animal cognition

While guppies with larger optic lobes were champions at learning visual discrimination tasks, guppies with larger telencephalons fared better when researchers switched things up.

The relative sizes of specific parts of the guppy brain may explain why some fish are better at learning certain tasks than others. 

Macaques continued to search for answers to an unsolvable laboratory task, seemingly refusing to believe that the correct answers were random and inconsistent.

In Chapter 1, “The Science of Animal Dreams,” author David M. Peña-Guzmán relays the history of researchers digging into the mental realities of nonhuman brains.

Research shows that humans aren’t the only animals whose imaginations run wild while they sleep.

In a citizen science project, thousands of pet dogs are helping scientists to understand what happens to memory and cognition in old age.

Bottlenose dolphins can recall trivial details of a prior event to later solve a novel task, a study finds, suggesting these mammals are capable of episodic memory.

Microbes in the gut influence the death of support cells in the brain by producing isoamylamine, a study suggests.

And how do scientists go about answering that question?

The Scientist spoke with cognitive neuroscientist Ronen Segev about how he taught goldfish to maneuver a moveable tank over land toward a visual target.

A study that transfused plasma from active to inactive mice suggests the protein clusterin enhances cognition.

A study of feeding behavior suggests the fish feed differently in front of their partners—a behavioral feature also found in primates.

Pets asked by their owners to pick up an object attached to a mat they were sitting on understood they needed to move in order to complete the task, researchers report.

The journal Ethology is the first to adopt the guidelines, aimed at clarifying experimental design and the potential biases within.

Researchers use optical illusions to investigate canine perception.

Their ability to distinguish between individuals is strong evidence for fast mapping, a learning tool generally thought to belong only to humans.

A population of North Island robins in a New Zealand sanctuary provides a unique system for investigating the memory skills of birds in the wild.

Nearly 50 years after its development, only a handful of creatures have passed the self-awareness exam. A new attempt with fish highlights a debate over the test’s use and meaning.

Meet some of the people featured in the October 2017 issue of The Scientist.