This chapter offers a selective review of the spatial cognitive abilities of amphibians as manifested under natural conditions and in the laboratory, and the importance of the medial pallium, the hippocampus homologue in amphibians, for those abilities. In the field, amphibians display extraordinary navigational abilities associated with breeding behavior. In the lab, amphibians are capable of navigating to goal locations using either an egocentric turn strategy or a beacon-guidance strategy. More importantly, amphibians learn map-like representations of goal locations that resemble so-called cognitive maps, an ability supported by the medial pallium. Assuming similarity between the medial pallium of extant amphibians and the medial pallial-hippocampal homologue of the stem tetrapods, the ancestors of modern amniotes, we hypothesize that the evolution of the amniote hippocampus began with a medial pallium characterized by a relatively undifferentiated cytoarchitecture and a broad role in associative learning and memory processes, which included the map-like representation of space.

Human predation not only reduces prey densities, but also induces profound phenotypical changes in prey. Changes are increasingly well documented in the context of wildlife exploitation and range from morphological and life history modifications to physiological and behavioral effects. We focus on a form of human predation that has received almost no attention until now: Predation inflicted by lethal control of nuisance, pest, and alien species. We highlight the potential consequences of phenotypical changes in target species and explain the mechanisms by which phenotypical changes can arise, with emphasis on the role of associative learning and generalization. We then present an overview of a research program examining the ways in which the invasive common myna (Acridotheres tristis), one of the most broadly distributed invasive birds globally, is changing its behavior in response to heavy trapping pressure in some areas of Australia. A series of studies demonstrate how mynas learn about novel threats. Free-ranging mynas display compensatory responses to the threats of trapping and the mechanism of change is likely to involve cognition. This work has expanded our understanding of the adaptive significance of learning and memory mechanisms in nonhumans and has informed trapping practices for pest birds in Australia. We hope the chapter will help stimulate more research into the phenotypical changes associated with lethal control for which our work can serve as a model.

Memory for our own personal experiences comprises episodic memory. Episodic memory in people is characterized by multiple events and the sequential order of such events. Here, I summarize research that suggests that rats remember multiple events and the sequential order of events. These studies focus on remembering items-in-context and the replay of episodic memories. Next, I explore connections between episodic memory and hippocampal replay. Finally, I explore open questions for future research. The approaches described here may be used to explore the evolution of cognition.

Insects demonstrate an impressive repertoire of learned behaviors and are specifically suitable for studies on evolutionary processes because of their high fecundity and short life span. In this chapter I focus on the evolutionary processes that shape learning ability in insects on the relatively short-term evolutionary scale. For cognitive traits and behavior to evolve under direct natural selection the following requirements must be met: (1) variation in cognitive ability between individuals, (2) this variation is heritable, and (3) this variation is related to fitness (reproduction or survival) in specific environments. First, I describe natural variation in learning ability and how this variation can be maintained in natural populations. Second, I discuss work on heritability of cognition, as well as related studies on artificial selection and experimental evolution. Finally, I discuss the benefits and costs of learning in relation to fitness.

It is likely that comparative psychologists, animal learning researchers, and behavior analysts agree with the general tenets of a behavior systems framework — that behavior is organized, that learning depends on a set of starting conditions that consist of the past and present state of an animal (including its evolutionary history), and that learning is influenced by the physical characteristics of the environments in which it is studied. Despite this agreement, a behavior systems framework is typically used to explain anomalous results rather than serve as the theoretical foundation for testing the generality of constructs and phenomena in the study of animal learning. In this chapter, we illustrate how a behavior systems framework, with its emphasis on situating animal learning and behavior in a functional context and measuring multiple responses, can be used in pursuit of that goal.

Animal learning may play several important roles in evolution. Here we discuss how: (1) learning can provide an additional form of inheritance, (2) learning can instigate plasticity-first evolution, (3) learning can influence niche construction, and (4) learning can generate developmental bias. Evidence for these evolutionary effects of learning has accumulated rapidly over the last two decades, yet their significance for biological evolution remains poorly appreciated.

The hippocampus of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians is a fundamental brain structure for certain forms of relational memory. We review here the experimental evidence indicating that the hippocampal pallium of teleost fish, like the hippocampus of land vertebrates, is involved in relational map-like spatial memory, endowing fish behavior with the capability for allocentric navigation and allowing the flexible expression of spatial memory. In addition, recent evidence suggests that the teleost fish hippocampal pallium plays an important role in the processing of the temporal dimensions of relational memory. The functional similarities in the hippocampal pallium of taxa that diverged millions of years ago suggest the possibility that some features of the hippocampal networks allowing the processing of the spatial as well the temporal dimensions of relational associative memories appeared early in vertebrate evolution and were conserved through phylogenesis.

We review a selective history of the literature on related concepts such as belongingness, selective associations, and constraints on learning, as well as evidence for general learning processes. We then review the more recent and nascent literature on adaptive memory specializations in humans, vis-a-vis general models of memory. Following this introduction, we propose two insights that resolve the tension between general processes of learning and memory, on the one hand, and adaptive specializations, on the other. In the first insight, we use the analogy of how the general processes of DNA transcription and translation produce adaptively specialized proteins that are cell- and tissue-specific to serve as a model for understanding how learning and memory processes can reflect a common process at one level of analysis (e.g., cell-molecular) and adaptive specializations at another level of analysis (e.g., neural circuitry). The second insight comes from understanding how similarities in behavioral phenomena can arise due to shared ancestry (homology) or convergent evolution (homoplasy). These insights promise to unite psychological explanations of behavior with the rest of biology.

Cognitive abilities in animals can range from simple learning mechanisms to complex mechanisms including causal reasoning, imagination, foresight, and perspective taking. These complex cognitive abilities are thought to have evolved in primates in response to socio-ecological challenges faced by their ancestors. Corvids, a group of large-brained birds, are thought to have evolved comparable cognitive abilities in response to similar socio-ecological pressures. Cephalopods, including octopus, cuttlefish, and squid, also exhibit a subset of complex cognitive abilities despite having evolved independently. Here, we discuss the evolutionary pressures that might have facilitated the emergence of complex cognition in these diverse animal groups. By identifying the cognitive similarities between diverse taxa and recognizing the likely drivers for their emergence, we can derive a more comprehensive understanding of cognitive evolution.

In this chapter, we explore the concept of self-control through a comparative and evolutionary perspective, we discuss how it is measured, and we outline the mechanisms that underlie this capacity (i.e., motivational factors, cognitive control, perception and learning, grit or perseverance, inhibition, as well as choice and commitment). An important concept addressed herein is the distinction between behavioral inhibition and self-control as related yet separate terms. In this endeavor, we briefly review tests of behavioral inhibition (e.g., the detour task, reverse reward contingency task) and self-control (working for more, intertemporal choice, delay of gratification, exchange, tool use, and sequenced travel tasks), outlining how these tasks shed light on the different mechanisms underlying inhibition versus self-control. We also discuss the role of control mechanisms within executive function tasks, such as the Stroop test, and how performance in these tasks is reflective of varying degrees of self-regulation and inhibition.

Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, can adaptively modulate cognitive processing. For example, a student preparing for an exam may introspectively evaluate what she knows well already so that she can allocate more time to studying material she does not know as well. Such metacognition involves feedback between metacognitive monitoring, which assesses the current state of cognition, and metacognitive control that effects changes in cognitive processing. Some interesting and complex forms of cognition likely involve metacognition. Metacognition is also linked to explicit memory, executive control, theory of mind, consciousness, and other phenomena central to cognitive science. Like learning, memory, and cognition, metacognition is likely present in at least rudimentary forms in some animals other than humans. Information about the extent to which metacognition occurs in animals other than humans informs our understanding about the evolution of cognition. Metacognitive monitoring likely evolved because it supports effective metacognitive control.

Decades of research contend with the notion that animals come prepared by evolution to learn about some stimuli and responses better than others. Biological preparedness – and contrapreparedness – can influence how potential information is acquired, processed, and used in decision-making. Theory predicts that preparedness is the result of patterns of reliability of stimuli in predicting reward across the evolutionary history of the lineage. The evolution of preparedness can be tested experimentally, and also by considering the natural history and the pattern of reliability of stimuli and rewards for a given species. We present predictions as well as explanations for how evolution can prepare animals to make choices about their environment. Why animals learn some things better than others is at the heart of what makes behavior adaptive and by working from relatively simple theory it is possible to directly test these hypotheses and analyze traits both underlying and evolving with prepared learning.

In his Nichomachean ethics, Aristotle suggested that absolute judgments precede relative judgments. This chapter places this notion in an evolutionary context by centering on comparative research on successive negative contrast (SNC). SNC occurs when a downshift from a more preferred to a less preferred reward deteriorates behavior. SNC is observed in experiments with mammals, but not in experiments with goldfish (bony fish), toads (amphibian), or turtles (reptile). Pigeons and starlings (birds) have produced a mixed set of results. Since E. L. Thorndike, an understanding of animal learning has been influenced by the notion that rewards strengthen behavior and nonrewards weaken behavior — the strengthening/weakening principle.Outcomes fitting this principle provide evidence of control by absolute reward value, whereas results that violate this principle, like SNC, suggest control by relative reward value. Comparative research suggests that absolute reward effects are more general than relative reward effects.

Integrating an appreciation of natural behavior into laboratory studies, and laboratory techniques into field studies allows researchers to examine and control proximate factors while identifying adaptive problems faced by particular species. This focus reveals both important similarities and differences across phylogenetic lineages. Carnivores other than canids have been relatively neglected in the study of cognition. An examination of members of the ursid family reveals the important role of foraging ecology in shaping learning and memory in both wild and captive settings. Whereas top-down approaches tend to be anthropocentric, a bottom-up approach focused on the unique capacities and traits of individual species bears the most fruit in terms of understanding the selective pressures responsible for the emergence and maintenance of those traits.

Memory is encoded in the neuronal circuit, which undergoes continuous development driven by everyday experiences. While synaptic plasticity allows the experience-dependent modifications of the existing circuit, another essential issue is to keep the existing memory stable while simultaneously facilitating new memory formation for the novel experiences. Apparently, epigenetic regulatory mechanisms are involved in such regulation. Memory engram neurons in the brain are the hubs of the memory circuit and provide the cellular representation of specific memories. The cellular mechanisms, including epigenetic regulators, thus govern the development of neuronal circuits to store the information. Various epigenetic regulators control the landscape of information storage in the neural network in a temporal-spatial-specific manner, but regulating molecules do not code the specific content of the information. The main effects of epigenetic regulation include the gating mechanism and the stabilization mechanism to alter the ability of subneuronal networks to encode new information and preserve stored information in the memory circuit during the experience-dependent development of the brain network.