Environmental complexity and regularity shape the evolution of cognition by Cameron Rouse Turner & Thomas J. H. Morgan & Thomas L. Griffiths instant download

Environmental complexity and regularity shape the evolution of cognition by Cameron Rouse Turner & Thomas J. H. Morgan & Thomas L. Griffiths instant download

The environmental complexity hypothesis suggests that cognition evolvesto allow animals to negotiate a complex and changing environment. Bycontrast, signal detection theory suggests cognition exploits environmentalregularities by containing biases (e.g. to avoid dangerous predators).Therefore, two significant bodies of theory on cognitive evolution may bein tension: one foregrounds environmental complexity, the other regularity.Received: 11 September 2023Difficulty in reconciling these theories stems from their focus on differentaspects of cognition. The environmental complexity hypothesis focuses onAccepted: 7 August 2024the reliability of sensors in the origin of cognition, while signal detectiontheory focuses on decision making in cognitively sophisticated animals.Here, we extend the signal detection model to examine the joint evolutionSubject Category:of mechanisms for detecting information (sensory systems) and thosethat process information to produce behaviour (decision-making systems).BehaviourWe find that the transition to cognition can only occur if processingcompensates for unreliable sensors by trading-off errors. Further, weSubject Areas:provide an explanation for why animals with sophisticated sensorysystems nonetheless disregard the reliable information it provides, bybehaviour, cognition, theoretical biologyhaving biases for particular behaviours. Our model suggests that thereis greater nuance than has been previously appreciated, and that bothKeywords:complexity and regularity can promote cognition.