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Intelligence in Animals and Machines (826G5JN)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Autumn teaching

This module develops an understanding of what it means for an animal or a machine to behave intelligently. It looks at how brain and behavioural systems are adapted to help an animal cope within its environment. In this module, you’ll explore different aspects of intelligence, such as navigation, motor control, tool‑use, language, memory and social skills.

We consider:

• navigation and motor control

• tool‑use

• language

• memory

• social skills.

We ask how these abilities relate to one another and how they match the needs of different animals. We also look at what you can learn about intelligence through computational modelling. This includes examining the challenges faced by scientists who try to create artificial systems with the same behavioural abilities.

Each week, you’ll read several papers on current research issues and discuss them in seminars.

A couple of papers that give you the flavour of the course are:

• Shettleworth, S. Clever animals and killjoy explanations in comparative psychology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2010

• Webb, B. What does robotics offer animal behaviour? Animal Behaviour, 2000.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 44 hours of contact time and about 106 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.