Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cognitive ecology of a nocturnal primate and its implications for primate cognitive evolution

博士论文研究：夜间灵长类动物的认知生态学及其对灵长类认知进化的影响

• 批准号: 2236145
• 负责人: Michelle Sauther
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236145&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Cognitive; ecology

Primates such as apes and monkeys are known for their unusual brain size and cognitive complexity. However, there is uncertainty about whether these exceptional traits have evolved across the entire spectrum of primate diversity. To better understand the evolution of complex intelligence in primates requires comparative data. Towards that end, this doctoral dissertation research project examines the ecology, sociality, and cognitive behavior of an understudied ancient primate lineage. Results can provide key insights into how cognitive complexity has evolved in primates. The project supports mentorship of student researchers and international research collaborations. It also involves an interdisciplinary collaboration that integrates ideas from biological anthropology and electromechanical engineering to develop novel remote biologging technologies. This collaboration can facilitate the future collection of spatial and movement data on many smaller-bodied nocturnal species for which this type of data has been traditionally unattainable.The goal of this project is to identify ecologically and socially relevant cognitive adaptations in a wild population of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates, thick-tailed galagos, to determine how socioecological pressures shape patterns of cognitive evolution in nocturnal strepsirrhine primates compared to diurnal gregarious primates. The researchers utilize manual behavioral observation, newly developed biologging technology, vocalization playback experiments, field-adapted cognitive tests, and comparative statistical analysis to collect and analyze relevant cognitive and behavioral data on thick-tailed galagos. If similar cognitive abilities are observed in the galago lineage as in gregarious, diurnal primate lineages, then there may be a preserved evolutionary blueprint of specific socioecological conditions selecting for specialized sets of cognitive adaptations in primates that predates the divergence of the galagos. Comparing cognitive adaptations between thick-tailed galagos and other primates presenting similar socioecological traits can help determine how specific socioecological pressures affect primate cognitive evolution across taxa and help contextualize the ultimate evolutionary origins of human cognitive abilities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

猿类和猴子等灵长类动物以其异常的脑大小和认知复杂性而闻名。但是，这些特殊性状是否在灵长类动物多样性的整个范围内演变出来存在不确定性。为了更好地了解灵长类动物中复杂智能的演变需要比较数据。为此，该博士学位论文研究项目研究了研究研究的古代灵长类动物血统的生态，社会性和认知行为。结果可以提供有关认知复杂性如何在灵长类动物中演变的关键见解。该项目支持学生研究人员和国际研究合作的指导。它还涉及跨学科的合作，该合作将生物人类学和机电工程学的思想整合在一起，以开发新型的远程生物学技术。这种合作可以促进未来在许多较小的夜间物种上收集的空间和运动数据，这种类型的数据在传统上是无法实现的。该项目的目的是在生态和社会上识别在生态和社会上相关的认知适应性，在野生的夜间差异性链轮灵长类动物中，没有确定的社会繁殖，以确定良好的社会，以确定如何确定，以确定良好的社会，从而形成了社会的模式。与昼夜的群体灵长类动物相比，链球链球辛灵长类动物。研究人员利用手动行为观察，新开发的生物学技术，发声播放实验，适应现场的认知测试以及比较统计分析来收集和分析有关厚尾galagos的相关认知和行为数据。如果在Galago血统中观察到类似的认知能力，与群体的昼夜灵长类传统相同，那么在灵长类动物中选择了特定的认知适应性的特定社会生态条件的特定社会生态条件的进化蓝图可能会占据提高加拉戈斯群体差异的特定认知适应性。比较厚尾的加拉戈斯与其他提出相似社会生态特征的灵长类动物之间的认知适应能力可以帮助确定特定的社会生态压力如何影响整个分类单元的灵长类动物认知的演变，并有助于将人类认知能力的最终进化起源背景下背景。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定任务和审查的责任，这是通过评估的范围来弥补的。