Abstract
Cognitive enrichment is a growing subset of environmental enrichment for captive animals. However, it has been difficult for practitioners to design, implement, and evaluate relevant and appropriate cognitive challenges. Even though pure comparative cognition researchers focus on fundamental evolutionary questions, their knowledge and expertise can also shape the future of cognitive enrichment. This paper describes the motive, means, and opportunity to do so. Taxon-specific summaries of animal cognition (including inter-individual variation in skill and effects of motivation), and experimental designs (including the task itself, training, and reward) need to be accessible to practitioners in applied settings, such as farms, zoos, and sanctuaries. Furthermore, I invite pure researchers to directly evaluate their cognitive research program as enrichment and thus bridge the disciplines of animal cognition and welfare.
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The author thanks colleagues at the Zoological Society of London, Royal Veterinary College, Bristol Zoological Society, University of Bristol, and University of Cambridge. The author also wishes to thank two anonymous peer reviewers and the Associate Editor for their valuable contributions to improving the manuscript.
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Clark, F.E. Bridging pure cognitive research and cognitive enrichment. Anim Cogn 25, 1671–1678 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01636-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01636-2