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Author Allen, C.
Title Assessing animal cognition: ethological and philosophical perspectives Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Journal of Animal Science Abbreviated Journal J. Anim Sci.
Volume 76 Issue 1 Pages 42-47
Keywords Agriculture; Animal Welfare; Animals; Animals, Domestic/physiology/*psychology; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; *Ethology; *Philosophy; Research
Abstract (down) Developments in the scientific and philosophical study of animal cognition and mentality are of great importance to animal scientists who face continued public scrutiny of the treatment of animals in research and agriculture. Because beliefs about animal minds, animal cognition, and animal consciousness underlie many people's views about the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, it has become increasingly difficult for animal scientists to avoid these issues. Animal scientists may learn from ethologists who study animal cognition and mentality from an evolutionary and comparative perspective and who are at the forefront of the development of naturalistic and laboratory techniques of observation and experimentation that are capable of revealing the cognitive and mental properties of nonhuman animals. Despite growing acceptance of the ethological study of animal cognition, there are critics who dispute the scientific validity of the field, especially when the topic is animal consciousness. Here, a proper understanding of developments in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science can help to place cognitive studies on a firm methodological and philosophical foundation. Ultimately, this is an interdisciplinary task, involving scientists and philosophers. Animal scientists are well-positioned to contribute to the study of animal cognition because they typically have access to a large pool of potential research subjects whose habitats are more controlled than in most field studies while being more natural than most laboratory psychology experiments. Despite some formidable questions remaining for analysis, the prospects for progress in assessing animal cognition are bright.
Address Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843-4237, 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 0021-8812 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:9464883 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2750
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Cognition, Evolution and Behaviour Type Book Whole
Year 1998 Publication Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages
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Abstract (down) Description

How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember, search for food or mates, and find their way around? Do any non-human animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or think as we do? What use is cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? Historically, research on such questions has been fragmented between psychology, where the emphasis has been on theoretical models and lab experiments, and biology, where studies focus on evolution and the adaptive use of perception, learning, and decision-making in the field.

Cognition, Evolution and the Study of Behavior integrates research from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology in a wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research about animal cognition in the broadest sense, from species-specific adaptations in fish to cognitive mapping in rats and honeybees to theories of mind for chimpanzees. As a major contribution to the emerging discipline of comparative cognition, the book is an invaluable resource for all students and researchers in psychology, zoology, behavioral neuroscience. It will also interest general readers curious about the details of how and why animals--including humans--process, retain, and use information as they do.

Reviews

“This book is a very comprehensive review of animal cognition. It differs from other texts on this topic in a number of ways, as outlined by Shettleworth in her preface and in the opening chapter. Essentially, Shettleworth wants to advocate an 'adaptationist or ecological approach to cognition'. In doing so, she brings together a wealth of data on animal cognition, studied from quite different theoretical viewpoints, such as cognitive ethology, animal learning theory, neuroscience, behavioural ecology and cognitive psychology. . . . Each chapter ends with a clear and useful summary, and helpful suggestions for further reading. The book's numerous illustrations, which are mostly tables or figures redrawn by Margaret Nelson, greatly add to its appeal. . . . [T]his is a marvellously rich, well-written and stimulating book. . . . I greatly enjoyed reading [and] recommend it highly to anyone interested in animal cognition, evolution and behaviour.”--Animal Behaviour

“Sara Shettleworth has probably written the most comprehensive study of the animal mind ever and therefore a fundamental textbook on 'comparative cognition'. She first gets consciousness out of the way: whether an animal is conscious or not is impossible to determine, since consciousness is a private, subjective phenomenon. We can study cognition, and certainly cognition lends credibility to the idea that at least some animals must be at least to some degree conscious, but experiments can only prove facts about cognition. She reviews the field of cognitive ethology from the beginning and then analyzes the main cognitive tasks from an information-processing perspective By the end of her review of cognitive faculties, it become apparent that, at least among vertebrates, there are no significant differences in learning, except for language. All vertebrates are capable of 'associative' learning What no other vertebrate seems to be capable of is 'syntax'.” -- Piero Scaruffi, Thymos.com
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Oxford University Press Place of Publication Oxford Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 9780195110487 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4712
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Author Hopkins, W.D.; Parr, L.A.
Title Lateralized behavior and lymphocyte counts in chimpanzees (pan troglodytes): A cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Developmental Neuropsychology Abbreviated Journal Developmental Neuropsychology
Volume 14 Issue 4 Pages 519-533
Keywords
Abstract (down) Cross?sectional and longitudinal assessment of lymphocyte count and behavioral laterality was examined in a sample of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to assess the validity of the Geschwind?Behan?Galaburda (GBG) theory of cerebral lateralization. For the cross?sectional analysis, chimpanzees classified as right?handed for feeding exhibited lower lymphocyte counts than chimpanzees classified as either ambiguously handed or left?handed. Longitudinal analysis indicated that some measures of laterality within the first 3 months of life predicted (a) direction of hand preference at 2 to 5 years of age and (b) lymphocyte counts for the first 3 years of life. The association between lymphocyte count and behavioral laterality was more evident in males than females. Taken together, the results support some aspects of the GBG theory.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Routledge Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 8756-5641 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes doi: 10.1080/87565649809540726 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5780
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Author McGreevy, P.D.; Nicol, C.J.
Title Prevention of crib-biting: a review Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Equine veterinary journal. Supplement Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J Suppl
Volume Issue 27 Pages 35-38
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Horse Diseases/*prevention & control/psychology; Horses; *Stereotyped Behavior
Abstract (down) Crib-biting is a common oral stereotype. Because of perceived deleterious effects on the health and appearance of subjects the prevention of crib-biting is regularly attempted. The resourcefulness of horses in satisfying their motivation to perform this behaviour often frustrates owners' efforts at prevention. This paper reviews the efficacy and observable consequences of attempting to prevent crib-biting by a variety of methods. These include attempts to prevent the grasping of objects, to interfere with air-engulfing and to introduce punishment for grasping and neck-flexion. Other approaches include the use of surgery, acupuncture, pharmaceuticals, operant feeding and environmental enrichment. A remedy that is effective for every crib-biter remains elusive. We conclude that, rather than concentrating on remedial prevention, further research should be directed at establishing why horses crib-bite and how the emergence of crib-biting can be avoided.
Address Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, UK
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
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Notes PMID:10485002 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 87
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Author Dunbar, Robin I. M.
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 (down) 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.
Address
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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 Lomas, C.A.; Piggins, D.; Phillips, C.J.C.
Title Visual awareness Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 57 Issue 3-4 Pages 247-257
Keywords Visual awareness; Colour vision; Rhythm
Abstract (down) Awareness varies between different species and humans can never truly appreciate what it is like to be another individual, either of the same species or another. Visual perceptual faculties provide some evidence of the extent to which domesticated animals derive information from objects in their environment, whilst changes in behaviour resulting from different visual stimuli can also provide valuable information on the state of visual awareness. Extensive processing of potentially visual information must occur in all domesticated species, but is much less well understood than purely sensory based information. For example, sensory aspects of colour vision are reasonably well understood, but the role of wavelength variables in an animal's cognition and its colour experience is not clear. Considerable use is made of diurnal changes in photoperiod to synchronise endogenous rhythms to particular times of the day and the year. Variation in light intensity in natural images is also important for social reasons for animals to be able to discriminate between, e.g., different faces, but little is known about intensity preferences or the effects of intensity on behaviour. It appears likely that in many cases visual stimuli represent some of the most important influences on an animal's awareness, either alone or in combination with, e.g., olfactory cues. However, a much greater understanding of their processing is required before we can make useful deductions about visual awareness in domesticated animals.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4309
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Author Astié, A.A.; Kacelnik, A.; Reboreda, J.C.
Title Sexual differences in memory in shiny cowbirds Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages 77-82
Keywords
Abstract (down) Avian brood parasites depend on other species, the hosts, to raise their offspring. During the breeding season, parasitic cowbirds (Molothrus sp.) search for potential host nests to which they return for laying a few days after first locating them. Parasitic cowbirds have a larger hippocampus/telencephalon volume than non-parasitic species; this volume is larger in the sex involved in nest searching (females) and it is also larger in the breeding than in the non-breeding season. In nature, female shiny cowbirds Molothrus bonariensis search for nests without the male's assistance. Here we test whether, in association with these neuroanatomical and behavioural differences, shiny cowbirds display sexual differences in a memory task in the laboratory. We used a task consisting of finding food whose location was indicated either by the appearance or the location of a covering disk. Females learnt to retrieve food faster than males when food was associated with appearance cues, but we found no sexual differences when food was associated with a specific location. Our results are consistent with the view that parasitism and its neuroanatomical correlates affect performance in memory tasks, but the effects we found were not in the expected direction, emphasising that the nature of avian hippocampal function and its sexual differences are not yet understood.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3158
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Author Carpenter, M.; Nagell, K.; Tomasello, M.; Butterworth, G.; Moore, C.
Title Social Cognition, Joint Attention, and Communicative Competence from 9 to 15 Months of Age Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development Abbreviated Journal Monogr Soc Res Child Dev
Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 1-174
Keywords
Abstract (down) At around 1 year of age, human infants display a number of new behaviors that seem to indicate a newly emerging understanding of other persons as intentional beings whose attention to outside objects may be shared, followed into, and directed in various ways. These behaviors have mostly been studied separately. In the current study, we investigated the most important of these behaviors together as they emerged in a single group of 24 infants between 9 and 15 months of age. At each of seven monthly visits, we measured joint attentional engagement, gaze and point following, imitation of two different kinds of actions on objects, imperative and declarative gestures, and comprehension and production of language. We also measured several nonsocial-cognitive skills as a point of comparison. We report two studies. The focus of the first study was the initial emergence of infants' social-cognitive skills and how these skills are related to one another developmentally. We found a reliable pattern of emergence: Infants progressed from sharing to following to directing others' attention and behavior. The nonsocial skills did not emerge predictably in this developmental sequence. Furthermore, correlational analyses showed that the ages of emergence of all pairs of the social-cognitive skills or their components were interrelated. The focus of the second study was the social interaction of infants and their mothers, especially with regard to their skills of joint attentional engagement (including mothers' use of language to follow into or direct infants' attention) and how these skills related to infants' early communicative competence. Our measures of communicative competence included not only language production, as in previous studies, but also language comprehension and gesture production. It was found that two measures-the amount of time infants spent in joint engagement with their mothers and the degree to which mothers used language that followed into their infant's focus of attention-predicted infants' earliest skills of gestural and linguistic communication. Results of the two studies are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of social-cognitive development, for theories of language development, and for theories of the process by means of which human children become fully participating members of the cultural activities and processes into which they are born.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 3997
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Author Karavanich, C.; Atema, J.
Title Individual recognition and memory in lobster dominance Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 56 Issue 6 Pages 1553-1560
Keywords
Abstract (down) American lobsters,Homarus americanus, form stable dominance relationships in captivity. Size, sex and stage in the moult cycle are important determinants for dominance. Other factors, such as recent agonistic experience play a role. This paper investigates how lobsters maintain their stable dominance relationships: they may recognize individuals or alternatively, recognize overall dominance status. We paired lobsters in two consecutive `boxing matches'. Results indicate that lobsters remember familiar opponents when kept either in isolation or in communal tanks for 24 h between their first and second fights. Subordinates immediately backed away from familiar dominants, avoiding a second fight. In some animals, this memory lasted between 1-2 weeks if pairs were kept separate between the first and second fights. When paired for the second fight against unfamiliar dominant lobsters, subordinate lobsters from first fights actively fought and won the encounter. These results suggest that lobsters are capable of `individual recognition'. In nature, the observed social organization of lobsters may be maintained by individual recognition of a small number of residents inhabiting separate, nearby shelters.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 866
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Author Henzi, S.P.; Lycett, J.E.; Weingrill, T.
Title Mate guarding and risk assessment by male mountain baboons during inter-troop encounters Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 55 Issue 6 Pages 1421-1428
Keywords
Abstract (down) Aggressive herding of females is a frequent but not invariant response by male savannah baboons,Papio cynocephalus, to encounters with other troops. While males in some troops are consistently more likely to herd than those in others, not all inter-troop encounters result in herding, even within particular troops. This suggests that males assess the risk of male invasion posed by each encounter and respond accordingly. We used data from baboon troops in the Drakensberg mountains to determine the rules males follow in deciding whether to herd. Consistent differences between troops were explained only by the adult sex ratio. Males were more likely to herd if the sex ratio of their own troop was female biased, a finding that is concordant with the observation that males are more likely to immigrate into troops where the sex ratio is more female biased than the population average. Differences within troops were a consequence only of encounter distance, with herding being more likely at closer distances. We found a negative correlation between the angle of approach to the other troop and the subsequent angle of deflection. We interpret this to mean that herding functions to increase the distance between the interacting troops, thereby curtailing opportunities for strange males to inspect the troop and determine its sex ratio. In this way, possibly unlike those in other populations, the decision rules of these male baboons are geared to protecting longer-term reproductive prospects.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5311
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