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Author (up) Lea, S.E.G.; Goto, K.; Osthaus, B.; Ryan, C.M.E.
Title The logic of the stimulus Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 247-256
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae; Comprehension/physiology; Dogs; Humans; *Logic; Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology; Perception/*physiology; Problem Solving/*physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract This paper examines the contribution of stimulus processing to animal logics. In the classic functionalist S-O-R view of learning (and cognition), stimuli provide the raw material to which the organism applies its cognitive processes-its logic, which may be taxon-specific. Stimuli may contribute to the logic of the organism's response, and may do so in taxon-specific ways. Firstly, any non-trivial stimulus has an internal organization that may constrain or bias the way that the organism addresses it; since stimuli can only be defined relative to the organism's perceptual apparatus, and this apparatus is taxon-specific, such constraints or biases will often be taxon-specific. Secondly, the representation of a stimulus that the perceptual system builds, and the analysis it makes of this representation, may provide a model for the synthesis and analysis done at a more cognitive level. Such a model is plausible for evolutionary reasons: perceptual analysis was probably perfected before cognitive analysis in the evolutionary history of the vertebrates. Like stimulus-driven analysis, such perceptually modelled cognition may be taxon-specific because of the taxon-specificity of the perceptual apparatus. However, it may also be the case that different taxa are able to free themselves from the stimulus logic, and therefore apply a more abstract logic, to different extents. This thesis is defended with reference to two examples of cases where animals' cognitive logic seems to be isomorphic with perceptual logic, specifically in the case of pigeons' attention to global and local information in visual stimuli, and dogs' failure to comprehend means-end relationships in string-pulling tasks.
Address School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, United Kingdom. s.e.g.lea@exeter.ac.uk
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16909234 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2450
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Author (up) Leaver, L.; Hopewell, L.; Caldwell, C.; Mallarky, L.
Title Audience effects on food caching in grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis): evidence for pilferage avoidance strategies Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 23-27
Keywords Caching – Deception – Pilferage – Grey squirrels – Sciurus carolinensis
Abstract Abstract  If food pilferage has been a reliable selection pressure on food caching animals, those animals should have evolved the ability to protect their caches from pilferers. Evidence that animals protect their caches would support the argument that pilferage has been an important adaptive challenge. We observed naturally caching Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in order to determine whether they used any evasive tactics in order to deter conspecific and heterospecific pilferage. We found that grey squirrels used evasive tactics when they had a conspecific audience, but not when they had a heterospecific (corvid) audience. When other squirrels were present, grey squirrels spaced their caches farther apart and preferentially cached when oriented with their backs to other squirrels, but no such effect was found when birds were present. Our data provide the first evidence that caching mammals are sensitive to the risk of pilferage posed by an audience of conspecifics, and that they utilise evasive tactics that should help to minimise cache loss. We discuss our results in relation to recent theory of reciprocal pilferage and compare them to behaviours shown by caching birds.
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Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 4223
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Author (up) Lefebvre, L.; Juretic, N.; Nicolakakis, N.; Timmermans, S.
Title Is the link between forebrain size and feeding innovations caused by confounding variables? A study of Australian and North American birds Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages 91-97
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Abstract The short notes of ornithology journals feature new and unusual feeding behaviours, which, when systematically collated, could provide a quantitative estimate of behavioural flexibility in different bird groups. Previous studies suggest that taxonomic variation in the frequency of new behaviours (innovations) is correlated with variation in relative forebrain size. Recent work on primates shows, however, that observer bias can affect innovation frequency. We assess this possibility in birds via three estimates in North America and Australia: the number of full-length papers in academic journals, the frequency of photographs in birding magazines and a questionnaire on reporting bias given to ornithologists at a meeting. We also look at sampling effects due to single journal sources by doing a split-half analysis of our North American database (The Wilson Bulletin vs. six other journals) and adding three new Australian journals to the one we had used previously. In multiple regressions that also included species number per taxon, none of the potential biases could account for the correlation between forebrain size and innovation frequency. Species number was the best predictor of full-length paper frequency, which was the best predictor of photograph numbers. Ornithologists are not preferentially interested in innovative, large-brained taxa, suggesting that the correlation between innovations and neural substrate size is not a spurious effect of the biases examined here.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3284
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Author (up) Leighty, K.A.; Fragaszy, D.M.
Title Primates in cyberspace: using interactive computer tasks to study perception and action in nonhuman animals Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 6 Issue 3 Pages 137-139
Keywords Animals; *Perception; *Primates; *Task Performance and Analysis; *User-Computer Interface
Abstract
Address Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA. kleighty@uga.edu
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Notes PMID:12884077 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2563
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Author (up) Leighty, K.A.; Fragaszy, D.M.
Title Joystick acquisition in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 6 Issue 3 Pages 141-148
Keywords Animals; Cebus/*physiology; *Computer Peripherals; Functional Laterality; Male; *Task Performance and Analysis; *User-Computer Interface
Abstract A number of nonhuman primate species have demonstrated the ability to use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen, yet the acquisition of this skill has not been the focus of systematic inquiry. Here, we examined joystick acquisition in four tufted capuchins under two directional relationships of joystick movement and resultant cursor displacement, isomorphic and inverted. To document the natural history of the acquisition of this skill, we recorded the development of visual tracking of the cursor and body tilting. Rates of acquisition were comparable between the two conditions. After mastering the task in one condition, subjects remastered the task at an accelerated rate in the opposing condition. All subjects significantly increased or maintained high proportions of cursor tracking throughout acquisition. All subjects demonstrated a postural tilt while moving the cursor from the mid-phase of acquisition through task mastery. In the isomorphic condition, all subjects tilted significantly more often in the direction of goal location than in the opposite direction. In three of the four series of tilting that were scored for subjects in the inverted condition, tilting occurred significantly more often toward the direction of goal location than the direction of required hand movement. Together these findings suggest that body tilting participates in the organization of directional movement of the cursor rather than reflecting merely the motoric requirements of the task (to manipulate a joystick).
Address Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA. kleighty@uga.edu
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Notes PMID:12838395 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2564
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Author (up) Leippert, D.; Goymann, W.; Hofer, H.; Marimuthu, G.; Balasingh, J.
Title Roost-mate communication in adult Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra): an indication of individuality in temporal and spectral pattern Type Journal Article
Year 2000 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 3 Issue 2 Pages 99-106
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Abstract The remarkable cognitive abilities of bats indicate that they may recognise particular conspecifics. Because of their highly developed auditory system, it is obvious that vocalisations of bats may give information about the individual emitting them. In a field study of the social behaviour in the Indian false vampire bat (Megaderma lyra), two different types of vocalisation were recorded and analysed. The bats emitted these vocalisations only while aggregating with conspecifics inside the day roost. The “landing strophe” consisted of a number of brief multiharmonic downward frequency-modulated (FMdown) sounds which levelled off as a constant frequency (CF), and the “clatter strophe” was composed of a number of multiharmonic FMdown sounds which became shallow at the end as a short CF. The sounds of the landing strophe and the ¶clatter strophe differed in repetition rate, duration, harmonic components and frequency. Time pattern and peak frequency of the two sound types differed highly significantly between single, unidentified bats. The sounds were inter-individually distinct when the three parameters were combined as an acoustical space. Therefore, these vocalisations might be used for individual recognition in adult bats.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3297
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Author (up) Lemasson, A.; Boutin, A.; Boivin, S.; Blois-Heulin, C.; Hausberger, M.
Title Horse (Equus caballus) whinnies: a source of social information Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 12 Issue 5 Pages 693-704
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Abstract Abstract  Many animal species that rely mainly on calls to communicate produce individual acoustic structures, but we wondered whether individuals of species better known as visual communicants, with small vocal repertoires, would also exhibit individual distinctiveness in calls. Moreover, theoretical advances concerning the evolution of social intelligence are usually based on primate species data, but relatively little is known about the social cognitive capacities of non-primate mammals. However, some non-primate species demonstrate auditory recognition of social categories and possess mental representation of their social network. Horses (Equus caballus) form stable social networks and although they display a large range of visual signals, they also use long-distance whinny calls to maintain contact. Here, we investigated the potential existence of individual acoustic signatures in whinny calls and the ability of horses to discriminate by ear individuals varying in their degree of familiarity. Our analysis of the acoustic structure of whinnies of 30 adult domestic horses (ten stallions, ten geldings, ten mares) revealed that some of the frequency and temporal parameters carried reliable information about the caller’s sex, body size and identity. However, no correlations with age were found. Playback experiments evaluated the behavioural significance of this variability. Twelve horses heard either control white noise or whinnies emitted by group members, familiar neighbours or unfamiliar horses. While control sounds did not induce any particular response, horses discriminated the social category of the callers and reacted with a sound-specific behaviour (vigilance and attraction varied with familiarity). Our results support the existence of social knowledge in horses and suggest a process of vocal coding/decoding of information.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5035
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Author (up) Lewis, K.P.; Jaffe, S.; Brannon, E.M.
Title Analog number representations in mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz): evidence from a search task Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 247-252
Keywords Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Lemuridae/*psychology; Male; Mathematics; Odors; Smell/physiology; Time Factors
Abstract A wealth of data demonstrating that monkeys and apes represent number have been interpreted as suggesting that sensitivity to number emerged early in primate evolution, if not before. Here we examine the numerical capacities of the mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz), a member of the prosimian suborder of primates that split from the common ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans approximately 47-54 million years ago. Subjects observed as an experimenter sequentially placed grapes into an opaque bucket. On half of the trials the experimenter placed a subset of the grapes into a false bottom such that they were inaccessible to the lemur. The critical question was whether lemurs would spend more time searching the bucket when food should have remained in the bucket, compared to when they had retrieved all of the food. We found that the amount of time lemurs spent searching was indicative of whether grapes should have remained in the bucket, and furthermore that lemur search time reliably differentiated numerosities that differed by a 1:2 ratio, but not those that differed by a 2:3 or 3:4 ratio. Finally, two control conditions determined that lemurs represented the number of food items, and neither the odor of the grapes, nor the amount of grape (e.g., area) in the bucket. These results suggest that mongoose lemurs have numerical representations that are modulated by Weber's Law.
Address Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15660208 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2497
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Author (up) Liedtke, J.; Schneider, J.M.
Title Social makes smart: rearing conditions affect learning and social behaviour in jumping spiders Type Journal Article
Year 2017 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 20 Issue 6 Pages 1093-1106
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Abstract There is a long-standing debate as to whether social or physical environmental aspects drive the evolution and development of cognitive abilities. Surprisingly few studies make use of developmental plasticity to compare the effects of these two domains during development on behaviour later in life. Here, we present rearing effects on the development of learning abilities and social behaviour in the jumping spider Marpissa muscosa. These spiders are ideally suited for this purpose because they possess the ability to learn and can be reared in groups but also in isolation without added stress. This is a critical but rarely met requirement for experimentally varying the social environment to test its impact on cognition. We split broods of spiders and reared them either in a physically or in a socially enriched environment. A third group kept under completely deprived conditions served as a 'no-enrichment' control. We tested the spiders' learning abilities by using a modified T-maze. Social behaviour was investigated by confronting spiders with their own mirror image. Results show that spiders reared in groups outperform their conspecifics from the control, i.e. 'no-enrichment', group in both tasks. Physical enrichment did not lead to such an increased performance. We therefore tentatively suggest that growing up in contact with conspecifics induces the development of cognitive abilities in this species.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Liedtke2017 Serial 6191
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Author (up) Lombardi, C.
Title Matching and oddity relational learning by pigeons ( Columba livia ): transfer from color to shape Type Journal Article
Year Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume Issue Pages
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Abstract Abstract  Relational learning, as opposed to perceptual learning, is based on the abstract properties of the stimuli. Although at present there is no doubt that pigeons are capable of relational behavior, this study aims to further disclose the conditions under which it occurs. Pigeons were trained in an outdoor cage on a matching-to-sample or an oddity-from-sample task, with colored cardboard stimuli presented horizontally. The apparatus involved three sliding lids on which the stimuli were drawn and which, when displaced, revealed the reinforcement. The lids were either adjacent to each other or somewhat separated. Training sessions involved two colors, and test sessions six different colors (same dimension test), or six different shapes (different dimension test). One group of birds trained under the “adjacent” condition failed when tested with new stimuli, but succeeded in both dimension tests after training under the “separate” condition. Two other groups of birds succeeded in all tests after training under the latter condition. These results show that depending on procedural details, pigeons are or are not able to transfer from one visual dimension to another, thus extending previous related findings.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3270
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