toggle visibility Search & Display Options

Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print
  Records Links
Author Griffin, D.R.; Speck, G.B. doi  openurl
  Title New evidence of animal consciousness Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal (down) Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 5-18  
  Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Awareness; *Behavior, Animal; *Consciousness  
  Abstract This paper reviews evidence that increases the probability that many animals experience at least simple levels of consciousness. First, the search for neural correlates of consciousness has not found any consciousness-producing structure or process that is limited to human brains. Second, appropriate responses to novel challenges for which the animal has not been prepared by genetic programming or previous experience provide suggestive evidence of animal consciousness because such versatility is most effectively organized by conscious thinking. For example, certain types of classical conditioning require awareness of the learned contingency in human subjects, suggesting comparable awareness in similarly conditioned animals. Other significant examples of versatile behavior suggestive of conscious thinking are scrub jays that exhibit all the objective attributes of episodic memory, evidence that monkeys sometimes know what they know, creative tool-making by crows, and recent interpretation of goal-directed behavior of rats as requiring simple nonreflexive consciousness. Third, animal communication often reports subjective experiences. Apes have demonstrated increased ability to use gestures or keyboard symbols to make requests and answer questions; and parrots have refined their ability to use the imitation of human words to ask for things they want and answer moderately complex questions. New data have demonstrated increased flexibility in the gestural communication of swarming honey bees that leads to vitally important group decisions as to which cavity a swarm should select as its new home. Although no single piece of evidence provides absolute proof of consciousness, this accumulation of strongly suggestive evidence increases significantly the likelihood that some animals experience at least simple conscious thoughts and feelings. The next challenge for cognitive ethologists is to investigate for particular animals the content of their awareness and what life is actually like, for them.  
  Address Concord Field Station, Harvard University, Old Causeway Road, Bedford, MA 01730, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14658059 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2549  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Toro, J.M.; Trobalon, J.B.; Sebastian-Galles, N. doi  openurl
  Title The use of prosodic cues in language discrimination tasks by rats Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal (down) Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 131-136  
  Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Language; Male; Periodicity; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Speech Perception  
  Abstract Recent research with cotton-top tamarin monkeys has revealed language discrimination abilities similar to those found in human infants, demonstrating that these perceptual abilities are not unique to humans but are also present in non-human primates. Specifically, tamarins could discriminate forward but not backward sentences of Dutch from Japanese, using both natural and synthesized utterances. The present study was designed as a conceptual replication of the work on tamarins. Results show that rats trained in a discrimination learning task readily discriminate forward, but not backward sentences of Dutch from Japanese; the results are particularly robust for synthetic utterances, a pattern that shows greater parallels with newborns than with tamarins. Our results extend the claims made in the research with tamarins that the capacity to discriminate languages from different rhythmic classes depends on general perceptual abilities that evolved at least as far back as the rodents.  
  Address SPPB, Departament de Psicologia Basica, Universitat de Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain. jmtoro@psi.ub.es  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12728358 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2571  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Drapier, M.; Chauvin, C.; Thierry, B. doi  openurl
  Title Tonkean macaques ( Macaca tonkeana) find food sources from cues conveyed by group-mates Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal (down) Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 159-165  
  Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; *Cognition; *Feeding Behavior; Food; *Macaca; Male; Smell; *Social Behavior; Visual Perception  
  Abstract It is possible that non-specialised cues transmitted by conspecifics guide animals' food search provided they have the cognitive abilities needed to read these cues. Macaques often check the mouth of their group-mates by olfactory and/or visual inspection. We investigated whether Tonkean macaques ( Macaca tonkeana) can find the location of distant food on the basis of cues conveyed by group-mates. The subjects of the study were two 6-year-old males, who belonged to a social group of Tonkean macaques raised in semi-free-ranging conditions. In a first experiment, we tested whether the subject can choose between two sites after having sniffed a partner who has just eaten food corresponding to one of the sites. We found that both subjects were able to choose the matching site significantly above the chance level. This demonstrated that Tonkean macaques are capable of delayed olfactory matching. They could associate a food location with an odour conveyed by a partner. In a second experiment, the same subjects were allowed to see their partner through a Plexiglas window. Both subjects were still able to choose the matching site, demonstrating they could rely on visual cues alone. Passive recruitment of partners appears possible in macaques. They can improve their foraging performances by finding the location of environmental resources from olfactory or visual cues conveyed by group-mates.  
  Address Equipe d'Ethologie et Ecologie Comportementale des Primates, Centre d'Ecologie et Physiologie Energetiques, CNRS UPR 9010, 7 rue de l'Universite, 67000 Strasbourg, France  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357288 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2597  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Maros, K.; Gácsi, M.; Miklósi, Á doi  openurl
  Title Comprehension of human pointing gestures in horses ( Equus caballus ) Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal (down) Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages 457-466  
  Keywords Human-animal communication – Pointing – Horse  
  Abstract Abstract Twenty domestic horses (Equus caballus) were tested for their ability to rely on different human gesticular cues in a two-way object choice task. An experimenter hid food under one of two bowls and after baiting, indicated the location of the food to the subjects by using one of four different cues. Horses could locate the hidden reward on the basis of the distal dynamic-sustained, proximal momentary and proximal dynamic-sustained pointing gestures but failed to perform above chance level when the experimenter performed a distal momentary pointing gesture. The results revealed that horses could rely spontaneously on those cues that could have a stimulus or local enhancement effect, but the possible comprehension of the distal momentary pointing remained unclear. The results are discussed with reference to the involvement of various factors such as predisposition to read human visual cues, the effect of domestication and extensive social experience and the nature of the gesture used by the experimenter in comparative investigations.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4388  
Permanent link to this record
Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print