 Comparative cognition is the scientific study of animal cognitive capacities that recognizes humans as animals and acknowledges that all animals are evolved biological organisms. It also recognizes that there are species-specific capacities as well as individual differences, and that these capacities are a part of the natural world that can be studied using familiar scientific methods. Animal cognition focuses on capacities and psychological states that are causally effective in behavior, and thus the study of animal cognition can be understood broadly to include all topics that philosophers cover under the notion of mind.