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Author |
Ahrendt, L.P.; Labouriau, R.; Malmkvist, J.; Nicol, C.J.; Christensen, J.W. |
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Title |
Development of a standard test to assess negative reinforcement learning in horses |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
169 |
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38-42 |
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Algometry; Horse behaviour; Learning performance; Operant conditioning; Pressure-release; Horse training |
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Abstract |
Most horses are trained by negative reinforcement. Currently, however, no standardised test for evaluating horses' negative reinforcement learning ability is available. The aim of this study was to develop an objective test to investigate negative reinforcement learning in horses. Twenty-four Icelandic horses (3 years old) were included in this study. The horses were tested in a pressure-release task on three separate days with 10, 7 and 5 trials on each side, respectively. Each trial consisted of pressure being applied on the hindquarter with an algometer. The force of the pressure was increased until the horse moved laterally away from the point of pressure. There was a significant decrease in required force over trials on the first test day (P<0.001), but not the second and third day. The intercepts on days 2 and 3 differed significantly from day 1 (P<0.001), but not each other. Significantly stronger force was required on the right side compared to the left (P<0.001), but there was no difference between first and second side tested (P=0.56). Individual performance was evaluated by median-force and the change in force over trials on the first test day. These two measures may explain different characteristics of negative reinforcement learning. In conclusion, this study presents a novel, standardised test for evaluating negative reinforcement learning ability in horses. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6650 |
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Author |
Hagen, K.; Broom, D.M. |
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Title |
Emotional reactions to learning in cattle |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
85 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
203-213 |
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Cattle; Expressive behaviour; Operant learning; Reinforcer |
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It has been suggested that during instrumental learning, animals are likely to react emotionally to the reinforcer. They may in addition react emotionally to their own achievements. These reactions are of interest with regard to the animals' capacity for self-awareness. Therefore, we devised a yoked control experiment involving the acquisition of an operant task. We aimed to identify the emotional reactions of young cattle to their own learning and to separate these from reactions to a food reward. Twelve Holstein-Friesian heifers aged 7-12 months were divided into two groups. Heifers in the experimental group were conditioned over a 14-day period to press a panel in order to open a gate for access to a food reward. For heifers in the control group, the gate opened after a delay equal to their matched partner's latency to open it. To allow for observation of the heifers' movements during locomotion after the gate had opened, there was a 15m distance in the form of a race from the gate to the food trough. The heart rate of the heifers, and their behaviour when moving along the race towards the food reward were measured. When experimental heifers made clear improvements in learning, they were more likely than on other occasions to have higher heart rates and tended to move more vigorously along the race in comparison with their controls. This experiment found some, albeit inconclusive, indication that cattle may react emotionally to their own learning improvement. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6551 |
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Langbein, J.; Nurnberg, G.; Puppe, B.; Manteuffel, G. |
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Title |
Self-Controlled Visual Discrimination Learning of Group-Housed Dwarf Goats (Capra hircus): Behavioral Strategies and Effects of Relocation on Learning and Memory |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
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Journal of Comparative Psychology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Comp. Psychol. |
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120 |
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1 |
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58-66 |
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dwarf goats; visual discrimination; operant learning; learning strategies; context |
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In most studies on animal learning, individual animals are tested separately in a specific learning environment and with a limited number of trials per day. An alternative approach is to test animals in a familiar environment in their social group. In this study, the authors--applying a fully automated learning device--investigated voluntary, self-controlled visual shape discrimination learning of group-housed dwarf goats (Capra hircus). The majority of the tested goats showed successful shape discrimination, which indicates the adaptive value of an effective learning strategy. However, in each group, a few individual goats developed behavioral strategies different from shape discrimination to get reward. Relocation impairs memory retrieval (probably by attention shifting) only temporarily for previously learnt shapes. The results demonstrate the usefulness of a self-controlled learning paradigm to assess learning abilities of social species in their normal social settings. This may be especially relevant for captive animals to improve their welfare. |
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2140 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
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Title |
Mental time travel in animals: a challenging question |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
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72 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
173-183 |
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Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Concept Formation; Conditioning, Operant; *Imagination; *Memory; Mental Recall; Planning Techniques; Rats; *Time Perception; Transfer (Psychology) |
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Humans have the ability to mentally recreate past events (using episodic memory) and imagine future events (by planning). The best evidence for such mental time travel is personal and thus subjective. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to study such behavior in animals. There is some indirect evidence, however, that animals have both episodic memory and the ability to plan for the future. When unexpectedly asked to do so, animals can report about their recent past experiences (episodic memory) and they also appear to be able to use the anticipation of a future event as the basis for a present action (planning). Thus, the ability to imagine past and future events may not be uniquely human. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
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0376-6357 |
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PMID:16466863 |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
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218 |
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Author |
Cavoto, K.K.; Cook, R.G. |
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Title |
Cognitive precedence for local information in hierarchical stimulus processing by pigeons |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
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Volume |
27 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
3-16 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; *Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Male |
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Abstract |
Four experiments investigated the processing of hierarchical stimuli by pigeons. Using a 4 alternative divided-attention task, 4 pigeons were food-reinforced for accurately identifying letters arranged as either hierarchical global- or local-relevant stimuli or as size-matched filled stimuli. Experiment 1 found that task acquisition was faster with local-relevant than global-relevant stimuli. This difference was not due to letter size. Experiment 2 demonstrated successful transfer to a novel irrelevant letter configuration. Experiments 3 and 4 tested pigeons' responses to conflict probe stimuli composed of equally discriminable relevant letters at each level. These tests revealed that all of the pigeons showed a cognitive precedence for local information early in processing, with the pigeons using different cues to initiate the processing of global information. This local advantage contrasts with previously reported results for humans and pigeons but is similar to that reported for nonhuman primates. Alternatives attempting to reconcile these contrasting comparative results are considered. |
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Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:11199512 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2773 |
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Author |
Rudy, J.W.; Iwens, J.; Best, P.J. |
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Title |
Pairing novel exteroceptive cues and illness reduces illness-induced taste aversions |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1977 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
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3 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
14-25 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Association; *Avoidance Learning; Awareness; Conditioning, Operant; *Cues; Drinking Behavior; Environment; Inhibition (Psychology); Lithium/poisoning; Male; Rats; Saccharin/pharmacology; *Taste |
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Four experiments are reported that lead to the conclusion that pairing novel exteroceptive stimulation (placement into a black compartment) with a poison (lithium chloride) attenuates the development of an aversion to a taste (saccharin) subsequently paired with the poison. Such an attenuation effect occurs whether the exteroceptive cues are present or absent when the taste-poison pairing is administered. Interpretation and implications of this finding are discussed. |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:845542 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2789 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R.; Kaiser, D.H.; Clement, T.S.; Weaver, J.E.; Campbell, G. |
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Title |
Presence/absence-sample matching by pigeons: divergent retention functions may result from the similarity of behavior during the absence sample and the retention interval |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2000 |
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Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
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26 |
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3 |
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294-304 |
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Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; *Columbidae; *Conditioning, Operant; Cues |
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Divergent choose-absence retention functions typically found in pigeons following presence/absence-sample matching have been attributed to the development of a single-code/default coding strategy. However, such effects may result from adventitious differential responding to the samples. In Experiment 1, retention functions were divergent only when differential sample responding could serve as the basis for comparison choice. In Experiment 2, when pecking did not occur during the retention interval, a choose-absence bias was found, but when pecking occurred during the retention interval, a choose-presence bias resulted. In Experiment 3, positive transfer was found when a stimulus associated with the absence of pecking replaced the absence sample but not when a stimulus associated with pecking replaced the presence sample. Thus, presence/absence-sample matching may not encourage the development of a single-code/default coding strategy in pigeons. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506, USA. zentall@pop.uky.edu |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:10913994 |
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refbase @ user @ |
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247 |
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Author |
Neuringer, A. |
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Title |
Reinforced variability in animals and people: implications for adaptive action |
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Journal Article |
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2004 |
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The American Psychologist |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am Psychol |
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59 |
Issue |
9 |
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891-906 |
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Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Conditioning, Operant; Creativeness; Discrimination (Psychology); Humans; Memory; Problem Solving; *Reinforcement (Psychology) |
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Although reinforcement often leads to repetitive, even stereotyped responding, that is not a necessary outcome. When it depends on variations, reinforcement results in responding that is diverse, novel, indeed unpredictable, with distributions sometimes approaching those of a random process. This article reviews evidence for the powerful and precise control by reinforcement over behavioral variability, evidence obtained from human and animal-model studies, and implications of such control. For example, reinforcement of variability facilitates learning of complex new responses, aids problem solving, and may contribute to creativity. Depression and autism are characterized by abnormally repetitive behaviors, but individuals afflicted with such psychopathologies can learn to vary their behaviors when reinforced for so doing. And reinforced variability may help to solve a basic puzzle concerning the nature of voluntary action. |
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Department of Psychology, Reed College, Portland, OR 97202, USA. allen.neuringer@reed.edu |
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0003-066X |
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PMID:15584823 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4106 |
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Author |
Søndergaard, E.; Jensen, M.B.; Nicol, C.J. |
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Title |
Motivation for social contact in horses measured by operant conditioning |
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Journal Article |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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In Press, Corrected Proof |
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Horse; Housing; Social behaviour; Operant conditioning; Motivation |
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Although horses are social animals they are often housed individually with limited social contact to other horses and this may compromise their welfare. The present study included eight young female horses and investigated the strength of motivation for access to full social contact, head contact and muzzle contact, respectively, to a familiar companion horse. Horses were housed individually next to their companion horse and separations between pens prevented physical contact. During daily test sessions horses were brought to a test area where they could access an arena allowing social contact. Arena access during 3 min was given after completion of a predetermined number of responses on a panel. Fixed ratios (FR) of 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40 responses per arena access were applied in a random order, one per daily test session, within each test week (Monday to Friday), and the number of rewards per daily test session was recorded. All horses could access all three types of social contact in a cross-over design, and an empty arena was used as control. Motivational strength was assessed using elasticity of demand functions, which were estimated based on the number of rewards earned and FR. Elasticities of demand for the three types of social contact were low (-0.20), and not significantly different, although increasing FR still resulted in a decrease in rewards obtained for all three types of social contact (P < 0.001). Across FR-levels horses earned more rewards for social contact than for an empty arena, as shown by much higher intercept values (2.51 vs. 0.99; P < 0.001). However, the elasticity of demand for infrequent access to an empty arena (-0.08) was lower than for social contact (P < 0.01) and not significantly different from zero (P = 0.07). Horses performed more social behaviour the lesser the restriction on social contact (full > head > muzzle). However, the finding that horses showed a similar and high motivation for all three types of social contact suggests that they are valued equally highly in a situation where the alternative is no social contact. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5388 |
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Author |
Søndergaard, E.; Jensen, M.B.; Nicol, C.J. |
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Motivation for social contact in horses measured by operant conditioning |
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Journal Article |
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2011 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
132 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
131-137 |
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Horse; Housing; Social behaviour; Operant conditioning; Motivation |
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Abstract |
Although horses are social animals they are often housed individually with limited social contact to other horses and this may compromise their welfare. The present study included eight young female horses and investigated the strength of motivation for access to full social contact, head contact and muzzle contact, respectively, to a familiar companion horse. Horses were housed individually next to their companion horse and separations between pens prevented physical contact. During daily test sessions horses were brought to a test area where they could access an arena allowing social contact. Arena access during 3 min was given after completion of a predetermined number of responses on a panel. Fixed ratios (FR) of 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40 responses per arena access were applied in a random order, one per daily test session, within each test week (Monday to Friday), and the number of rewards per daily test session was recorded. All horses could access all three types of social contact in a cross-over design, and an empty arena was used as control. Motivational strength was assessed using elasticity of demand functions, which were estimated based on the number of rewards earned and FR. Elasticities of demand for the three types of social contact were low (-0.20), and not significantly different, although increasing FR still resulted in a decrease in rewards obtained for all three types of social contact (P < 0.001). Across FR-levels horses earned more rewards for social contact than for an empty arena, as shown by much higher intercept values (2.51 vs. 0.99; P < 0.001). However, the elasticity of demand for infrequent access to an empty arena (-0.08) was lower than for social contact (P < 0.01) and not significantly different from zero (P = 0.07). Horses performed more social behaviour the lesser the restriction on social contact (full > head > muzzle). However, the finding that horses showed a similar and high motivation for all three types of social contact suggests that they are valued equally highly in a situation where the alternative is no social contact. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5410 |
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