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Linking appraisal to behavioral flexibility in animals: implications for stress research
Ana I Faustino1, Gonçalo A Oliveira2, Rui F Oliveira1
1Integrative Behavioral Biology Laboratory, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência Oeiras, Portugal ; ISPA Instituto Universitário Lisboa, Portugal ; Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown Lisbon, Portugal.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
|May 13, 2015
Summary
Animals adapt their behavior to changing environments by evaluating stimuli, a process called appraisal. This study explores appraisal mechanisms across species and discusses cognitive biases in this context.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Cognitive Science
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Organisms need to rapidly adjust behaviors in fluctuating environments.
- Behavioral flexibility is crucial for survival and adaptation.
- Appraisal theory offers a framework for understanding how internal states relate to environmental context.
Purpose of the Study:
- To understand how animals adjust internal states to environmental contexts.
- To reframe existing evidence for appraisal components in animal literature.
- To identify common appraisal mechanisms across species.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of existing animal literature on appraisal.
- Application of appraisal theory to animal behavior.
- Analysis of cognitive biases in stimulus appraisal.
Main Results:
- Appraisal is an interactive process of evaluating stimulus significance for adaptive responses.
- Evidence for appraisal components exists across diverse animal species.
- Cognitive biases can influence the appraisal of ambiguous stimuli.
Conclusions:
- Appraisal mechanisms provide a common ground for understanding behavioral flexibility across species.
- Cognitive biases in appraisal may be environmentally modulated or fixed traits.
- Understanding appraisal and cognitive bias has implications for stress research in animals.
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