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Author Saucier, D.M.; Shultz, S.R.; Keller, A.J.; Cook, C.M.; Binsted, G.
Title Sex differences in object location memory and spatial navigation in Long-Evans rats Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
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Keywords
Abstract In both humans and rodents, males typically excel on a number of tasks requiring spatial ability. However, human females exhibit advantages in memory for the spatial location of objects. This study investigated whether rats would exhibit similar sex differences on a task of object location memory (OLM) and on the watermaze (WM). We predicted that females should outperform males on the OLM task and that males should outperform females on the WM. To control for possible effects of housing environment, rats were housed in either complex environments or in standard shoebox housing. Eighty Long-Evans rats (40 males and 40 females) were housed in either complex (Complex rats) or standard shoebox housing (Control rats). Results indicated that males had superior performance on the WM, whereas females outperformed males on the OLM task, regardless of housing environment. As these sex differences cannot be easily attributed to differences in cognitive style related to linguistic processing of environmental features or to selection pressures related to the hunting gathering evolutionary prehistory of humans, these data suggest that sex differences in spatial ability may be related to traits selected for by polygynous mating strategies.
Address (up) Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Dr., Lethbridge, AB, Canada, T1K 3M4, Deborah.Saucier@ULeth.ca
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17562087 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2391
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Author Bovet, D.; Vauclair, J.; Blaye, A.
Title Categorization and abstraction abilities in 3-year-old children: a comparison with monkey data Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 53-59
Keywords Animals; Child Development; Child, Preschool; *Classification; *Concept Formation; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Form Perception; Humans; Male; Papio; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; Species Specificity
Abstract Three-year-old children were tested on three categorization tasks of increasing levels of abstraction (used with adult baboons in an earlier study): the first was a conceptual categorization task (food vs toys), the second a perceptual matching task (same vs different objects), and the third a relational matching task in which the children had to sort pairs according to whether or not the two items belonged to the same or different categories. The children were tested using two different procedures, the first a replication of the procedure used with the baboons (pulling one rope for a category or a relationship between two objects, and another rope for the other category or relationship), the second a task based upon children's prior experiences with sorting objects (putting in the same box objects belonging to the same category or a pair of objects exemplifying the same relation). The children were able to solve the first task (conceptual categorization) when tested with the sorting into boxes procedure, and the second task (perceptual matching) when tested with both procedures. The children were able to master the third task (relational matching) only when the rules were clearly explained to them, but not when they could only watch sorting examples. In fact, the relational matching task without explanation requires analogy abilities that do not seem to be fully developed at 3 years of age. The discrepancies in performances between children tested with the two procedures, with the task explained or not, and the discrepancies observed between children and baboons are discussed in relation to differences between species and/or problem-solving strategies.
Address (up) Center for Research in Psychology of Cognition, Language and Emotion, Universite de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France. dbovet@u-paris10.fr
Corporate Author Thesis
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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:15300466 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2516
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Author Ducoing, A.M.; Thierry, B.
Title Tool-use learning in Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 103-113
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Imitative Behavior; *Intelligence; Macaca/*psychology; Male; *Motor Skills
Abstract The transmission of tool use is a rare event in monkeys. Such an event arose in a group of semi-free-ranging Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) in which leaning a pole against the park's fence (branch leaning) appeared and spread to several males. This prompted us to test individual and social learning of this behavior in seven young males. In the first experiment, three males learned individually to obtain a food reward using a wooden pole as a climbing tool. They began using the pole to retrieve the reward only when they could alternatively experience acting on the object and reaching the target. In a second experiment, we first tested whether four other subjects could learn branch leaning after having observed a group-mate performing the task. Despite repeated opportunities to observe the demonstrator, they did not learn to use the pole as a tool. Hence we exposed the latter subjects to individual learning trials and they succeeded in the task. Tool use was not transmitted in the experimental situation, which contrasts with observations in the park. We can conclude that the subjects were not able to recognize the target as such. It is possible that they recognized it and learned the task individually when we alternated the opportunity to act upon the object and to reach the reward. This suggests that these macaques could then have associated the action they exercised upon the pole and the use of the pole as a means to reach the reward.
Address (up) Centre d'Ecologie et Physiologie Energetiques, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 7 rue de l'Universite, 67000, Strasbourg, France
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15449102 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2508
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Author Benard, J.; Stach, S.; Giurfa, M.
Title Categorization of visual stimuli in the honeybee Apis mellifera Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 257-270
Keywords Animals; Bees/*physiology; Classification; Cognition/*physiology; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Generalization, Stimulus/physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology; Photic Stimulation; Transfer (Psychology)/*physiology; Visual Perception/*physiology
Abstract Categorization refers to the classification of perceptual input into defined functional groups. We present and discuss evidence suggesting that stimulus categorization can also be found in an invertebrate, the honeybee Apis mellifera, thus underlining the generality across species of this cognitive process. Honeybees show positive transfer of appropriate responding from a trained to a novel set of visual stimuli. Such a transfer was demonstrated for specific isolated features such as symmetry or orientation, but also for assemblies (layouts) of features. Although transfer from training to novel stimuli can be achieved by stimulus generalization of the training stimuli, most of these transfer tests involved clearly distinguishable stimuli for which generalization would be reduced. Though in most cases specific experimental controls such as stimulus balance and discriminability are still required, it seems appropriate to characterize the performance of honeybees as reflecting categorization. Further experiments should address the issue of which categorization theory accounts better for the visual performances of honeybees.
Address (up) Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (UMR 5169), CNRS – Universite Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse cedex 4, France
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16909238 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2446
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Author Clara, E.; Regolin, L.; Vallortigara, G.; Rogers, L.
Title Perception of the stereokinetic illusion by the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 135-140
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Callithrix/*physiology; Female; Male; *Optical Illusions; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology
Abstract Stereokinetic illusions have never been investigated in non-human primates, nor in other mammalian species. These illusions consist in the perception of a 3D solid object when certain 2D stimuli are rotated slowly in the plane perpendicular to the line of sight. The ability to perceive the stereokinetic illusion was investigated in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Four adult marmosets were trained to discriminate between a solid cylinder and a solid cone for food reward. Once learning criterion was reached, the marmosets were tested in sets of eight probe trials in which the two solid objects used at training were replaced by two rotating 2D stimuli. Only one of these stimuli produced, at least to the human observer, the stereokinetic illusion corresponding to the solid object previously reinforced. At test, the general behaviour and the total time spent by the marmosets observing each stimulus were recorded. The subjects stayed longer near the stimulus producing the stereokinetic illusion corresponding to the solid object reinforced at training than they did near the illusion corresponding to the previously non-rewarded stimulus. Hence, the common marmosets behaved as if they could perceive stereokinetic illusions.
Address (up) Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia. elena.clara@unipd.it
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16924457 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2445
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Author Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A.
Title Testing for social learning and imitation in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, using an artificial fruit Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 77-85
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Callithrix/*psychology; Discrimination Learning; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Food Preferences; Fruit; *Imitative Behavior; Male; *Social Behavior; Social Environment
Abstract We tested for social learning and imitation in common marmosets using an artificial foraging task and trained conspecific demonstrators. We trained a demonstrator marmoset to open an artificial fruit, providing a full demonstration of the task to be learned. Another marmoset provided a partial demonstration, controlling for stimulus enhancement effects, by eating food from the outside of the apparatus. We thus compared three observer groups, each consisting of four animals: those that received the full demonstration, those that received the partial demonstration, and a control group that saw no demonstration prior to testing. Although none of the observer marmosets succeeded in opening the artificial fruit during the test periods, there were clear effects of demonstration type. Those that saw the full demonstration manipulated the apparatus more overall, whereas those from the control group manipulated it the least of the three groups. Those from the full-demonstration group also contacted the particular parts of the artificial fruit that they had seen touched (localised stimulus enhancement) to a greater extent than the other two groups. There was also an interaction between the number of hand and mouth touches made to the artificial fruit for the full- and partial-demonstration groups. Whether or not these data represent evidence for imitation is discussed. We also propose that the clear differences between the groups suggest that social learning mechanisms provide real benefits to these animals in terms of developing novel food-processing skills analogous to the one presented here.
Address (up) Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and Scottish Primate Research Group, University of St Andrews, KY16 9JU, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.ac.uk
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15069606 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 735
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Author Horner, V.; Whiten, A.
Title Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 3 Pages 164-181
Keywords Animals; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; Pan troglodytes; *Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance; *Social Environment; Species Specificity
Abstract This study explored whether the tendency of chimpanzees and children to use emulation or imitation to solve a tool-using task was a response to the availability of causal information. Young wild-born chimpanzees from an African sanctuary and 3- to 4-year-old children observed a human demonstrator use a tool to retrieve a reward from a puzzle-box. The demonstration involved both causally relevant and irrelevant actions, and the box was presented in each of two conditions: opaque and clear. In the opaque condition, causal information about the effect of the tool inside the box was not available, and hence it was impossible to differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant parts of the demonstration. However, in the clear condition causal information was available, and subjects could potentially determine which actions were necessary. When chimpanzees were presented with the opaque box, they reproduced both the relevant and irrelevant actions, thus imitating the overall structure of the task. When the box was presented in the clear condition they instead ignored the irrelevant actions in favour of a more efficient, emulative technique. These results suggest that emulation is the favoured strategy of chimpanzees when sufficient causal information is available. However, if such information is not available, chimpanzees are prone to employ a more comprehensive copy of an observed action. In contrast to the chimpanzees, children employed imitation to solve the task in both conditions, at the expense of efficiency. We suggest that the difference in performance of chimpanzees and children may be due to a greater susceptibility of children to cultural conventions, perhaps combined with a differential focus on the results, actions and goals of the demonstrator.
Address (up) Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JU, UK. vkh1@st-andrews.ac.uk
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15549502 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 732
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Author Cheng, K.; Wignall, A.E.
Title Honeybees (Apis mellifera) holding on to memories: response competition causes retroactive interference effects Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 141-150
Keywords Animals; Bees/*physiology; Choice Behavior/physiology; *Cues; Memory/*physiology; Perceptual Masking/physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/*physiology
Abstract Five experiments on honeybees examined how the learning of a second task interferes with what was previously learned. Free flying bees were tested for landmark-based memory in variations on a paradigm of retroactive interference. Bees first learned Task 1, were tested on Task 1 (Test 1), then learned Task 2, and were tested again on Task 1 (Test 2). A 60-min delay (waiting in a box) before Test 2 caused no performance decrements. If the two tasks had conflicting response requirements, (e.g., target right of a green landmark in Task 1 and left of a blue landmark in Task 2), then a strong decrement on Test 2 was found (retroactive interference effect). When response competition was minimised during training or testing, however, the decrement on Test 2 was small or nonexistent. The results implicate response competition as a major contributor to the retroactive interference effect. The honeybee seems to hold on to memories; new memories do not wipe out old ones.
Address (up) Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour and Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. ken@galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16374626 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2477
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Author Bard, K.A.
Title Neonatal imitation in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) tested with two paradigms Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 233-242
Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Imitative Behavior/*physiology; Pan troglodytes/*physiology/*psychology; Problem Solving/physiology
Abstract Primate species differ in their imitative performance, perhaps reflecting differences in imitative capacity. The developmentally earliest form of imitation in humans, neonatal imitation, occurs in early interactions with social partners, and may be a more accurate index of innate capacity than imitation of actions on objects, which requires more cognitive ability. This study assessed imitative capacity in five neonatal chimpanzees, within a narrow age range (7-15 days of age), by testing responses to facial and vocal actions with two different test paradigms (structured and communicative). Imitation of mouth opening was found in both paradigms. In the communicative paradigm, significant agreement was found between infant actions and demonstrations. Additionally, chimpanzees matched the sequence of three actions of the TC model, but only on the second demonstration. Newborn chimpanzees matched more modeled actions in the communicative test than in the structured paradigm. These performances of chimpanzees, at birth, are in agreement with the literature, supporting a conclusion that imitative capacity is not unique to the human species. Developmental histories must be more fully considered in the cross-species study of imitation, as there is a greater degree of innate imitative capacity than previously known. Socialization practices interact with innate and developing competencies to determine the outcome of imitation tests later in life.
Address (up) Centre for the Study of Emotion, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, Portsmouth, PO1 2DY, UK. kim.bard@port.ac.uk
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17180698 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2427
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Author Stevens, J.R.; Wood, J.N.; Hauser, M.D.
Title When quantity trumps number: discrimination experiments in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume Issue Pages
Keywords
Abstract The capacity for non-linguistic, numerical discrimination has been well characterized in non-human animals, with recent studies providing careful controls for non-numerical confounds such as continuous extent, density, and quantity. More poorly understood are the conditions under which animals use numerical versus non-numerical quantification, and the nature of the relation between these two systems. Here we test whether cotton-top tamarins and common marmosets can discriminate between two quantities on the basis of the amount of food rather than on number. In three experiments, we show that when choosing between arrays containing different numbers and sizes of food objects, both species based their decisions on the amount of food with only minor influences of numerical information. Further, we find that subjects successfully discriminated between two quantities differing by a 2:3 or greater ratio, which is consistent with the ratio limits found for numerical discrimination with this species. These studies demonstrate that non-human primates possess mechanisms that enable quantification of total amount, in addition to the numerical representations demonstrated in previous studies, with both types of quantification subject to similar processing limits.
Address (up) Cognitive Evolution Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17354004 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2414
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