Comparative Cognition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Comparative cognition /kəmˈperetɪv kɑ:ɡˈnɪʃɵn/ is the comparative study of the mechanisms and origins of cognition in various species. Work in this field is being used to more precisely determine the nature of our own cognition and also to help achieve more rigorous determinations of what individual rights non-human species should be afforded.
The justness of the current rights of the great apes, particularly, are being questioned as their cause is championed by the Great Ape Project. As the nature of our perceptions of individual rights and the role of intelligence and awareness in their determination are given more concrete bases, other species such as some porpoises, held in popular belief for some time as highly intelligent, will likely become of greater interest in this regard. Even some species of birds have demonstrated what could potentially be conceptualization of the minds of their competitors.
From a biological point of view, work is being done on the brains of fruit flies that should yield techniques precise enough to allow an understanding of the workings of the human brain on a scale appreciative of individual groups of neurons rather than the more regional scale previously used. Similarly, gene activity in the human brain is better understood through examination of the brains of mice by the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science (see link below), yielding the freely available Allen Brain Atlas. This type of study is related to comparative cognition, but better classified as one of comparative genomics. Increasing emphasis in psychology and ethology on the biological aspects of perception and behavior is bridging the gap between genomics and behavioral analysis.
