Cognitive Ecology - Essay Example

Topic Article Review – Review of Dukas - Cognitive Ecology (Part One) In this article d “Cognitive ecology” the Dukas attempts to define and evaluate the cognitive processing of animals with relevance to it its immediate biological environment. He defines that cognitive ability is procured by animals by undergoing a gradual natural selection process. According to (Dukas 1) “As the product of cognition and ecology, the cognitive ecology focuses on the effects of information processing and decision making on animal fitness”. This is not a solid interpretation as there is no rigid evidence to prove that all animals evolved through natural selection. When submitting a statement any author must provide ample supporting evidence, in absence of this the information put forward by the author can be unauthentic or unrealistic. The author of the article has conducted research to understand the force behind the cognitive skill and emotional behavior of man and animals. The author here is contemplating more on the animal psychology to investigate about the human cognitive function, which is not an ideal procedure. This is due to the fact that, all religious principles reinstate that animal and man has been created simultaneously. So the question of animal evolving in to human being does not have validity which makes the article partially defective. In the further part of the article, the author has discussed about the concept of evolutionary biology and points out about the poor researching done by scientists in this regard. This shows the author’s ability to gauge information and criticizes it in right manner and at right position. The interesting part is that, the author has taken effort to introduce other disciplines like neurobiology and computer science into the article. The article clearly mentions the correlation between neurons and evolutionary cognitive system. This helps the readers to absorb more information about the way brain works in co –ordination with its natural environment. Here the author also makes it evident that invention of computer has opened up new avenue for the scientists, psychologists and researchers to investigate about the cognitive functioning of mankind .Even though the author exerts importance on the concept of cognition, he also contradicts about the mystery surrounding the functioning of brain in human beings. The article completely ignores the existence of spiritual or divine power which could be the real hand behind the creation of cosmic intelligence. Here the author is attempting to study the functioning of brain by assuming brain as a “technical gadget” as there is communication taking place in brain with the help of electrical stimulation. However, brain is not solely functioning on electrical or chemical elements but there is a presence of higher intelligence behind this natural process. If man can built computer, then nature being the contributor of our intelligence consist of higher cosmic intelligence which can be called “God”. Nevertheless, Dukas have made credible effort in presenting the article with a deep scientific understanding and reasoning. Review of Lorenz’s - the Evolution of Behavior The article here which is to be reviewed is one which explains about the behavioral pattern of animals and its inheritance. The introductory line of the article is considerably attention catching as it is initiated by describing the similarity regarding animal and human’s bodily movement. The article suggests that, it can agreeable that animal and human being evolved from a common ancestor. The author states that as the skeleton of both bat and whale are evidently similar, thus it can be concluded that both have a common ancestor. If so, even the leaves of trees resemble somewhat our rib structure and we can assume that not only animals all the living beings have a common ancestor. As we read through the article further, we can notice that the author has questioned about the efficiency of research conducted by zoologists and psychologists. This attitude from the author displays his inquisitive nature and how he wants the reader to contemplate on the issue of animal behavior. The author here is putting down an example of the behavior of a dog and a bird to give a clear picture about the inheritance concept of animal behavior. He further states that the old scientists and psychologists are slow when compared to Charles Darwin, who revealed before them about the theory of evolution and natural selection. This is a fair and just statement from Lorenz, as the scientists and psychologist who were studying animal behavior for a longer period could not come to a conclusion as that of Darwin. This article is more expressive compared to other articles as the author has made effort to include picture of animals and their bodily movement to make comprehension easy and simple for the readers. The author proves that he has conducted ardent research on this subject of animal behavior as he presents some objection made by other psychologists on Darwin’s theory of evolution. But it is not clear why the author has used only birds as an example while comparing behavioral pattern among animals. The author has gone deep about physical behavior of different birds, setting aside other species of animals like fish and insects. When we go forward with this article we can find that, the highlight of the article is the vivid explanation of the bodily movement of sea gull .Apart from this, the author has described about the study on fish behavioral theory done by his associate Wolfgang, which increases the authenticity of the information presented by him. According to (Lorenz 7) “Recently Wolfgang Wickler, one of my associate at the max Planck Institute for Comparative Ethology, has found a similar case of adaptation by acceleration among the river dwelling cichlids fish”. In this article the author has assumed that theory of “natural selection” is valid as there is resemblance in the behavior of both dog and bird. However this can be regarded as a false belief because even before evolution every creature had the capacity to interact with its natural environment. Review of Baron’s -Primate Brain Evolution This article named “Primate Brain Evolution” as the name suggest enquire about the reason behind the evolution of the brain of primates and their cognitive skill up gradation. The author is utilizing foraging and social complexity as a base for investigating about the reason behind the enrichment of the cognitive behavior and brain development among primates. According to (baron) “Here I examine the foraging and social cognition hypothesis using comparative data on the size of the brain and its relevant component parts”. The author has taken effort to convey to readers that primates living on fruits and termites have larger brain as they require more cognitive skill to hunt for their food than spider monkey who survives on foliage. The author here has used scientific literature produced by primatologist to research on the subject on primate brain evolution. In this article, the author asserts that the food source and the way it is searched by a primate decides the brain functioning and the information processing of the animal. It is explained that as the food source of primates takes higher place on food pyramid, the brains size of them gets increased. This is an agreeable fact because man is highest on food pyramid and he is the most intelligent living being. Moreover, the author reveals that neocortex size is larger in primates and this is valid as the author has given credible logical reason for it in the writing. And the reason is that, primates are visual animals and visual processing is done by neocortex region of brain. The article also establishes that the visual effect like viewing of colors and hand and eye co- ordination by primates has led to the evolution of their brains size. But this argument cannot be credible as evolution of human being through primate is itself is a wrong concept and as a result the evolution of brain due to natural selection is a myth. Moreover, the author has given significance to encephalization, where the total weight of the brain is compared with the body mass index. He has given example that even though Gorillas have a huge body in comparison to Great ape their intelligent level is lower than the latter. The author points out that the body weight and brain efficiency is not relative, this is a true concept as human in comparison to whale is more intelligent. Interestingly, if we concentrate on the concept of encephalization, we can understand that human beings are less heavy to Great apes and possess a smaller brain but possess sharp intelligence. The article further reveals that flowering plants, mammals and primates co – evolved which is a credible argument as both are depended on each other for survival. The author has put down much strong evidence to his scientific concepts and thus this literature can be regarded as highly scientific and qualitative .However, couple of questions that remain unanswered by the article is that, why the great apes, Gorillas and chimpanzees seen by us today did not evolve into human beings? Are they really our ancestors or is it just a scientific concept with a proper base? Read More