Important determiner of intelligence; if there is no plasticity, then characteristic is all genetic
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What happens if there is no plasticity
If the environment changes, organism dies
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What is executive functioning?
Cognitive abilities that help plan and execute complex behaviours
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2 Examples of executive functioning:
Inhibition (ability to plan and not get sidetracked) and shifting (ability to switch between tasks)
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Mittal et al (2015) says what about harsh environments
People have different cognitive functioning, but that does not make them less intelligent
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Non-human examples of phenotypic plasticity:
Colobus monkeys alarm call when predator near and die, apes don't
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4 key areas of biology
Ontogeny, mechanism, phylogeny and adaptation
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What is ontogeny?
Description of organism's development from DNA codes to different life stages, sequential changes in ind across life span
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What is phylogeny?
Desc, of history of species through fossils & DNA sequential changes in species over time
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What is mechanism?
Desc. of organism's structure and how mechanisms work (what they are like and how they work)
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What is adaptation?
Explains characteristics of a species based on how it has selective advantage
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What is the link between brain size and intelligence?
Brain size, structure and neuronal connections reflect problems ancestors faced
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What brain structure do mammals have larger than other species that is involved in higher functioning?
Neocortex
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What is the neocortex involved in?
Perception, motor control, spatial reasoning, thinking and language use
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How many times bigger in humans than expected?
3 times bigger (longer developmental period)
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What are the consequences of having a bigger brain?
Metabolically demanding and more danger in childbirth (Tattersall 2008)
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What is encephalisation?
Brain size is related to body size?
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What is convergent evolution?
When 2 distantly related species share cognitive capacities
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Why does convergent evolution happen?
Due to social and environmental factors
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When did humans share their last common ancestor with the corvid?
350 million years ago (Emery and Clayton, 2004)
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What do birds have instead of a neocortex?
Nidopallium
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What is divergent brain evolution?
When different species brains produce similar intelligence
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What are adaptionist theories?
Humans became intelligent due to food-finding pressures (ecological environmental pressures)
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What is the social theory of evolutionary intelligence?
Humans are intensely social creatures, driving force behind brain evolution; social network expanded during evolution (brain needs to adapt to keep track); intelligence needed to attract to a mate
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What is Dunbar's number?
150
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Evidence for social brain theory:
Group size correlates with brain size and socially intelligent behaviours in most primate species (deception, co-operation, social learning and social play)
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What did Reader and Laland (2002) say about social brain theory?
There is too much emphasis on either social or ecological pressures, are both not important?
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