{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T04:24:53Z","timestamp":1777523093523,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753315200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Adaptive Behavior"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Walter Veit has written an important book about his theory of Pathological Complexity positing animals\u2019 life history challenges as the driving force behind the evolution of consciousness. I agree completely with his \u201cbottom-up\u201d approach, emphasizing the animal\u2019s world view and sensory capacities, not human\u2019s, when attempting to understand the many aspects of animal consciousness and their evolution. He has further elucidated the significant attributes of consciousness as proposed by Birch, Schnell, and Clayton. I have applied his Pathological Complexity Thesis to stages in the life history of piping plovers (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Charadrius melodus<\/jats:italic>\n                    ), suggesting the various decisions they are likely to face at each challenge. I then describe several of my field experiments with plovers that imply cognitive and conscious capacities that the plover could use to help master its challenges. The \u201cSafe-Dangerous\u201d experiments with human intruders indicate that a plover can learn to discriminate between potentially \u201cthreatening\u201d and \u201csafe\u201d intruders. With non-human intruders too? I also examined whether the plovers\u2019 use of the \u201cBroken Wing Display\u201d can be understood as a purposeful, First Order Intentional behavior, namely, the plover wants to lead an intruder\/predator away from its nest\/young. In my other research, plovers responded very variably, but seemingly adaptively, to pre-recorded chick distress calls played back in different contexts. Their responses during silent periods following the calls suggest that plovers possess representations encompassing acoustic, visual, and locational elements. I conclude that plovers likely have intentionality, aiding their ability to meet their life challenges.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/10597123251349146","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T08:45:09Z","timestamp":1753346709000},"page":"25-33","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Pathological Complexity Theory and the Piping Plover"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"34","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3947-8872","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carolyn A.","family":"Ristau","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology"},{"name":"Barnard College"},{"name":"of Columbia University"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","volume-title":"Bird display and behavior","author":"Armstrong E. A.","year":"1947","unstructured":"Armstrong E. A. (1947). Bird display and behavior. Lindsay Drummond."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0950-5601(54)80001-3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_1","unstructured":"Audubon Society. (2025). https:\/\/www.audubon.org\/field-guide\/bird\/piping-plover"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balu\u0161ka F. Reber A. (2019). Sentience and consciousness in single cells: How the first minds emerged in unicellular species. BioEssays: News and Reviews in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology 41(3) Article 1800229. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/bies.201800229","DOI":"10.1002\/bies.201800229"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2020.07.007"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_3_3_7_1","first-page":"531","article-title":"Biology and behavior of breeding piping plovers","volume":"94","author":"Cairns W. E.","year":"1982","unstructured":"Cairns W. E. (1982). Biology and behavior of breeding piping plovers. Wilson Bulletin, 94(4), 531\u2013545. https:\/\/sora.unm.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/journals\/wilson\/v094n04\/p0531-p0545.pdf.","journal-title":"Wilson Bulletin"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_1","unstructured":"Center for Biological Diversity. (2025). https:\/\/.biologicaldiversity.org\/species\/birds\/piping_plover\/natural_history"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"de Framond L. Brumm H. Thompson W. I. Drabing S. M. Francis C. D. (2022). The broken-wing display across birds and the conditions for its evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 289 Article 20220058. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2022.0058","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2022.0058"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X00016393"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/condor\/103.2.259"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_1","unstructured":"Federal Wildlife Service. (2025). https:\/\/fws.gov\/species\/piping-plover"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_13_1","first-page":"6","article-title":"Breeding biology of the mountain plover","volume":"87","author":"Graul W. D.","year":"1975","unstructured":"Graul W. D. (1975). Breeding biology of the mountain plover. Wilson Bulletin, 87(1), 6\u201331. https:\/\/sora.unm.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/journals\/wilson\/v087n01\/p0006-p0031.pdf.","journal-title":"Wilson Bulletin"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_1","volume-title":"The question of animal awareness: Evolutionary continuity of mental experience","author":"Griffin D. R.","year":"1976","unstructured":"Griffin D. R. (1976). The question of animal awareness: Evolutionary continuity of mental experience. Rockefeller University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226227122.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guild R. Wang X. Hirtle S. Mader S. (2024). Spatiotemporal and weather effects on the reproductive success of piping plovers on Prince Edward Island Canada. Ecology and Evolution 14(8) Article e11581. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ece3.11581","DOI":"10.1002\/ece3.11581"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_3_3_17_1","first-page":"35","article-title":"The piping plover","volume":"3","author":"Haig S.","year":"1983","unstructured":"Haig S. (1983). The piping plover. The Natural Area Journal, 3(3), 35\u201337. https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/43910761","journal-title":"The Natural Area Journal"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/4084431"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05707.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_1","unstructured":"Massachusetts Audubon Society. (2025). https:\/\/www.massaudubon.org"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_1","volume-title":"The first minds: Caterpillars, karyotes, and consciousness","author":"Reber A. S.","year":"2019","unstructured":"Reber A. S. (2019). The first minds: Caterpillars, karyotes, and consciousness. Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_1","first-page":"291","volume-title":"Cognitive ethology: The minds of other animals","author":"Ristau C. A.","year":"1991","unstructured":"Ristau C. A. (1991). Aspects of the cognitive ethology of an injury-feigning bird, the piping plover. In Ristau C. A. (Ed.), Cognitive ethology: The minds of other animals (pp. 291\u2013313). Academic Press Lawrence Erlbaum Associates."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_1","volume-title":"Birds, bats and minds. Tales of a revolutionary scientist: Donald R. Griffin","author":"Ristau C. A.","year":"2024","unstructured":"Ristau C. A. (2024). Birds, bats and minds. Tales of a revolutionary scientist: Donald R. Griffin (Vol. 1\u20133). WBI Studies Repository.","edition":"1"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_1","unstructured":"Ristau C. A. (2025 April 25). More about a plover\u2019s mind. [Paper Presentation]. 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