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Author Griffin, A.S.; Galef, J., Bennett G.
Title Social learning about predators: does timing matter? Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 69 Issue 3 Pages 669-678
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Abstract In Pavlovian conditioning, animals acquire a response to a previously neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS), such as a light, if that stimulus predicts a biologically important event (unconditioned stimulus, US), such as delivery of food. Learning typically occurs when the CS precedes the US (forward conditioning), and not when the CS follows the US (backward conditioning). In social learning about predators, the predator stimulus is considered to be the CS to which observers acquire avoidance responses after the stimulus has been presented in contiguity with an alarmed demonstrator, the US. We tested the prediction that social learning of response to a predator would occur even if the social alarm cues (the US) appeared before the predatory stimulus (the CS). Carib grackles, Quiscalus lugubris, responded to a familiar predator presented at close range by suppressing alarm calls. Presentation of an unfamiliar avian model (black-and-yellow pigeon) also decreased calling, and this inhibition of calling was enhanced following a training session in which the model stimulus was presented in association with grackle alarm calls. Acquired inhibition of calling was independent of the order of presentation of the model and an alarm chorus. These are the first results to indicate that social acquisition of predator avoidance is not dependent upon a particular temporal relationship between predators and social alarm cues. Evolution may have modified some properties of Pavlovian conditioning to accommodate social learning about potentially dangerous stimuli.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 572
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Author Griffin, A.S.
Title Social learning in Indian mynahs, Acridotheres tristis: the role of distress calls Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 75 Issue 1 Pages 79-89
Keywords Acridotheres tristis; distress vocalizations; head saccades; Indian mynah; predator avoidance learning; social learning
Abstract Socially acquired predator avoidance is a phenomenon in which individuals acquire an avoidance response towards an initially neutral stimulus after they have experienced it together with the antipredator signals of social companions. Earlier research has established that alarm calls used for intraspecific communication are effective stimuli for triggering acquisition. However, animals produce a large range of other antipredator responses that might engage antipredator learning. Here, I examine the effects of conspecific distress calls, a signal that is produced by birds when restrained by a predator, and that appears to be directed towards predators, rather than conspecifics, on predator avoidance learning in Indian mynahs, Acridotheres tristis. Distress calls reflect high levels of alarm in the caller and should, therefore, mediate robust learning. Experiment 1 revealed that subjects performed higher rates of head movements in response to a previously unfamiliar avian mount after it had been presented simultaneously with playbacks of conspecific distress vocalizations. Experiment 2 revealed that increased rates of head saccades resembled the spontaneous response evoked by a novel stimulus more closely than it resembled the response evoked by a perched raptor, suggesting that distress calls inculcated a visual exploratory response, rather than an antipredator response. While it is usually thought that the level of acquisition in learners follows a simple relationship with the level of alarm shown by demonstrators, the present results suggest that this relationship may be more complex. Antipredator signals with different functions may have differential effects on learners.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4696
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Author Strayer, F.F.
Title Learning and imitation as a function of social status in macaque monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) Type Journal Article
Year 1976 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 24 Issue 4 Pages 835-848
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Abstract Learning and imitation were examined in animals selected from two groups of sixteen pigtail monkeys. There were significant differences in performance on a cued-alternation task as a function of both social status within the stable group, and prior exposure to a social model. High status animals responded more frequently, but were less successful in acquiring appropriate response delay. Exposure to the model improved response latencies and acquisition of response delay for all subjects. However, model exposure did not improve alternation performance. Results are discussed in terms of prior social experience of the subjects, general learning strategies, and differential sensitivity to multiple reinforcement contingencies. Findings are related to ethological concepts of imitation, and field reports on primate social learning.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 573
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Author Avital, E.; Jablonka, E.
Title Social learning and the evolution of behaviour Type Journal Article
Year 1994 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 48 Issue 5 Pages 1195-1199
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Abstract Abstract. In animals capable of learning from a parent or other individual, socially acquired behaviour can be transmitted through several generations. When the inheritance of variations in such behaviour is independent of genotypic variations, natural selection can operate on an additional level. Direct evolution of behaviour becomes possible, and this may alter the estimates of costs and benefits of behaviour patterns for the individual who transmits them. It is suggested that the effects of maternally transmitted behaviour contribute to the evolution of maternal behavioural strategies, and to the evolution of behaviour associated with male-female conflict.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 574
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Author Choleris, E.; Kavaliers, M.
Title Social Learning in Animals: Sex Differences and Neurobiological Analysis Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior Abbreviated Journal Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.
Volume 64 Issue 4 Pages 767-776
Keywords Observational learning; Social learning; Individual learning; Imitation; Social constraints; Social facilitation; male-female differences; Gender differences
Abstract Social learning where an “individual's behavior is influenced by observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products” has been extensively documented in a broad variety of species, including humans. Social learning occurs within the complex framework of an animal's social interactions that are markedly affected by factors such as dominance hierarchies, family bonds, age, and sex of the interacting individuals. Moreover, it is clear that social learning is influenced not only by important sexually dimorphic social constraints but also that it involves attention, motivational, and perceptual mechanisms, all of which exhibit substantial male-female differences. Although sex differences have been demonstrated in a wide range of cognitive and behavioral processes, investigations of male-female differences in social learning and its neurobiological substrates have been largely neglected. As such, sex differences in social learning and its neurobiological substrates merit increased attention. This review briefly considers various aspects of the study of social learning in mammals, and indicates where male-female differences have either been described, neglected and, or could have a potential impact. It also describes the results of neurobiological investigations of social learning and considers the relevance of these findings to other sexually dimorphic cognitive processes.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 575
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Author Anderson, J.R.; Fornasieri, I.; Ludes, E.; Roeder, J.-J.
Title Social processes and innovative behaviour in changing groups of lemur fulvus Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 101-112
Keywords Social learning; Lemur fulvus; Dominance; Individual differences
Abstract A group of brown lemurs was presented with one or two baited food-boxes requiring a specific type of motor response in order to be opened. Subsequently, four groups containing different combinations of experienced individuals from the original group and naive individuals were tested. Solutions to the problem and access to the food were recorded and considered in relation to social factors. In the original group, two adult males learned to open the boxes, with one male increasingly preventing the other from approaching. In the second group, with the subordinate male and certain females removed, the dominant male tolerated successful performances by a juvenile female. Group 3 consisted of three passive female participants from the original group and a naive female; one of the three original females now became the sole box-opener. The introduction of the subordinate male from the original group into the all-female group led to a sharing of box-opening by this subject and the skilled female. In the final group, intense aggression toward the skilled female by a new, naive adult male resulted in two previously passive females succeeding on some occasions. In lemurs, at least some `scroungers' appear able to learn to perform a new act when the social context permits.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 576
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Author Nicol, C.J.
Title The social transmission of information and behaviour Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 44 Issue 2-4 Pages 79-98
Keywords Social learning; Imitation; Social facilitation; Cultural transmission; Stereotypies
Abstract Social influences on established behaviour and on the acquisition of new information and behaviour are reviewed. Distinctions between social facilitation and contagious behaviour are drawn and suggestions for further research on contagious behaviour are made. Socially derived visual, olfactory and auditory cues are considered as important influences on behaviour and subsequent learning. The evidence supporting two potential mechanisms of social learning, i.e. stimulus enhancement followed by individual learning, and imitation, is reviewed in detail. It is argued that the functions of social learning are similarly heterogeneous and include motor skill acquisition, gathering of environmental information, and social conformity. Factors affecting the spread of socially acquired skills, including the social relationship between demonstrator and observer, are highlighted. Lastly, the few studies of social learning that have been conducted with domestic species are reviewed and potential applied goals that could stimulate further research in this area are suggested.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 577
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Author Galef,, Bennett G.
Title Why behaviour patterns that animals learn socially are locally adaptive Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 49 Issue 5 Pages 1325-1334
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Abstract Recent models of the social transmission of behaviour by animals have repeatedly led their authors to the counterintuitive (and counterfactual) conclusion that traditional behaviour patterns in animals are often not locally adaptive. This deduction results from the assumption in such models that frequency of expression of socially learned behaviour patterns is not affected by rewards or punishments contingent upon their expression. An alternative approach to analysis of social learning processes, based on Staddon-Simmelhag's conditioning model, is proposed here. It is assumed that social interactions affect the probability of introduction of novel behaviour patterns into a naive individual's repertoire and that consequences of engaging in a socially learned behaviour determine whether that behaviour continues to be expressed. Review of several recently analysed instances of animal social learning suggests that distinguishing processes that introduce behaviour patterns into the repertoires of individuals from processes that select among behavioural alternatives aids in understanding observed differences in the longevity of various traditional behaviour patterns studied in both laboratory and field. Finally, implications of the present approach for understanding the role of social learning in evolutionary process are discussed.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 578
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Author Pepperberg, I.M.
Title In search of king Solomon's ring: cognitive and communicative studies of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol
Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 54-67
Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; Attention/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Cues; Form Perception/physiology; Humans; Intelligence; Learning/physiology; Male; Models, Psychological; Parrots/*physiology; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Reward; Social Behavior
Abstract During the past 24 years, I have used a modeling technique (M/R procedure) to train Grey parrots to use an allospecific code (English speech) referentially; I then use the code to test their cognitive abilities. The oldest bird, Alex, labels more than 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities to 6, 3 categories (color, shape, material) and uses 'no', 'come here', wanna go X' and 'want Y' (X and Y are appropriate location or item labels). He combines labels to identify, request, comment upon or refuse more than 100 items and to alter his environment. He processes queries to judge category, relative size, quantity, presence or absence of similarity/difference in attributes, and show label comprehension. He semantically separates labeling from requesting. He thus exhibits capacities once presumed limited to humans or nonhuman primates. Studies on this and other Greys show that parrots given training that lacks some aspect of input present in M/R protocols (reference, functionality, social interaction) fail to acquire referential English speech. Examining how input affects the extent to which parrots acquire an allospecific code may elucidate mechanisms of other forms of exceptional learning: learning unlikely in the normal course of development but that can occur under certain conditions.
Address The MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12097860 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 579
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Author Pepperberg, I.M.
Title Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Current Directions in Psychological Science Abbreviated Journal Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci.
Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages 83-87
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Abstract Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) solve various cognitive tasks and acquire and use English speech in ways that often resemble those of very young children. Given that the psittacine brain is organized very differently from that of mammals, these results have intriguing implications for the study and evolution of vocal learning, communication, and cognition.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 580
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