Psychology 290B: Evolution and Cognition
Instructors: Lucy Jacobs, Dept. Psychology and David Steinsaltz, Dept.
Demography.
Time and place: Thursday, 6-8 PM, Beach Room.
Description:
The goal of the seminar is to discuss topics in evolution and cognition
that are of interest to the participants. Each week we will discuss the
evolution of a single cognitive trait, drawing on comparative studies of
the trait and its neural basis (if possible). Topics, depending on the
interests of the group, may include the evolution of: cognitive maps (of
course!), brain size, play, consciousness, olfactory coding, senescence,
episodic memory, language, cooperation and altruism, kin recognition,
language, tool use, hemispheric specialization, mathematical operations,
etc.
The seminars will be a mixture of research presentations by faculty (by the
instructors and by guest faculty, e.g., Lynn Nadel, Wayne Getz) and review
presentations by graduate students on a topic of their choice (choice
subject to approval by instructors). The review presentation will involve
assigning a review paper one week in advance and leading the discussion of
the paper. In addition to reading the review paper, other participants
will also read one brief empirical paper of their choosing that is relevant
to the topic. Thus each assignment all other participants will read two
papers, one assigned and one to be chosen independently. Participants will
be graded on their participation in class and the quality of their
presentation.
Suggested Texts (not required and will be available for consultation):
Shettleworth, S. J. (1998). Cognition, evolution, and behavior: New York,
NY, US.
Butler, A. B., & Hodos, W. (1996). Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy:
Evolution and Adaptation. New York: Wiley-Liss.
First Meeting:
Thursday, January 30th
6-8 PM, Beach Room (Tolman 3101)
Coffee will be provided for future meetings, not the first one.
Assignment for the first meeting:
Chapter 5 from Butler, A. B., & Hodos, W. (1996). Comparative Vertebrate
Anatomy: Evolution and Adaptation. New York: Wiley-Liss.
A Xeroxed copy of this chapter will be available one week previous in a
folder in the Psychology Dept. main office, Tolman 3201 (bookcase to
immediate right after entering).