Avian Cognition: Why Being Called a Bird Brain is a Compliment

Irene Pepperberg / Psychology / impepper@media.mit.edu

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 97a, Tuesdays 3-5 p.m., William James Hall 422

Click here for draft syllabus.

Humans have a long, conflicting history judging nonhuman cognitive abilities, particularly for nonprimate species. We anticipate and accept communicative and cognitive capacities resembling our own in great apes and cetaceans, but not in birds. Controlled experimental studies have, however, documented impressive avian cognitive traits. This course explores classic and new findings in avian cognition to demonstrate that birds, despite brain architectures lacking much human-like cortical structure and evolutionary histories differing so greatly from ours, equal and sometimes surpass us on various cognitive tasks. Enrollment: Limited. Preference to juniors in MBB tracks or MBB secondary field. Note: Not open to students who have taken Psychology 980f (catalog # 46941)