Comparative Cognition

In 1978, Hulse, Fowler, and Honig published Cognitive Processes in Animal Behavior, an edited volume that was a landmark in the scientific study of animal intelligence. It liberated interest in complex learning and cognition from the grasp of the rigid theoretical structures of behaviorism that had prevailed during the previous four decades, and as a result, the field of comparative cognition was born. At long last, the study of the cognitive capacities ofanimals other than humans emerged as a worthwhile scientific enterprise. No less rigorous than purely behavioristic investigations, studies of animal intelligence spanned such wide-ranging topics as perception, spatial learning and memory, timing and numerical competence, categorization and conceptualization,problem solving, rule learning, and creativity. During the ensuing 25 years, the field of comparative cognition has thrived and grown, and public interest in it has risen to unprecedented levels. In their quest to understand the nature and mechanisms of intelligence, researchers have studied animals from bees to chimpanzees. Sessions on comparative cognition have become common at meetings of the major societies for psychology and neuroscience, and in fact, research in comparative cognition has increased so much that a separate society, theComparative Cognition Society, has been formed to bring it together. This volume celebrates comparative cognition's first quarter century with a state-of-the-art collection of chapters covering the broad realm of the scientific study of animal intelligence. Comparative Cognition will be an invaluableresource for students and professional researchers in all areas of psychology and neuroscience.

Excellent book...Highly recommended., ...an invaluable resource for all working or being interested in the wide field of comparative psychology and neuroscience., Those who study comparative cognition find themselves in a particularly prosperous time . . . A diversity of available species to study, opportunities for increased national and international collaboration, and technological advances offer us a greater opportunity for data collection and dissemination than at any time in history. The present book attests to how these opportunities can produce compelling research programs that serve as excellent models for the future of comparative cognition., ...an outstanding collection of chapters by an exceptional group of researchers. A unique aspect is the strong reliance on experimental science in each of the research programs. One chapter after another provides a critical analysis of the state of knowledge about a fascinating cognitive ability . . . Everyone interested in the cognitive and intellectual capacities of animals should read this book., This book is a gem . . . It will be a 'must read' for students and scientists who are curious about the state of the art of the modern science of comparative cognition.

Edward A. Wasserman earned his B.A. at UCLA and his Ph.D. at Indiana University. He is now Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Iowa. Thomas R. Zentall earned his B.S. degree in psychology, his B.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from Union College in 1963, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969. After an appointment at the University of Pittsburgh, he joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky, where he is now Professor of Psychology.