizes relationships between ultimate-level function and proximate-level mechanism, thereby providing a foundation for exploring the full diversity of factors that underlie variation in social interactions, and ultimately sociality. In addition to identifying new model systems for the study of human psychopathologies, this framework provides a mechanistic basis for predicting how social behavior will change in response to environmental variation. We argue that the study of non-model organisms is essential for implementing this integrative model of social behavior because such species can be studied simultaneously in the lab and field, thereby allowing integration of rigorously controlled experimental manipulations with detailed observations of the ecological contexts in which interactions among conspecifics occur

A Framework for Bioacoustic Vocalization Analysis Using Hidden Markov Models

Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) as a recognition framework for automatic classification of animal vocalizations has a number of benefits, including the ability to handle duration variability through nonlinear time alignment, the ability to incorporate complex language or recognition constraints, and easy extendibility to continuous recognition and detection domains. In this work, we apply HMMs to several different species and bioacoustic tasks using generalized spectral features that can be easily adjusted across species and HMM network topologies suited to each task. This experimental work includes a simple call type classification task using one HMM per vocalization for repertoire analysis of Asian elephants, a language-constrained song recognition task using syllable models as base units for ortolan bunting vocalizations, and a stress stimulus differentiation task in poultry vocalizations using a non-sequential model via a one-state HMM with Gaussian mixtures. Results show strong performance across all tasks and illustrate the flexibility of the HMM framework for a variety of species, vocalization types, and analysis tasks

A Framework for Bioacoustic Vocalization Analysis Using Hidden Markov Models

Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) as a recognition framework for automatic classification of animal vocalizations has a number of benefits, including the ability to handle duration variability through nonlinear time alignment, the ability to incorporate complex language or recognition constraints, and easy extendibility to continuous recognition and detection domains. In this work, we apply HMMs to several different species and bioacoustic tasks using generalized spectral features that can be easily adjusted across species and HMM network topologies suited to each task. This experimental work includes a simple call type classification task using one HMM per vocalization for repertoire analysis of Asian elephants, a language-constrained song recognition task using syllable models as base units for ortolan bunting vocalizations, and a stress stimulus differentiation task in poultry vocalizations using a non-sequential model via a one-state HMM with Gaussian mixtures. Results show strong performance across all tasks and illustrate the flexibility of the HMM framework for a variety of species, vocalization types, and analysis tasks

Natürliches und künstliches Bewusstsein

Based on results from evolutionary psychology, we discuss important functions that can be served by consciousness in autonomous robots. These include deliberately controlled action, conscious awareness, self-awareness, metacognition, and ego consciousness. We distinguish intrinsic intentionality from consciousness, but argue it is also important to understanding robot cognition. Finally, we explore the Hard Problem for robots (i.e., whether they can experience subjective awareness) from the perspective of the theory of protophenomena.En s’appuyant sur les résultats de la psychologie évolutionniste, nous examinons les différentes fonctions importantes que puisse remplir la conscience dans les robots autonomes : action contrôlée, prise de conscience, conscience de soi, métacognition, conscience du moi. Nous distinguons l’intentionnalité intrinsèque de la conscience, mais soutenons également l’importance de la compréhension de la cognition robotique. Enfin, nous étudions le « Hard Problem » concernant les robots, c’est-à-dire la question de savoir s’ils peuvent connaître une prise de conscience subjective, dans une perspective de la théorie du protophénomène.Ausgehend von Erkenntnissen der Evolutionären Psychologie untersucht dieser Beitrag wichtige Funktionen, die das Bewusstsein autonomer Roboter ausfüllen kann. Gemeint sind willkürlich kontrolliertes Handeln, bewusstes Wahrnehmen, Eigenwahrnehmung, Metaerkenntnis sowie Bewusstsein des eigenen Selbst. Der Verfasser unterscheidet zwischen intrinsischer Intentionalität und Bewusstsein, führt jedoch das Argument ins Feld, dass es ebenso wichtig sei, die Erkenntnisweise eines Roboters zu verstehen. Abschließend wird, aus dem Blickwinkel der Theorie von den Protophänomenen, das für Roboter „schwierige Problem” untersucht, d.h. die Frage, ob sie zu subjektiver Wahrnehmung fähig sind

Pointing in the right direction. A discussion of The evolution of social communication in primates, eds. M. Pina and N. Gontier

The Evolution of Social Communication in Primates, edited by Marco  Pina and Natalie Gontier is an important contribution to the current debates on language evolution. The volume includes texts discussing  the emergence of basic social skills connected with language,  arguments for vocal and gestural protolanguage, and theories of  development of symbolic and compositional language in the history of  humanity. In this review, I present the structure and content of the  book, but also highlight issues that reflect key controversies in this  research area, such as the transition from gestures to speech and from  simple vocalizations to modern language. I discuss one specific issue,  pointing in nonhuman primates and human children, to offer some  remarks on theoretical and empirical criteria for using psychological  concepts in debates on social communication in primates

Contextual organismality: Beyond pattern to process in the emergence of organisms

Biologists have taken the concept of organism largely for granted. However, advances in the study of chimerism, symbiosis, bacterial-eukaryote associations, and microbial behavior have prompted a redefinition of organisms as biological entities exhibiting low conflict and high cooperation among their parts. This expanded view identifies organisms in evolutionary time. However, the ecological processes, mechanisms, and traits that drive the formation of organisms remain poorly understood. Recognizing that organismality can be context dependent, we advocate elucidating the ecological contexts under which entities do or do not act as organisms. Here we develop a "contextual organismality" framework and provide examples of entities, such as honey bee colonies, tumors, and bacterial swarms, that can act as organisms under specific life history, resource, or other ecological circumstances. We suggest that context dependence may be a stepping stone to the development of increased organismal unification, as the most integrated biological entities generally show little context dependence. Recognizing that organismality is contextual can identify common patterns and testable hypotheses across different entities. The contextual organismality framework can illuminate timeless as well as pressing issues in biology, including topics as disparate as cancer emergence, genomic conflict, evolution of symbiosis, and the role of the microbiota in impacting host phenotype.John Templeton FoundationVersion of record online: 27 October 2016; published open access.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The evolution of language: a comparative review

For many years the evolution of language has been seen as a disreputable topic, mired in fanciful "just so stories" about language origins. However, in the last decade a new synthesis of modern linguistics, cognitive neuroscience and neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory has begun to make important contributions to our understanding of the biology and evolution of language. I review some of this recent progress, focusing on the value of the comparative method, which uses data from animal species to draw inferences about language evolution. Discussing speech first, I show how data concerning a wide variety of species, from monkeys to birds, can increase our understanding of the anatomical and neural mechanisms underlying human spoken language, and how bird and whale song provide insights into the ultimate evolutionary function of language. I discuss the ‘‘descended larynx’ ’ of humans, a peculiar adaptation for speech that has received much attention in the past, which despite earlier claims is not uniquely human. Then I will turn to the neural mechanisms underlying spoken language, pointing out the difficulties animals apparently experience in perceiving hierarchical structure in sounds, and stressing the importance of vocal imitation in the evolution of a spoken language. Turning to ultimate function, I suggest that communication among kin (especially between parents and offspring) played a crucial but neglected role in driving language evolution. Finally, I briefly discuss phylogeny, discussing hypotheses that offer plausible routes to human language from a non-linguistic chimp-like ancestor. I conclude that comparative data from living animals will be key to developing a richer, more interdisciplinary understanding of our most distinctively human trait: language

Behavioural ecology of the Redbilled Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus in South Africa

Includes bibliographies.A study was made of two Redbilled (Green) Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus populations spanning an eight year period (1981-1988) and 258 'flock-years', in the eastern Cape Province of South Mrica. The main objectives of the study were to investigate (1) why woodhoopoes live in groups; (2) why nonbreeders do not breed; and, (3) why nonbreeders provision young that are not their own? Ecological and demographic data were gathered in addition to detailed behavioural observations of 54 woodhoopoe flocks. The following experimental manipulations were performed: (1) breeders were removed from flocks to (a) monitor dispersal patterns and restructuring of flocks; and, (b) observe behavioural reactions by remaining birds; (2) cavity availability was (a) decreased, to enable quantification of availability; and, (b) increased, by addition of nest/roost boxes to an area which supported no permanent woodhoopoe territories; and, (3) stimuli, associated with the food provisioning response of adult birds, were manipulated to investigate the evolutionary basis of allofeeding behaviour Variability in social and reproductive behaviour reflects environmental selection pressures, in the form of roost-cavity availability, with a reduction in cavity availability leading to increased group size. The group-territorial social system and high level of inbreeding of Redbilled Woodhoopoes have evolved primarily in response to environmental constraints on dispersal, rather than by particular benefits that arise from group living. Therefore, the habitat-saturation hypothesis best explains group living of woodhoopoes. Behavioural dominance hierarchies ensure that dominance relationships are well-defined among potential competitors (for breeding status), and thereby minimize disruption to flock cohesion upon the death (or removal) of a breeder. If competition for a breeding vacancy arose at the time of the breeder's death, the resultant delay in occupancy of the breeding vacancy would increase the likelihood of competition from unrelated birds. The establishment of such hierarchies is therefore adaptive in the context of the direct component of kin selection. The presence of nonbreeding helpers do not increase fledgling success, breeding frequency, survivorship (of any age, sex or social class), or number of breeder-offspring produced. Because no unambiguous indirect fitness benefits could be shown to result from helping behaviour (specifically allofeeding), I propose that the unselected (misdirected parental care) hypothesis is a viable alternative to the 'functional hypotheses.' This hypothesis is supported by observations/manipulations of misdirected food provisioning by both breeders and helpers

Artificial Societies of Intelligent Agents

In this thesis we present our work, where we developed artificial societies of intelligent agents, in order to understand and simulate adaptive behaviour and social processes. We obtain this in three parallel ways: First, we present a behaviours production system capable of reproducing a high number of properties of adaptive behaviour and of exhibiting emergent lower cognition. Second, we introduce a simple model for social action, obtaining emergent complex social processes from simple interactions of imitation and induction of behaviours in agents. And third, we present our approximation to a behaviours virtual laboratory, integrating our behaviours production system and our social action model in animats. In our behaviours virtual laboratory, the user can perform a wide variety of experiments, allowing him or her to test the properties of our behaviours production system and our social action model, and also to understand adaptive and social behaviour. It can be accessed and downloaded through the Internet. Before presenting our proposals, we make an introduction to artificial intelligence and behaviour-based systems, and also we give notions of complex systems and artificial societies. In the last chapter of the thesis, we present experiments carried out in our behaviours virtual laboratory showing the main properties of our behaviours production system, of our social action model, and of our behaviours virtual laboratory itself. Finally, we discuss about the understanding of adaptive behaviour as a path for understanding cognition and its evolution