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Three groups of European badger (<i>Meles meles</i> L.) were studied during 1985 and 1986 on an area of mixed farmland in the Spey Valley, Scotland. The European badger is group territorial but individuals forage solitarily. Group size was 6 (Milton group), 3-5 (Sheilich group) and 2-4 (Little Loch group). Data were obtained by means of radio tracking on five of the Milton group, three of the Sheilich group, two of the Little Loch group plus two single males. The three group territories ranged in size from 75-146 ha. and each contained a unique habitat structure. Spatial autocorrelation and graphical analyses indicated that individuals within each group distributed their intensity of use of the group territory similarly; the three groups, however, differed from one another in this respect. When examined over the long-term, individuals' total ranges and core areas overlapped widely, however, overlap of 50x50 m grid cells was low between pairs of individuals and the individual and the rest of the group suggesting partial spatial separation of individuals within the group. Over three week intervals the Milton badgers showed a complex, shifting arrangement of activity centres with no association between particular group members. On a nightly basis, an individual's total range overlapped widely with the rest of the group, but spacing of observation points for all individuals suggested that each individual's movement was concentrated in relation to the movements of the rest of the group. Diet comparisons between groups, within groups between years and between seasons suggested that availability, as indicated by the differing vegetational composition of each group territory, affected diet. Initial evidence was that individual's diets were similar within groups. Individuals within the three groups had similar range composition, showed similar preferences for the vegetation zones within each group territory and appeared to use the zones similarly. Individuals within each group exploited the group territory similarly, at least within the sensitivity of the present data. Above surface activity was strictly nocturnal and individuals showed the same pattern of varying length activity bouts interspersed with periods of rest underground; there was no common schedule, however, between individuals. Overall activity budgets were similar between individuals within the group. Individuals used the same ongoing movements each night, often travelling 3-4km, returning occasionally only to those areas that had received light use earlier in the night, and avoiding previously used areas more than expected from models of random badger movement. Group members were seldom observed in close proximity and appeared to be either spacing themselves each night randomly or avoiding one another. The three groups differed in the distribution of communal defaecation sites (latrines). All group members visited latrines and latrine paths, behaviours associated with demarcation of the group range, at similar rates. It is suggested that the spatial organization of the three groups of badgers was non-competitive. At first glance, the data indicated a large potential for spatial competition, however, a detailed analysis suggests that group members intensively used a number of different parts of the group territory ('patches'), these were shared with only a part of the group, and individuals were seldom in close contact with one another on a given night as predicted by patch based models of Carnivore group territoriality. However, territory size and configuration were not determined by the location of key feeding areas, in contradiction to the patch based models. Possible advantages gained by individuals within the group by spatial non-competitiveness are discussed in light of possible territory inheritance by related individuals. Possible advantages to all individuals contributing to demarcation of the group territory are also discussed. Group formation in European badgers is also compared with a model of group formation in birds.

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Cognitive Science is at a crossroad. Since its inception, the prevailing paradigm in Cognitive Science (and associated fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Psychology, and Linguistics), has been a formal, computer-based model of cognition - often termed the Symbol Processing System model (SPS) or cognitivism. This view, while still accepted by the majority of researchers, has been dogged by persistent and cutting criticism by various authors over many years. As well, the initial over-inflated promises made by the early practitioners within these fields have not come to fruition, and the initial enthusiasm has in many cases been reduced to frustration.Many researchers have looked to the field of connectionism as a solution, and this discipline has found a new lease of life after a serious setback in the early 1970s. The major emphasis within this area has been on feed-forward neural networks (FFNN), but this paradigm also has its detractors.In this thesis we critically evaluate both of these research programs, especially that of SPS. We propose a new model of human and animal cognition, termed Adaptive Behavioral Cognition (ABC), which integrates many current views on cognition, and provides a single-architecture, biologically-feasible theory that overcomes many of the problems associated with current models. As well as being an accurate description of the processes relevant to the new model, the term ABC is a none-too-subtle reference to the fact that we need to closely re-examine the aims and achievements of Cognitive Science and return to basic empirical findings in developing a theory of cognition.The new model synthesises, unifies and links together many previously disjoint ideas and observations, from the neural level through to neurological structures and to observed behaviour. The claims that we make of the model are that it is biologically and ++ / neurologically consistent and reasonable, and that it has properties more closely associated with the actual brain than either the computational (cognitivist) approach, or the simplistic FFNN. Further, the model is internally consistent and self-similar, and is consistent with the observed neuroanatomical structures of the cortex. It also provides for massive parallelism, yet retains a serial component through its use of temporal sequences.The ABC proposal outlined in this thesis takes the view that the processes of the brain are to learn associated and temporally connected sequences, rather than 'facts' or 'representations', and that the learned behaviours resulting from the associated temporal sequences are the means of cognition, rather than computational operations on representations.

Hens were trained to peck a square stimulus on a touch-sensitive screen under an FR5 reinforcement schedule for a maximum of 30 reinforcers (taking approximately 10 minutes). Then hens experienced extinction sessions of 40 minutes duration. For a total of six conditions, reinforcement and extinction conditions were alternated. Each condition consisted of between approximately 7 and 10 sessions. Results show that structures developed during conditioning remain in extinction, at least for the duration of previous reinforcement sessions. After approximately 10 minutes, behaviour becomes more variable. There was also an absence of any 'extinction burst'. Extended extinction conditions, and alternating extinction conditions with reinforcement conditions had little effect on the variability of behaviour, but did influence the rate of responding. Responding persisted a little longer before gradually declining across sessions in the first extinction condition. In extinction conditions 2 and 3 responding tended to occur more as 'peaks'; short periods of increased responding with periods of non-responding between peaks.