The German Zoological Society will present the Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal to psychologist and neuroscientist Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Onur Güntürkün, whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of animal cognition and brain evolution.

The medal is regarded as the most prestigious distinction in zoology in the German-speaking world and recognises exceptional, innovative research that integrates insights across biological disciplines.

Prof. Güntürkün will receive the medal and deliver a talk at the award ceremony during the 118^th Annual Meeting of the DZG in Münster.

Talk: The Parallel Evolution of Complex Cognition

The evolution of brain and cognition is full of strange twists. Take the following example: Great apes such as chimpanzees have complex cognitive abilities and a brain weighing approximately 400 g, which includes a large neocortex. In comparison, birds such as corvids and parrots have a brain weighing between 3 and 25 g and no neocortex. This should make it impossible for birds to develop high cognitive abilities. However, studies over the past two decades have shown that there is not a single cognitive ability in chimpanzees that has not also been demonstrated in corvids and parrots. And not only that, also the mechanisms of cognition are absolutely the same. How is this possible? This question keeps me awake at night because it challenges fundamental assumptions about the neural basis of complex cognition. I have come to realize that I must travel back to the depths of vertebrate evolution to identify the “hard-to-replace” neural mechanisms of cognition in mammals and birds to find answers. This talk is about that journey.