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Author Dunbar, Robin I. M. doi  openurl
  Title The social brain hypothesis Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews Abbreviated Journal Evol. Anthropol.  
  Volume 6 Issue 5 Pages 178-190  
  Keywords brain size – neocortex – social brain hypothesis – social skills – mind reading – primates  
  Abstract (up) Conventional wisdom over the past 160 years in the cognitive and neurosciences has assumed that brains evolved to process factual information about the world. Most attention has therefore been focused on such features as pattern recognition, color vision, and speech perception. By extension, it was assumed that brains evolved to deal with essentially ecological problem-solving tasks. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.  
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  Notes Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioural Ecology at the University of Liverpool, England. His research primarily focuses on the behavioral ecology of ungulates and human and nonhuman primates, and on the cognitive mechanisms and brain components that underpin the decisions that animals make. He runs a large research group, with graduate students working on many different species on four continents. Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4371  
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Author Reader, S.M.; Laland, K.N. doi  openurl
  Title Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  
  Volume 99 Issue 7 Pages 4436-4441  
  Keywords Animals; Brain/*anatomy & histology; Evolution; *Intelligence; Learning; Primates/*anatomy & histology/*psychology; Social Behavior  
  Abstract (up) Despite considerable current interest in the evolution of intelligence, the intuitively appealing notion that brain volume and “intelligence” are linked remains untested. Here, we use ecologically relevant measures of cognitive ability, the reported incidence of behavioral innovation, social learning, and tool use, to show that brain size and cognitive capacity are indeed correlated. A comparative analysis of 533 instances of innovation, 445 observations of social learning, and 607 episodes of tool use established that social learning, innovation, and tool use frequencies are positively correlated with species' relative and absolute “executive” brain volumes, after controlling for phylogeny and research effort. Moreover, innovation and social learning frequencies covary across species, in conflict with the view that there is an evolutionary tradeoff between reliance on individual experience and social cues. These findings provide an empirical link between behavioral innovation, social learning capacities, and brain size in mammals. The ability to learn from others, invent new behaviors, and use tools may have played pivotal roles in primate brain evolution.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, High Street, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, United Kingdom  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0027-8424 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11891325 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2149  
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Author Kendrick, K.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Intelligent perception Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 57 Issue 3-4 Pages 213-231  
  Keywords Intelligent perception; Environmental changes; Primates  
  Abstract (up) For an animal from any species to exhibit intelligent perception it must be capable of being consciously aware of what it perceives and capable of learning from this experience. Although many organisms, and for that matter machines, are capable of rapid adaptive learning in response to perception of environmental changes, such adaptations can occur without them being consciously aware either of external stimuli or their response to them. While behavioural and neurophysiological evidence suggests that, apart from ourselves, other higher primates must also be capable of such awareness, an important central question is whether such awareness is a characteristic of primate evolution or if it also occurs in sub-primate mammals as well. In this review I will examine our behavioural and neurophysiological evidence from visual and olfactory recognition studies in the sheep to support the argument that they are likely to be aware of and learn about both social and non-social objects and that they are therefore capable of intelligent perception. However, the impact of motivational changes on these perceptual processes suggests that they may be limited in terms of both prospection and retrospection and dealing with symbolic associations.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 796  
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Author Boyd, R.; Richerson, P.J. url  openurl
  Title Why Culture is Common, but Cultural Evolution is Rare Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication Proceedings of the British Academy Abbreviated Journal Proc Br Acad  
  Volume 88 Issue Pages 73-93  
  Keywords cultural distributed evolution primates  
  Abstract (up) If culture is defined as variation acquired and maintained by social learning, then culture is common in nature. However, cumulative cultural evolution resulting in behaviors that no individual could invent on their own is limited to humans, song birds, and perhaps chimpanzees. Circumstantial evidence suggests that cumulative cultural evolution requires the capacity for observational learning. Here, we analyze two models the evolution of psychological capacities that allow cumulative cultural evolution. Both models suggest that the conditions which allow the evolution of such capacities when rare are much more stringent than the conditions which allow the maintenance of the capacities when common. This result follows from the fact that the assumed benefit of the capacities, cumulative cultural adaptation, cannot occur when the capacities are rare. These results suggest why such capacities may be rare in nature.  
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  Publisher Royal Society/British Academy Place of Publication Editor  
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  Notes http://www.proc.britac.ac.uk/cgi-bin/somsid.cgi?page=summaries/pba88#boyd Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4195  
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Author Pelé, M.; Sueur, C. url  doi
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  Title Decision-making theories: linking the disparate research areas of individual and collective cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2013 Publication Abbreviated Journal Animal Cognition  
  Volume 16 Issue 4 Pages 543-556  
  Keywords Optimality; Primates; Insects; Diffusion Model; Delay; Risk; Speed-accuracy; Trade-off  
  Abstract (up) In order to maximize their fitness, animals have to deal with different environmental and social factors that affect their everyday life. Although the way an animal behaves might enhance its fitness or survival in regard to one factor, it could compromise them regarding another. In the domain of decision sciences, research concerning decision making focuses on performances at the individual level but also at the collective one. However, between individual and collective decision making, different terms are used resulting in little or no connection between both research areas. In this paper, we reviewed how different branches of decision sciences study the same concept, mainly called speed-accuracy trade-off, and how the different results are on the same track in terms of showing the optimality of decisions. Whatever the level, individual or collective, each decision might be defined with three parameters: time or delay to decide, risk and accuracy. We strongly believe that more progress would be possible in this domain of research if these different branches were better linked, with an exchange of their results and theories. A growing amount of literature describes economics in humans and eco-ethology in birds making compromises between starvation, predation and reproduction. Numerous studies have been carried out on social cognition in primates but also birds and carnivores, and other publications describe market or reciprocal exchanges of commodities. We therefore hope that this paper will lead these different areas to a common decision science.  
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  Publisher Springer-Verlag Place of Publication Editor  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5692  
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Author Meunier, H.; Leca, J.B.; Deneubourg, J.L.; Petit, O. doi  openurl
  Title Group movement decisions in capuchin monkeys: the utility of an experimental study and a mathematical model to explore the relationship between individual and collective behaviours Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 143 Issue Pages 1511-1527  
  Keywords animal society – collective decision-making – primates – group movement – mathematical modeling  
  Abstract (up) In primate groups, collective movements are typically described as processes dependent on leadership mechanisms. However, in some species, decision-making includes negotiations and distributed leadership. These facts suggest that simple underlying processes may explain certain decision mechanisms during collective movements. To study such processes, we have designed experiments on white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) during which we provoked collective movements involving a binary choice. These experiments enabled us to analyse the spatial decisions of individuals in the group. We found that the underlying process includes anonymous mimetism, which means that each individual may influence all members of the group. To support this result, we created a mathematical model issued from our experimental data. A totally anonymous model does not fit perfectly with our experimental distribution. A more individualised model, which takes into account the specific behaviour of social peripheral individuals, revealed the validity of the mimetism hypothesis. Even though white-faced capuchins have complex cognitive abilities, a coexistence of anonymous and social mechanisms appears to influence their choice of direction during collective movements. The present approach may offer vital insights into the relationships between individual behaviours and their emergent collective acts.  
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  Call Number Serial 2066  
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Author de Waal, F.B. openurl 
  Title The integration of dominance and social bonding in primates Type Journal Article
  Year 1986 Publication The Quarterly review of biology Abbreviated Journal Q Rev Biol  
  Volume 61 Issue 4 Pages 459-479  
  Keywords Animals; Female; Humans; Male; *Object Attachment; *Primates; *Social Dominance  
  Abstract (up) Social dominance is usually viewed from the perspective of intragroup competition over access to limited resources. The present paper, while not denying the importance of such competition, discusses the dominance concept among monkeys and apes in the context of affiliative bonding, social tolerance, and the reconciliation of aggressive conflicts. Two basic proximate mechanisms are supposed to provide a link between dominance and interindividual affiliation, namely, formalization of the dominance relationship (i.e., unequivocal communication of status), and conditional reassurance (i.e., the linkage of friendly coexistence to formalization of the relationship). Ritualized submission is imposed upon losers of dominance struggles by winners; losers are offered a “choice” between continued hostility or a tolerant relationship with a clearly signalled difference in status. If these two social mechanisms are lacking, aggression is bound to have dispersive effects. In their presence, aggression becomes a well-integrated, even constructive component of social life. In some higher primates this process of integration has reached the stage where status differences are strongly attenuated. In these species, sharing and trading can take the place of overt competition. The views underlying this “reconciled hierarchy” model are only partly new, as is evident from a review of the ethological literature. Many points are illustrated with data on a large semi-captive colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), particularly data related to striving for status, reconciliation behavior, and general association patterns. These observations demonstrate that relationships among adult male chimpanzees cannot be described in terms of a dichotomy between affiliative and antagonistic tendencies. Male bonding in this species has not been achieved by an elimination of aggression, but by a set of powerful buffering mechanisms that mitigate its effects. Although female chimpanzees do exhibit a potential for bonding under noncompetitive conditions, they appear to lack the buffering mechanisms of the males.  
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  ISSN 0033-5770 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:3543991 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 210  
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Author Joffe, T.H.; Dunbar, R.I. doi  openurl
  Title Visual and socio-cognitive information processing in primate brain evolution Type Journal Article
  Year 1997 Publication Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 264 Issue 1386 Pages 1303-1307  
  Keywords Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; *Evolution; Geniculate Bodies/anatomy & histology/physiology; Humans; Mental Processes/physiology; Neocortex/physiology; Primates/anatomy & histology/*physiology/*psychology; *Social Behavior; Visual Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology  
  Abstract (up) Social group size has been shown to correlate with neocortex size in primates. Here we use comparative analyses to show that social group size is independently correlated with the size of non-V1 neocortical areas, but not with other more proximate components of the visual system or with brain systems associated with emotional cueing (e.g. the amygdala). We argue that visual brain components serve as a social information 'input device' for socio-visual stimuli such as facial expressions, bodily gestures and visual status markers, while the non-visual neocortex serves as a 'processing device' whereby these social cues are encoded, interpreted and associated with stored information. However, the second appears to have greater overall importance because the size of the V1 visual area appears to reach an asymptotic size beyond which visual acuity and pattern recognition may not improve significantly. This is especially true of the great ape clade (including humans), that is known to use more sophisticated social cognitive strategies.  
  Address School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0962-8452 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:9332015 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2095  
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Author Hoff, M.P.; Powell, D.M.; Lukas, K.E.; Maple, T.L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Individual and social behavior of lowland gorillas in outdoor exhibits compared with indoor holding areas Type Journal Article
  Year 1997 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 54 Issue 4 Pages 359-370  
  Keywords Behavior; Agonistic behavior; Spatial distribution; Primates; Social behavior; Housing; Zoo animals; Gorilla  
  Abstract (up) The behavior of nine lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) living in three social groups at Zoo Atlanta was compared in an indoor holding area versus an outdoor exhibit. Focal animal data were collected for each animal during 15 min observation sessions, alternating between indoors and outdoors. A variety of solitary and social behaviors differed in the two conditions. All individual and social behaviors that showed a difference, except eating, occurred more indoors than outdoors. These included aggressive displays, reclining, self manipulation, and social examination of others. Additionally, the gorillas spent more time closer together in the indoor condition. A variety of other behaviors measured did not change between the two environments. There was a clear effect on behavior of the different housing conditions in which the gorillas were kept. It is suggested that the differences in aggressive behavior may be related to environmental complexity. It is further suggested that zoos should be aware that differences in behavior reported by caretaking staff, researchers and visitors may be a reflection of the differing environmental circumstances in which the animals are observed.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2143  
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Author Barrett, L.; Henzi, P. doi  openurl
  Title The social nature of primate cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 272 Issue 1575 Pages 1865-1875  
  Keywords Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; *Evolution; Intelligence/*physiology; Primates/*physiology; *Social Behavior  
  Abstract (up) The hypothesis that the enlarged brain size of the primates was selected for by social, rather than purely ecological, factors has been strongly influential in studies of primate cognition and behaviour over the past two decades. However, the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis, also known as the social brain hypothesis, tends to emphasize certain traits and behaviours, like exploitation and deception, at the expense of others, such as tolerance and behavioural coordination, and therefore presents only one view of how social life may shape cognition. This review outlines work from other relevant disciplines, including evolutionary economics, cognitive science and neurophysiology, to illustrate how these can be used to build a more general theoretical framework, incorporating notions of embodied and distributed cognition, in which to situate questions concerning the evolution of primate social cognition.  
  Address School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK. louiseb@liv.ac.uk  
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  ISSN 0962-8452 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16191591 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2086  
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