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6 - What of the Future?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2021

Sergio Pellis
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge, Alberta
Vivien Pellis
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge, Alberta
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Summary

Traditionally, to test whether the hypothesised organisation of behaviour generates the behavioural markers selected for measurement has required experiments or comparisons across species, sex and age. In the last couple of decades, important strides have been made in developing ways to create virtual animals, either on a computer screen or as freely moving robots, that can be programmed to produce the behaviour of interest. If the programmed rules are sufficient to produce the behaviour of real animals, then that adds independent evidence for the proposed organisation. Novel testing methods is one direction for the future. Another is to identify additional organisational principles. For example, some level of randomness seems essential for the production of effective functional behaviour. A challenge for the future is to understand how random processes are integrated with the causal processes described in the preceding chapters.

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Chapter
Information
Understanding Animal Behaviour
What to Measure and Why
, pp. 98 - 112
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • What of the Future?
  • Sergio Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Vivien Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta
  • Book: Understanding Animal Behaviour
  • Online publication: 11 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108650151.007
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  • What of the Future?
  • Sergio Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Vivien Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta
  • Book: Understanding Animal Behaviour
  • Online publication: 11 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108650151.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • What of the Future?
  • Sergio Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Vivien Pellis, University of Lethbridge, Alberta
  • Book: Understanding Animal Behaviour
  • Online publication: 11 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108650151.007
Available formats
×