With the growing accessibility of original journal articles and papers, a staggering number of professors teaching junior/senior level courses are turning away from the use of textbooks in favor of primary research papers. The Fundamentals of Cognition series covers the main topics in the field
of Cognitive Psychology, and will address the need professors have for a brief, yet detailed, overview of specific topics in cognitive psychology. The books in this series will serve as a unifying discussion of the topic and provide continuity and cohesion to the discussion of primary research
papers. These primers will be written by prominent cognitive scientists with the ability to write accessibly about complex subjects. They will capture the current state of this fast moving field and reflect the authors' views.
Comparative Cognition has countless connections to the rest
of psychology and encompasses the comparative and evolutionary basis of development and social psychological processes as well as every aspect of cognition. Comparative research also provides the basis for the animal models used in behavioral neuroscience and genetics. This text on the Fundamentals
of Comparative Cognition will convey the richness and excitement of this diverse field while addressing the fundamental questions of what makes us uniquely human and what we share with other creatures. Professors' experience with Shettleworth's graduate text and her clear, direct, and interesting
writing style makes them very excited about the possibility of Shettleworth writing an undergraduate text in this field.
Preface
1. What is Comparative Cognition About?
"From Darwin to Behaviorism": A Little History
Research in the 21st century: Tool using crows
How this book is organized
2. Basic Processes
Perception and attention
Memory
Associative learning
Discrimination,
classification, and concepts
3. Physical Cognition
Spatial cognition: How do animals find their way around?
Two timing systems
Numerical cognition
Putting it together: Foraging and planning
Using tools
4. Social Cognition
Social behavior: the basics
Social
learning
Communication
5. Comparative Cognition and Human Uniqueness
Different in degree or kind?
Clues from modularity and development
References
Index
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Sara Shettleworth is a Professor Emerita in the Departments of Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and a recognized leader in the field of comparative cognition. Shettleworth's previous book, Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior, published by OUP,
integrates perspectives from behavioral ecology, ethology, and comparative cognitive psychology and applies them to the function and evolution of information processing abilities in animals. She has published over 60 articles and book chapters, co-edited two books, and served on editorial boards of
the several scientific journals. Shettleworth has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford, and an American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientist Lecturer.
