Higher Cognition in Animals

• overview
• programme
• participants
• outcomes
• acknowledgements

Introduction

The Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology Cooperation (FEAST) funded this workshop to enhance the development of collaborative research between Australian and European scientists and it chose to do so because the workshop targets important new research questions in an emerging field. The was to establish ongoing, concrete collaborative activity between European and Australian researchers.

Hence, the program was designed to allow each participant an hour in which to discuss some of his or her latest research findings in an informal way with an aim to include both specific and broader issues in the discussion.

FEAST has been established by the Australian Government and the European Union to catalyse the development of new collaborative research between Australian and European teams. Beyond the generic support to the research community provided by other FEAST activities, we intend to support a small number of workshops targeting important new research questions. The focus of the scheme is on opening up new directions in research or to explore emerging research fields with potential impact on new developments in science. The intent is that these workshops will be the first step in establishing ongoing, concrete collaborative activity.

Exploratory workshops

The dynamic developments in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries are changing the way knowledge is generated and research is performed. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the ‘science’ community and the funding agencies at both the national and international levels need to be aware of the likely direction research will take in the future, especially as traditional disciplines combine to produce new and exciting multidisciplinary areas of study. By looking ahead, researchers are able to establish the cusps of new knowledge, and organisations are able to plan their resources to meet possible future demand. Additionally, such “foresight” activities will help the development of approaches between national agencies as well as informing Australian and European institutions.

To achieve this aim requires bringing together the best ideas and capabilities. Such a gathering of Europe and Australia’s key research “actors” in any given topic must aim at producing an assessment and recommendations of the highest scientifc quality to be accepted by their scientific peers. At the same time, this should not inhibit adventurous forward thinking and sometimes ‘thinking the unthinkable’, rather it should provide a means for exploring all ideas and new directions in research. A useful model to which to aspire is that used in the USA which has produced seminal monographs on key topics which have influenced the direction of research, the response of funding agencies and government institutions.

Such an activity needs to balance assessments of ‘state of the art’ with looking forward. The nature of research is that it is unpredictable but, within reason, a ‘Forward Look ’ for the next 5–10 years should provide a useful guide for everyone concerned in monitoring the health of research in Australia and Europe.

In summary, therefore, the intent of the FEAST Exploratory Workshops is to:

• identify and describe the cutting edge areas within the selected theme;
• identify the strengths of the leading organisations in Australia and Europe;
• define the research questions that could be addressed; and
• plan a collaborative research programme for, say, the next 5 years.

Rationale

Scientific study of higher cognition (referred to colloquially as ‘intelligence ’) was virtually nonexistent until just over a decade ago. Now it is expanding rapidly with an aim to not only understand the higher cognitive process of animals but also shed light on cognition in humans by discovering their similarities and differences. This workshop brought together experts in animal cognition from Europe with Australian researchers in animal and human cognition.

The collection of researchers had a unique composition, including an expert on the behaviour of bees, several experts on higher cognition in birds and primates and an expert focusing on savant-like cognition in humans.

The challenge was to see whether there were similarities in certain aspects of cognition (and the neural processes involved) spanning invertebrates and vertebrates and, of course, to delineate the differences. The cutting-edge research on bees and birds is important here, since both animal models diverge radically from the mammalian pattern. Some of the recent findings of complex behaviour in birds (e.g. tool using and manufacture, as well as referential communication) have come as a surprise, since they rival the abilities of apes. At the other end of the scale, some of the research on the behaviour of bees shows that they can learn and solve problems with unexpected complexity. The discussions featured ideas on the evolution of invertebrate and vertebrate cognition, including the evolution of cognition human cognition. Indeed, the demonstration by Prof. Allan Snyder of savant-like cognitive abilities in normal humans whose cortical function has been temporarily arrested using a new experimental technique raises the question of whether animals might possess some of these apparently lower brain cognitive functions.

The recent research points to exciting possibilities for collaborative research. Such research has implications in the fields of medicine (understanding brain function), animal behaviour and animal welfare (the latter dependent on knowledge of higher cognition in animals).