Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-fz5kh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-05T11:48:52.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On modes of learning in apex cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2025

Bjorn Merker Open the ORCID record for Bjorn Merker [Opens in a new window]
Bjorn Merker*
Affiliation:
Independent scholar, Kristianstad, Sweden bjornmerker@gmail.com
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In canvassing the animal kingdom for cognitive capacity by a multitrait approach, much hinges on how traits are operationally defined. In my commentary, I call attention to problematic aspects of the perspective on learning, a central component of cognition, adopted by Coombs and Trestman in their phylogenetic survey of cognitive capacity.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e93
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Birch, J. (2020). In search of the origins of consciousness. Acta Biotheoretica, 68, 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-019-09363-x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birch, J., Ginsburg, S. & Jablonka, E. (2020). Unlimited associative learning and the origins of consciousness: a primer and some predictions. Biology & Philosophy, 35, 56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09772-0 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 181–204. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X12000477 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dykhuizen, D. (2005). Species numbers in bacteria. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 56(6 Suppl 1), 62–71.Google ScholarPubMed
Gánti, T. (2003). The principles of life, with a Commentary by James Griesemer and Eörs Szathmáry. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Merker, B. (2007). Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: a challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 63–134. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X07000891 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merker, B., Williford, K. & Rudrauf, D. (2022). The integrated information theory of consciousness: a case of mistaken identity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45(e41), 1–63. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X21000881 Google Scholar
Sokolov, E. N. (1960). Neuronal models and the orienting reflex. In Brazier, M. A. (Ed.), The central nervous system and behavior. transactions of the third conference, josiah macy foundation, (pp. 187–286). New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.Google Scholar
Sokolov, E. N. (1963). Higher nervous functions: the orienting reflex. Annual Review of Physiology, 25, 545–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed