a Department of Ethology, E€ otv€ os Lor and University, Budapest, Hungary b Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary c Department of Ecology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent Istv an University, Budapest, Hungary d MTA-DE “Lendület” Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Deb...

Many of us have been surprised at the unconventional decision of the Nobel Foundation to award this year’s prize ‘for Physiology or Medicine’ to three men who had until recently been regarded as ‘mere animal watchers’. Since at least Konrad Lorenz and I could not really be described as physiologists, we must conclude that our scientia amabilis is now being acknowledged as an integral part of th...

We present a historical account of the story behind the famous hawk/goose experiments of Lorenz and Tinbergen in a wider context of cognitive ethology. We discuss their significance, for ethological experimentation in general, and specifically for understanding innate constraints on cognition. As examples of the continuing significance of the hawk/goose paradigm of selective habituation, we dis...