title: Using robots to understand animal cognition.
abstract: In recent years, robotic animals and humans have been used to answer a variety of questions related to behavior. In the case of animal behavior, these efforts have largely been in the field of behavioral ecology. They have proved to be a useful tool for this enterprise as they allow the presentation of naturalistic social stimuli whilst providing the experimenter with full control of the stimulus. In interactive experiments, the behavior of robots can be controlled in a manner that is impossible with real animals, making them ideal instruments for the study of social stimuli in animals. This paper provides an overview of the current state of the field and considers the impact that the use of robots could have on fundamental questions related to comparative psychology: namely, perception, spatial cognition, social cognition, and early cognitive development. We make the case that the use of robots to investigate these key areas could have an important impact on the field of animal cognition.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frohnwieser
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Pike
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D003463:Cues; D011587:Psychology, Comparative / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods; D012919:Social Behavior; D000067570:Social Learning; D012938:Social Perception; D065853:Spatial Learning
keywords: animal cognition; developmental cognition; perception; robot; social cognition; spatial cognition