Research method (kutmodub17gm) – autumn semester

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Advanced metholodology I. PR (mamgy1ub17gm)

Under construction...

Advances metholodology II. PR (mamgy1ub22gm, mamgy2sb17gm)

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Ethology Lecture (etologsb22em, etologsb17em)

Ecology, Evolutionary and Conservation Biology specialisation, 3 credits, colloquium
Course supervisor: Dr. Péter Pongrácz
Lecturers: Dr. Péter Pongrácz, Dr. Ákos Pogány, Dr. Ádám Miklósi
The course builds on the knowledge of the following topics: ethology, behavioural ecology
Examination requirements: colloquium (with written exam)
Recommended literature: hourly slides (14 x 30 slides); additional literature: 1 article per hour, Vilmos Csányi: Ethology. Nemzeti Tankönykiadó, Budapest, 1994

TEMATICS:

Neuroethology. Modern methods in the research of mental representations. Communication, lateralization, recognition of con- and heterospecifics.
Learning and the limitations of learning. Sensitive periods, effect of social rank, types of memory, cognitive map
Communication 1. communication within species. humans as signallers
Communication 2. communication between species. humans as receivers.
Mating systems, parental care. monogamy, polygamy, deserting, cheating, brood parasitism.
Urbanized animals - a new dimension of opportunistic behaviour. The effect of human environment on the population level strategies of behaviour. Domesticated species in the ecosystem.
Variations of the individual-specific behaviour. The role of personality traits (behavioral syndromes) in the process of adaptation
Ethology of ageing. Do "old" animals exist in the wild? Evolutionary explanations for life span length
Abnormal behaviour. Recognizing abnormally behaving individuals, self-medication, abnormal behaviour in domesticated species

Applied ethology and animal welfare (alketosb22em, alketosb17em) 

Compulsory elective, 3 credits, colloquium
Course supervisor: Dr. Péter Pongrácz
Lecturer:Dr. Péter Pongrácz
Requirements during term time: attendance of classes is recommended. During the examination period: attendance of a colloquium (with written substitution).
Recommended literature:

TEMATICS

Ethology as an applied science - Main fields of research: animal welfare, animal husbandry (farm animals); companion and hobby animals; conservation/zoos
Biological and moral approaches to animal welfare - Why are animal welfare considerations necessary? The role of 'animal rights' movements. Political regulation
Suffering as a biological phenomenon - role of stress; awareness of unpleasant stimuli; parallels with human research
Ethical regulation of animal experimentation - Exempt and compulsory categories. International implications. Project application in Hungary
Ethology of Farm Animals I - Animal welfare considerations in the context of livestock husbandry and breeding
Ethology of farm animals II - Research, prevention and elimination of abnormal behaviours
Companion Animal Behaviour I - Research on domestic dog behaviour; shelters; working dogs; miniature dogs
Companion animal behaviour II - Ethology of the cat; companion animal and ecological burden
Animals in a therapeutic role - Biophilia theory; positive effects of animal husbandry on human health; animal therapy
Behaviour of pets - husbandry, breeding characteristics. Tame or domesticated? New varieties, hybrids
Domesticated species in the ecosystem - Feral/abandoned pets; hybridisation with wild relatives; eradicate or adopt? Functional ecology
Ethology of invasive/introduced species - What makes an introduced species successful? Ecological impact analysis. Need for and possibilities of possible (counter)actions
Competition between humans and wild species - Ethology of 'pests'; behavioural control of pests
Predation on humans - Ethology of 'man-eating

Practicals in ethology and behavioral ecology practice (etovissb22lm, etovissb17lm) – spring semester

Specialised compulsory elective, 4 credits
Course supervisor: Dr. Ákos Pogány
Teacher: Dr. Ákos Pogány
After deciding on the date, the lectures are held in blocks

Cognitive and neuroethology (kogneusb22em, kogneusb17em) – spring semester

Specialised compulsory elective, 3 credits, colloquium
Course supervisor: Dr. Attila Andics
Instructor:Dr. Attila Andics
The course builds on the knowledge of the following topics: ethology, neurobiology
Aim of the course: The aim of the course is to provide an in-depth understanding of the conceptual and methodological state of the art in selected chapters of comparative cognitive neuroscience.

Content of the course:
The focus is on brain mechanisms underlying social and communicative capacities, and on dog neuroimaging. (1) Voice sensitivity across species. Functional characterization of the voice areas. Inner state processing across species. Identity recognition across species. (2) Speech perception across species. Pattern recognition and statistical learning across species. Speech detection, language discrimination. Lexical processing across species. Emotional prosody and meaningfulness. Sensitivity to phonetic details. Learning object names. (3) Visual social perception across species. Categorization of the natural world in different species. Face sensitivity across species. Brain specializations in the visual domain.

Requirements Active presence, homeworks, oral exam.
Literature: Lecture handouts (pdf)

Social learning (szoctasb22em, soctasb17em)

Specialized compulsory elective, 3 credits, colloquium.
Course supervisor: Dr. Péter Pongrácz.
Lecturer: Dr. Péter Pongrácz.
The course builds on knowledge of the following topics: ethology, behavioral ecology.
Requirements during the semester: attendance at lectures is recommended. During the examination period: colloquium (with written substitution).

THEMATICS:

Evolution of social learning - Inherited or learned behavior? Individual or social learning?
Direction of knowledge transfer - Horizontal and vertical transfer. Animal cultures. Invention and conservation.
Teaching behavior - Teacher or demonstrator? Teaching behavior in animals.
Physiology and neuro-ethology of social learning - Sensory periods; hormonal effects; self-learning in the canary.
Adoption of food preference - Early learning (rabbit); bait-avoidance (rat).
Place and route learning - Migration route adoption; bee dance.
Social preference - Learning during mate choice (guppy); animal coalitions; eavesdropping.
Mechanisms of social learning I - Learning to learn change in environment - stimulus enhancement.
Mechanisms of social learning II - Adoption of the demonstrator's behavior - contagion, response facilitation, observational conditioning, imitation.
Mechanisms of social learning III - Adoption of behavior and its outcome.
Adaptivity of social learning I - Adoption of foraging behaviors.
Adaptivity of social learning II - Learning during predator and conspecific recognition.
Adaptivity of social learning III - Dependence of learning on rank and social partner.
Characteristics of human learning behavior - Natural pedagogy. Oral communication, nursery language.

Strategic thinking for scientific writing practice (stragonb22gm)

Specialised compulsory elective, 4 credits, colloquium
Course supervisor: Dr. Attila Andics
Instructor:Dr. Attila Andics
Aim of the course: The objective of the course is to develop skills for scientific writing, and to present the strategic aspects.

Content of the course:
The course focuses on developing skills for scientific writing. It provides an overview of the strategic aspects related to applications, publications and disseminations, and it supports the broadening and deepening of the repertoire for scientific writing via a wide variety of writing exercises. Sentence, paragraph, section structure. Manuscript types, review process text types, application text types, science communication text types. Specific strategic considerations, goals per text type. Techniques for improving texts and writing efficiency.

Requirements:: Practice mark. (Active participation during the classes, in-presence work on exercises, and short written assignments during the semester.)
Literature: Lecture handouts (pdf)

Behavioural ecology (visokosb22em)

Ecology, Evolution-and Conservation Biology specialisation, 3 credits, colloquium
Subject leader: Dr. Ákos Pogány 
Teachers: Dr. Ákos Pogány, Dr. Gábor Herczeg 
Assessment: colloquium (written test + oral exam)
Recommended literature: 
- Lecture slides in pdf.
- NB Davies, JR Krebs and SA West 2012: An Introduction to Behavioural Ecolgy, 4th edition (Wiley-Blackwell)
- Danchin, L-A Giraldeau and F Cézilly 2008: Behavioural Ecology (Oxford)

THEMATICS:
1. Introduction to behavioural ecology. Principles of animal behaviour, approaches and tools to study animal behaviour
2. Research approaches in behavioural ecology 1: short- and long-term observations, field and laboratory experiments, optimality models
3. Research approaches in behavioural ecology 2: game-theoretical models, evolutionary stable strategies, phylogenetic comparative approach
4. Living in groups, organization and functions. Costs/benefits of living in groups.
5. Territoriality, ideal free distribution, case studies. Interspecific territoriality. 
6. Sexual selection. Mechanisms, sperm competition and manipulation. 
7. Mating systems and strategies. Monogamy, polygamy (polygyny, polyandry, promiscuity). Parent-offspring conflict.
8. Parental care. Uniparental, biparental, and alloparental care. Models and case studies. 
9. Life-history strategies and economical desisions.
10. Social behaviours, cooperation and altruism. Selfishness and evolutionary paths to cooperat (kin selection, mutualism, manipulation and reciprocity).
11. Communication and evolutionary arms races. Function and adaptive value of communication, co-evolution of predator and prey. Aposematism, Müllerian and Batesian mimicries.
12. Different types of social learning (imitation, copying, modes of cultural transmission) and teaching in animals.
13. Sociobiology and human behavioural ecology. Human behaviour from an evolutionary perspective. Human sexual behaviour.
 

Thesis research work I. (diplm1ub17dm) – autumn semester

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Thesis research work II. (diplm2ub17dm) – spring semester

Under construction...

Humanethology (bb2n1e28)

Elective, 2 credits, colloquium
Course Supervisor: Dr. Enikő Kubinyi
Teacher. Dr. Enikő Kubinyi
Recommended order of pre-study: BSc Ethology at basic level
Required Note: Lecture ppt; Vilmos Csányi: Human Nature- Human Ethology. Vince Publishing House, 2003.
Recommended literature. Vilmos Csányi, Ádám Miklósi. Typotex Publishing House, 2010
ATTENTION! The materials uploaded under the course names have been compiled by the staff of the Department of Ethology for educational purposes only, for the use of course participants and for personal use only. Any distribution of the educational material in any form, printed or electronic, is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted.

TEMATICS:

1. Summary of basic ethological knowledge - Basic ethological concepts, systems behaviour modelling; Historical overview of human behaviour research; Psychological, ethological approaches. The natural science of human behaviour - Tinbergen approach: Ethological analyses of behaviour; Comparative cultural anthropology, developmental psychology and comparative zoology, Evolutionary principles
2. Comparative ethology of primates: Social life - Advantages/disadvantages of group life; Group structure of primates; Group structure of hominids
3. Comparative primate ethology: Physical and social cognition - Spatial orientation, object permanence cognition; Naive physical understanding and object use
4. Biological evolution of man: Evolutionary and historical methods - Genetic analysis of human evolution; Overview of human evolution based on modern artefacts; "Paleoethology": behavioural analysis of human evolution
5. Biological basis of human aggression - Specific manifestations of aggression in humans; Variability of social relations, hierarchical and egalitarian societies, dominance and subordination, cannibalism, war
6. Basics of human social behaviour - Characteristics of attachment relationships in humans; Evolution and individual development of attachment behaviour; types and characteristics of attachment as a behavioural strategy
7. The role of mate choice systems in evolution Overview of human reproductive systems; Ecology of monogamous and polygamous cultures, The changing role of sexuality; Mate choice based on sex labels
8. Synchronization skills and cooperation - Hypnosis, Music, dance, mimesis, Following rules; Cooperation in space, time, planning complementary actions; Social cooperation; Imitative behaviour and its functions
9. Elements of construction skills, evolution of object use and object making- Comparison of animal and human; Elements of object making, hierarchical organisation of behaviour; Communication and language; Comparison of animal and human communication systems; Language behaviour and culture
10. Cultural evolution - Encroachment phenomena; Human behaviour and modern social challenges

Behavioural Ecology Exercise (bb2n6e04)

Compulsory specialised subject, 4 credits, practical, (1 hour of theory + 3 hours of practical training per week)
Course supervisor: Dr. Ákos Pogány
Teacher: Dr. Ákos Pogány
Requirements.
Recommended reading: Krebs & Davies 1993: An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology, Blackwell Scientific Publications.

CHEMICAL ECOLOGY:
1. Introduction. Review of the semester schedule for the exercise; Interactive review of theoretical foundations (what is and is not covered in behavioural ecology). Review of methods and theoretical materials needed to complete the exercise.
2. Methods of behavioural ecology, experimental approach (Zebra finch bravery I). Review and comparison of the main research approaches (short - and long term observations, field and laboratory experiments). Testing the state dependence of courage in zebra finches - hypothesis and predictions. Establishing experimental conditions in the zoo
3. Behavioural observation (Zebra Finch Courage II) Experiment, data collection in the Zoo. Principles of operation of the Solomon coding programme
4 Behaviour coding (Zebra Finch Courage III) Coding of Zebra Finch latencies. Tabulating data
5 Data analysis (Zebra Finch Courage IV) Brief overview of relevant statistical principles. Basics of using the SPSS program. Descriptive statistics
6. Evaluation of results . Testing predictions, drawing conclusions. Presenting statistical results, graphing. Preparing a report I.
Methods in behavioural ecology, optimality models (Optimal nutrition I) Cost-benefit approach, elements of optimality models. Optimal territory size, prey selection model, spot time model
8 Data collection (Optimal foraging II) Modelling of optimal predation strategy under fixed constraints. Tabulation of data, preparation for analysis
9. graphical determination of optimal strategy (Optimal feeding III) Plotting a function in SPSS. Evaluation of results. Preparation of protocol II.
10. Optimal prey selection. Theoretical background. Data collection. Discussion of results
Methods in behavioural ecology, game theory approach (Héja-galamb I). Evolutionarily stable strategies. Héja dove game, parental care game, potty-chasing game. Modeling the Héja dove: finding ESS for different payoff matrices
Modelling the game of the Hawk-Dove (Hawk-Dove II) Evaluation of the results of the Hawk-Dove modelling. Preparation of Protocol III.
13. Methods in behavioural ecology - comparative phylogenetic analysis. Comparative analysis. Discussion and conclusion of practice questions. Replacement of unaccepted protocols

Aim: The aim of the exercise is to provide an experiential introduction to the main research methods in behavioural ecology. During the sessions, a complete behavioural ecology experiment will be designed and carried out. In the second half of the exercise we will learn about optimisation and game theory models. During the internship, students will learn/apply scientific methodology, research design, treatment/measurement of small songbirds, use of Solomon coder and SPSS programs, and how to publish scientific results.

Applied Ethology (bb1n4ab1)

Compulsory differentiated module, 2 credits, practical grade
Course supervisor: Dr. Péter Pongrácz
Lecturer: Dr. Péter Pongrácz, Dr. Veronika Konok
Recommended order of pre-study: Ethology I Ea (bb1c1105)
Requirements during the semester: attendance at both exercises and preparation of a report to be submitted during the semester.

The course is taught in a blocked form. Students will attend the sessions in groups of a maximum of 15-20 students, which will normally take place over a weekend. Two sessions are held per group, covering a different topic.

I. Behavioral strategy, the study of animal personality - Experimental observation of the behavioral axis of "courage-reticence" in bobwhites. Are there stable traits in the risk-taking behavior of these birds?
II Acoustic communication - Deciphering the information conveyed by dog barking using humans as "listeners". What determines how annoying a biological sound is?
Required reading: Chapter 1: Altbäcker V., Gácsi M., Kosztolányi A., Pogány Á, Lakatos G, Pongrácz P, Dóka A.: Ethological Exercises: Budapest: ELTE, 142-151 (2013)
Professional article: Gyuris et al. (2011). Individual behavior in firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus). Soc. B., 278, 628-633.

General obligatory, 2 credits, 90 minutes/weekly
Semester: autumn
Requirement: exam (5) (oral exam)
Responsible person: Péter Pongrácz, PhD
Lecturer: Péter Pongrácz, PhD

Books:  S. J. Armstrong and R. G. Botzler: Animal Ethics Reader (London, 2003)

DETAILED TOPICS OF THE COURSE:
1.The capacity for suffering in animals – Do animals suffer? The connection between suffering and consciousness.
2. Animal welfare of the most intelligent species. Personal rights for Apes? Is a dolphin a person?
3. Problems with livestock. Animals as food – is vegetarianism an alternative of breeding livestock Ethics in animal husbandry
4. Religions and animals. Worship, sacrifice and despise of animals, in the name of God
5. Animal experiments – experimental animals (1) Where are the boundaries of the possibilities in conducting experiments on live subjects? Costs and benefits. Regulations about animal experiments.
6. Animal experiments – experimental animals (2) Ethics and ecology clashes in the field experiments. The dilemma of animal experiments in education
7.Biotechnology – Genetic engineering and animal welfare. Xenotransplants, cloning
8. Protecting the wildlife (1) Hunting – is it truly necessary, or is it mostly a ‘sport’?
9. Protecting the wildlife (2) Exotic animal trade
10. Ethics in environmental protection. Back to the wild – ecological and ethical aspects of reintroducing animals to their former habitats
11. Zoo and aquarium – Are they still necessary in the 21^st century? Environmental enrichment, saving of vulnerable species
12. Animal sports – or cruel entertainment? Rodeo, horse racing, greyhounds. Bullfights
13. The rights of the pets. The responsibility of breeders of pets – to which extent can we ‘design’ an animal? Companions at work – the welfare of working dogs.
14. Animal right activists. Important achievements of animal welfare protectionExtreme welfare – the dark side of animal right movement

Specialization obligatory optional, 2 credits, 90 minutes/weekly
Semester: spring
Requirement: exam (5)
Obligatory/Recommended studies: Ethology for BSc Biology
Responsible person: Ádám Miklósi, Prof.
Lecturer: Ádám Miklósi, Prof.
Consultation possibilities: On case by case basis after prior correspondence
Books: slides of the lectures; Barrett, L, Dunbar, I, Lyatt, J. 2002 Human evolutionary Psychology
Laland, KN, Brown G 2002 Sence and Nonsence: Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour

DETAILED TOPICS OF THE COURSE:
1. Introduction to ethology (animal/human behaviour). Human ethology is an integral part of ethology, which is the biological study of animal behaviour. In this lecture the basic concepts of ethology are discussed in relation to human ethology. We also present an overview on the development of this field and explain how the interaction between ethology and psychology generated a novel discipline of studying human behaviour. We present an integrative approach to behaviour by discussing the importance of studying function, mechanism, development and evolution of behaviour in parallel.
2. The study of human behaviour: Methods. Methodological issues will be discussed as humanethology is based on the comparative study of humans and related animals (apes), on the study of human behavioural development in infants and children, and on intercultural studies.  The ethological methods of describing the behavioural phenotype in humans will be discussed with regard to the challenges from neuroscience and behavioural genetics.
3. Comparative ethology of primates I.: Social behaviour. One key factor in understanding human behaviour is the knowledge of the behaviour of our nearest relatives. In this lecture we introduce concepts of social behaviour in general, and also present a description of the social behaviour in apes (organisation of groups, sexual behaviour, aggression etc).
4. Comparative ethology of primates II.: Cognition. Human cognition has its antecedents in animal cognition. In order to understand the problems of studying cognition, we present the latest knowledge on primate cognition both in the case of their physical and social understanding. Cognitive maps, understanding of simple physical laws, understanding of attention, representation of the other’s mind (Theory of mind) will be discussed as key examples.
5. Human biological evolution. This lecture describes biological evolution after split from the “apes”. Both physical and behavioural evolution will be outlined, in addition to evolutionary theories trying to explain why, how and when specific human behaviours emerged.
6. The Human behaviour complex. Here we present a different view on behavioural evolution in humans. Instead of arguing for a single important factor as a cause for the emergence of new human species, we suggest that there could be small multiple changes in a range of behaviours that resulted in a large overall behavioural difference. Faculties of sociality, behavioural synchronization and constructive abilities are emphasised as main categories of this behaviour complex.
7. Human sociality. A detailed picture is provided about the behavioural system of sociality. Concepts of attachment, xenophobia, intra and intergroup relationships will be discussed. Typical groups size and structure of humans is presented.
8. Human aggression. We introduce the ethological concept of aggression in animals, and draw a parallel with human agonistic behaviour. The specificity of human aggressive behaviour will be shown with regard to dominance/submissive relationship. We will contrast intra- and intergroup behaviour, and a detailed description is given of human aggressive behavioural and explanation of possible evolutionary ritualisation. The social/learnt effects on aggressive behaviour will be discussed.
9. Human mating systems, mate choice, sexual behaviour. We will describe basic concepts of mating systems, and will show ways of understanding human mating systems as a function of ecological and cultural factors. Mate choice and sexual behaviour will be discussed in detail, as well as, more specific issues of human behaviour such as homosexuality, incest taboo and prostitution.
10. Behavioural synchronisation and cooperation. Many of our complex behaviours appear to be executed in a synchronised way. Although to perform actions in parallel seems to be a general animal trait, in the case of humans very different aspects of behaviour seem to be affected. In addition we have many behavioural traits ensuring that activities within the group become synchronised. Such examples come from hypnosis, the sensitivity for dancing, music and accepting social rules.
11. Communication and language. Human communication represents a unique organisation in living systems. After providing a biological basis of animal communication, we describe how language differs from other communication systems. Both the components and the structural rules of language will be discussed, and we reflect in what sense language is influenced by genetic factors. A possible scenario for language evolution will be presented.
12. Constructive abilities. Apart from language as a mental construction, the modification from objects is an important feature of human behaviour. Humans are not alone in using objects but in our case there is a significant increase in the complexity of the behaviour. We will compare animal and human use of objects as well as making of objects by physical modification, adding parts together ect. We will investigate how the notion of evolution can be applied to the technical word, and how this behaviour affects the niche in which humans are living in.
13. Cultural evolution. The transmission of learned information from one generation to the next is not exclusively a human trait, however human culture seems to have specific attributes. We will review theories about human culture, and present a comparison by showing that culture can be investigated from different aspects as behavioural manifestation, cognition, ecological function and products.
14. Mega-society. The effect of global changes in human behaviour. Processes of “runaway” evolution will be discussed along with issues of future challenges that might affect human social systems. 

Specialization obligatory optional, 2 credits, 90 minutes/weekly
Semester: autumn
Requirement: exam (5) (write exam)
Obligatory/Recommended studies: ethology
Responsible person: József Topál, PhD
Lecturer: József Topál, PhD
Consultation possibilities: after the last lecture
Books: slides of the lectures; Shettleworth, S. J. (2010) Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior New York: Oxford

COURSE SYLLABUS:
1. A brief history of the study of animal mind: from Darwin to Griffin. The rise of modern cognitive ethology and current challenges.
2. Methodological considerations: the basics of experimental design in the field of animal cognition. Clever-Hans effect and the role Clever Hans plays in methodological development
3. How do we define animal intelligence? An integration of the cognitive, evolutionary and ecological-adaptational approaches.
4. The dual nature of cognitive processing. Physical cognition I.: abilities underlying object representation. Experiments on deductive reasoning in human and nonhuman animals.
5. Physical cognition II: The origins of human numerical ability. A comparative investigation of skills supporting transitive inference.
6. Social cognition I.: Categories of social learning, tool use and innovative behaviours among nonhuman species.
7. Social cognition II.: The evolutionary roots of imitation. The ethological description of play behaviour. Why do (some) animals like to play?
8. Specific aspects of social cognition: social competence I.: Theory of mind in nonhuman species. Self-recognition and self-awareness.
9. Social competence II.: Evolution and development of the human theory of mind abilities.
10. Going to the roots of communication skills in humans and animals.
11. The evolutionary origin of linguistic skills: language experiments with apes and other species.
12. The dog as a model for understanding human social cognition I.
13. The dog as a model for understanding human social cognition II.
14. How cognitive ethology can contribute to our understanding ethics and animal welfare issues?

Specialization obligatory, 4 credits, 180 minutes/weekly
Semester: spring
Requirement: During the semester: participating on the lectures, asking/answering questions, participation in the discussions, making the homework. During exam period: offered scores
Responsible person: Ádám Miklósi, Prof.
Lecturer: Miklósi Ádám, Prof., Hahn István, PhD, Erzsébet Pásztor, PhD

Books: Student ppt-s

DETAILED TOPICS OF THE COURSE:

1. Research process. Research (field, goal, method, level, type), choice of topics, search for references, planning of research process, problem solving
2. The rcreation of scintific writings. BSc thesis (BSc), MSc thesis (MSc), PhD dissertation, project deliverables, thesis structure, providing a structure based on own research by the means of a questionnaire
3. Choice of topics. Generation of topics, evaluation of topics, viability and risks
4. Steps of research. Planning, methods, execution, risk-benefit analysis based on a specific example
5. How to write a thesis. Structure of a thesis, self-evaluation and points of evaluation
6. Description and defintion of variab. Types of variables, ways of defintions, practice of use
7. Basic concepts of statistics. Mean, standard deviation, median, providing likelihoods experimental design, normal distribution
8. Statistical tests. Hypothesis testing, T-test, Welsh-test, F-test, significance testing by the means of khi square, one-way ANOVA
9. Presentation of topics. Presentation of own research topic, questions, critics and debate
10. Introduction to scientific publications. The structure of publications, the structure of an abstract, writing and criticising abstracts
11. Reading and evaluation research papers. Reading and evaluation of an Anonym manuscript by the means point of views, short oral presentation of the manuscript
12. Writing applications I. Theory and practice, type, goal, and importance of applications, conditions of applications, domestic and international applications, consortia, points of evaluation of grant proposals
13. Writing applications II. Short presentation of a written application, comments on the critical evaluations, discussion, making decisions
14. Writing applications II. Short presentation of a written application, comments on the critical evaluations, discussion, making decisions

Research Design Exercise (bb2n4e02)

Elective, 4 credits, practical
Course supervisor: Dr. Erzsébet Pásztor
Teacher:Dr. Ádám Miklósi, Dr. Erzsébet Pásztor, Dr. István Háhn
Requirements during the term: attendance of classes, homework assignments. During the examination period: mark offered (can be improved by oral examination)
Consultation: during the year, by appointment
Recommended reading: ppt of the lecture

TEMATICS

The research process. Research work (field, aim, method, level, type), choice of topic, bibliography, planning the research process, problem solving
Preparing scientific papers. Thesis (BSc), Diploma thesis (MSc), PhD dissertation, Final report, Structuring a thesis, Interpreting own research based on questions
Choosing a topic. Topic generation, topic evaluation, feasibility and risks
Research steps. Design, methods, implementation, risk-benefit analysis in relation to a specific study
Principles of thesis writing. Self-assessment and peer review, thesis structure,
Description and definition of variables. Types of variables, how to define them, how to use them
Basic statistical concepts. Mean, standard deviation, median, probability, experimental design, normal distribution
Statistical tests. Hypothesis testing, T-test, Welsh test, F-test, Chi-squared significance tests, one-way ANOVA
Topic presentation. Presentation of research topic, questions, critiques, discussion
Basics of scientific publishing. Publication structure, short abstract structure and writing on the topic
Article reading and critique. Reading and critique of an anonymous manuscript based on given criteria, presentation in the form of a lecture
Proposal writing I. Theory and practice, types of proposals, purpose and importance of proposals, criteria for proposals, national and international proposals, consortia, criteria for evaluation of proposals
Proposal writing II: Short presentation of the written proposal, processing of evaluations, critical discussion, decision making
Proposal writing III. Short presentation of the written proposal, review of the evaluation, critical discussion, decision making

Social Learning Lecture (bbbn9107)

Elective, 2 credits, colloquium
Course Supervisor.
Lecturer: Dr. Péter Pongrácz
The course builds on the knowledge of the following topics: ethology, behavioural ecology
Requirements during the semester: attendance of lectures is recommended. During the examination period: colloquium (with written substitution)

TEMATICS

Concept and definition of social learning. Types of learning. Adaptivity of social learning. Mechanism, ontogenesis, evolution, function
Transmission of food preference. Ecological conditions. Generalist preference transfer: rat. Herbivore preference adoption: burrowing rabbit
Learning during acoustic communication: vocal learning in birds. Evolutionary/ecological conditions. Neural and hormonal effects. Sensitive periods, the role of the "listener
Learning during foraging: birds - I. Ecological conditions, taxonomic emergence. Competition between predators and predators in ravens
Learning to forage: birds - II. Why do crows imitate?
Learning by foraging: birds - III. An attempt to isolate mechanisms of social learning. Parrots in waves
Social learning in dogs I. Ecological/evolutionary conditions. Social learning in wild canids. Canine social learning from a functional approach
Social learning in dogs II. Testing mechanisms of social learning. Transference, elicitation, imitation. "Do as I do"
Human canines and social learning I. Ecology conditions, observations in nature - animal cultures. Possible approaches/testing methods for imitation. Imitation after seeing a "failed" demonstration
Anthropoids and social learning II. Studies on gorillas. Sequence and pattern imitation
Anthropoids and social learning III. Studies on orangutans. Delayed imitation and "generalization"
Teaching behaviour. The biological definition of teaching. Sensitivity to teaching - natural pedagogical theory. Teaching behaviour in domestic animals

Integrated research methods in ethology lecture (bb2n9102)

Under construction...