Cephalopod and vertebrate neural-systems are often highlighted as a traditional example of
convergent evolution. Their large brains, relative to body size, and complexity of sensory …

The evolutionary history of animal cognition appears to involve a few major transitions:
major changes that opened up new phylogenetic possibilities for cognition. Here, we review …

Philosopher Ned Block argues in this book that there is a" joint in nature" between
perception and cognition and that by exploring the nature of that joint, one can solve …

A new theory about the origins of consciousness that finds learning to be the driving force in
the evolutionary transition to basic consciousness. What marked the evolutionary transition …

Associative learning, such as classical or operant conditioning, has never been
unequivocally associated with animals outside bilatarians, eg, vertebrates, arthropods, or …

How consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly
assumed, and why all vertebrates and perhaps even some invertebrates are conscious …

What is the function of cognition? On one influential account, cognition evolved to co-
ordinate behaviour with environmental change or complexity (Godfrey-Smith in Complexity …

This article introduces and defends the “pathological complexity thesis” as a hypothesis
about the evolutionary origins of minimal consciousness, or sentience, that connects the …

With global surface air temperature rising rapidly, extensive research effort has been
dedicated to assessing the consequences of this change for wildlife. While impacts on the …

Abstract Sensing, communication, navigation, decision-making, memory and learning are
key components in a standard cognitive tool-kit that enhance an animal's ability to …