{"pk":5207,"title":"Two Approaches to the Distinction between Cognition and ‘Mere Association’","subtitle":null,"abstract":"The standard methodology of comparative psychology has long relied upon a distinction between cognition and ‘mere association’; cognitive explanations of nonhuman animals behaviors are only regarded as legitimate if associative explanations for these behaviors have been painstakingly ruled out. Over the last ten years, however, a crisis has broken out over the distinction, with researchers increasingly unsure how to apply it in practice. In particular, a recent generation of psychological models appear to satisfy existing criteria for both cognition and association. Salvaging the standard methodology of comparative psychology will thus require significant conceptual redeployment . In this article, I trace the historical development of the distinction in comparative psychology,distinguishing two styles of approach. The first style tries to make out the distinction in terms of the properties of psychological models, for example by focusing on criteria like the presence of rules & propositions vs. links & nodes. The second style of approach attempts to operationalize the distinction by use of specific experimental tests for cognition performed on actual animals. I argue that neither style of criteria is self-sufficient, and both must cooperate in an iterative empirical investigation into the nature of animal minds if the distinction is to be reformed.","language":"en","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\r\n\r\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"International Journal of Comparative Psychology, Behavior, Behaviour, Communication, Vocalization, Comparative Psychology, Behavioral Taxonomy, Cognition, Cognitive Processes, Intelligence, Associat.."}],"section":"Special Issue: Revisiting The Legacy of Stan Kuczaj","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1x28x459","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Cameron","middle_name":"","last_name":"Buckner","name_suffix":"","institution":"Indiana University, Bloomington","department":"None"}],"date_submitted":"2013-11-09T19:24:38-08:00","date_accepted":"2013-11-09T19:24:38-08:00","date_published":"2011-11-01T00:00:00-07:00","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclapsych_ijcp/article/5207/galley/3087/download/"}]}