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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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Year |
2004 |
Publication |
The American Psychologist |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am Psychol |
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Volume |
59 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
891-906 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Conditioning, Operant; Creativeness; Discrimination (Psychology); Humans; Memory; Problem Solving; *Reinforcement (Psychology) |
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Abstract |
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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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4106 |
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Author |
Osthaus, B.; Lea, S.E.G.; Slater, A.M. |
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Title |
Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) fail to show understanding of means-end connections in a string-pulling task |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
8 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
37-47 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; *Cognition; Dogs/*psychology; *Problem Solving |
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Abstract |
Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were tested in four experiments for their understanding of means-end connections. In each of the experiments, the dogs attempted to retrieve a food treat that could be seen behind a barrier and which was connected, via string, to a within-reach wooden block. In the experiments, either one or two strings were present, but the treat was attached only to one string. Successful retrieval of the treat required the animals to pull the appropriate string (either by pawing or by grasping the wooden block in their jaws) until the treat emerged from under the barrier. The results showed that the dogs were successful if the treat was in a perpendicular line to the barrier, i.e. straight ahead, but not when the string was at an angle: in the latter condition, the typical response was a proximity error in that the dogs pawed or mouthed at a location closest in line to the treat. When two strings that crossed were present, the dogs tended to pull on the wrong string. The combined results from the experiments show that, although dogs can learn to pull on a string to obtain food, they do not spontaneously understand means-end connections involving strings. |
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School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK. b.osthaus@exeter.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15338446 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2513 |
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Author |
Ottoni, E.B.; de Resende, B.D.; Izar, P. |
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Title |
Watching the best nutcrackers: what capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) know about others' tool-using skills |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
8 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
215-219 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Cebus/*psychology; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Nuts; *Problem Solving |
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The present work is part of a decade-long study on the spontaneous use of stones for cracking hard-shelled nuts by a semi-free-ranging group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Nutcracking events are frequently watched by other individuals--usually younger, less proficient, and that are well tolerated to the point of some scrounging being allowed by the nutcracker. Here we report findings showing that the choice of observational targets is an active, non-random process, and that observers seem to have some understanding of the relative proficiency of their group mates, preferentially watching the more skilled nutcrackers, which enhances not only scrounging payoffs, but also social learning opportunities. |
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Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. ebottoni@usp.br |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15719240 |
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no |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
355 |
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Author |
Paukner, A.; Anderson, J.R.; Fujita, K. |
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Title |
Redundant food searches by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): a failure of metacognition? |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
9 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
110-117 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Cebus; *Concept Formation; Female; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; *Visual Perception |
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Abstract |
This study investigated capuchin monkeys' understanding of their own visual search behavior as a means to gather information. Five monkeys were presented with three tubes that could be visually searched to determine the location of a bait. The bait's visibility was experimentally manipulated, and the monkeys' spontaneous visual searches before tube selection were analyzed. In Experiment 1, three monkeys selected the baited tube significantly above chance; however, the monkeys also searched transparent tubes. In Experiment 2, a bent tube in which food was never visible was introduced. When the bent tube was baited, the monkeys failed to deduce the bait location and responded randomly. They also continued to look into the bent tube despite not gaining any pertinent information from it. The capuchin monkeys' behavior contrasts with the efficient employment of visual search behavior reported in humans, apes and macaques. This difference is consistent with species-related variations in metacognitive abilities, although other explanations are also possible. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK. ap14@stir.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16184375 |
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no |
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Admin @ knut @ |
Serial |
15 |
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Author |
Pepperberg, I.M. |
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Title |
“Insightful” string-pulling in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is affected by vocal competence |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
7 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
263-266 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; *Discrimination Learning; Humans; Male; *Parrots; *Problem Solving; Verbal Behavior; Verbal Learning; *Vocalization, Animal |
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Abstract |
Four Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were tested on their ability to obtain an item suspended from a string such that mutiple, repeated, coordinated beak-foot actions were required for success (e.g., Heinrich 1995). Those birds with little training in referential English requests (e.g. “I want X”) succeeded, whereas birds who could request the suspended item failed to obtain the object but engaged in repeated requesting. |
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MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Bldg 7-231, 77 Massachusetts Ave, MA 02139, Cambridge, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15045620 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2537 |
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Author |
Quesada, J; Kintsch, W.; Gomez, E. |
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Title |
Complex problem-solving: a field in search of a definition? |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Theor Issues Ergon Sci |
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Volume |
6 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
5-33 |
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Keywords |
Problem solving; Dynamic decision making; Micro-worlds; Expertise |
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Abstract |
Complex problem-solving (CPS) is as an area of cognitive science that has received a good amount of attention, but theories in the field have not progressed accordingly. The reasons could be the lack of good definitions and classifications of the tasks (taxonomies). Although complexity is a term used pervasively in psychology and is operationalized in different ways, there are no psychological theories of complexity. The definition of problem-solving has been changed in the past to reflect the varied interests of the researchers and has lost its initial concreteness. These two facts together make it difficult to define CPS or make clear if CPS should reuse the theory and methods of classical problem-solving or on the contrary should build a theoretical structure starting from scratch. A taxonomy is offered of tasks using both formal features and psychological features that are theory-independent that could help compare the CPS tasks used in the literature. The adequateness is also reviewed of the most extended definitions of CPS and conclude that they are in serious need of review, since they cover tasks that are not considered problem-solving by their own authors or are not complex, but ignore others that should clearly be included. |
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Taylor and Francis Ltd |
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refbase @ user @ |
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604 |
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Author |
Rilling, M.E.; Neiworth, J.J. |
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Title |
How animals use images |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1991 |
Publication |
Science Progress |
Abbreviated Journal |
Sci Prog |
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Volume |
75 |
Issue |
298 Pt 3-4 |
Pages |
439-452 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; Columbidae; *Concept Formation; *Imagination; *Mental Recall; Motion Perception; Problem Solving; *Thinking; *Visual Perception |
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Abstract |
Animal cognition is a field within experimental psychology in which cognitive processes formerly studied exclusively with people have been demonstrated in animals. Evidence for imagery in the pigeon emerges from the experiments described here. The pigeon's task was to discriminate, by pecking the appropriate choice key, between a clock hand presented on a video screen that rotated clockwise with constant velocity from a clock hand that violated constant velocity. Imagery was defined by trials on which the line rotated from 12.00 o'clock to 3.00 o'clock, then disappeared during a delay, and reappeared at a final stop location beyond 3.00 o'clock. After acquisition of a discrimination with final stop locations at 3.00 o'clock and 6.00 o'clock, the evidence for imagery was the accurate responding of the pigeons to novel locations at 4.00 o'clock and 7.00 o'clock. Pigeons display evidence of imagery by transforming a representation of movement that includes a series of intermediate steps which accurately represent the location of a moving stimulus after it disappears. |
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Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824 |
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0036-8504 |
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PMID:1842858 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2831 |
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Rumbaugh, D.M.; Riesen, A.H.; Wright, S.C. |
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Title |
Creative responsiveness to objects: a report of a pilot study with young apes |
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1972 |
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Folia Primatologica; International Journal of Primatology |
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Folia Primatol (Basel) |
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17 |
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5 |
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397-403 |
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Animals; *Creativeness; *Hominidae; Pan troglodytes; Play and Playthings; *Problem Solving |
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0015-5713 |
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PMID:5082622 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4183 |
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Santos, L.R.; Pearson, H.M.; Spaepen, G.M.; Tsao, F.; Hauser, M.D. |
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Title |
Probing the limits of tool competence: experiments with two non-tool-using species (Cercopithecus aethiops and Saguinus oedipus) |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
9 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
94-109 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Cercopithecus aethiops; *Cognition; Female; *Intelligence; Male; *Motor Skills; *Problem Solving; Saguinus; Species Specificity |
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Non-human animals vary in their ability to make and use tools. The goal of the present study was to further explore what, if anything, differs between tool-users and non-tool-users, and whether these differences lie in the conceptual or motor domain. We tested two species that typically do not use tools-cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops)-on problems that mirrored those designed for prolific tool users such as chimpanzees. We trained subjects on a task in which they could choose one of two canes to obtain an out-of-reach food reward. After training, subjects received several variations on the original task, each designed to examine a specific conceptual aspect of the pulling problem previously studied in other tool-using species. Both species recognized that effective pulling tools must be made of rigid materials. Subsequent conditions revealed significant species differences, with vervets outperforming tamarins across many conditions. Vervets, but not tamarins, had some recognition of the relationship between a tool's orientation and the position of the food reward, the relationship between a tool's trajectory and the substance that it moves on, and that tools must be connected in order to work properly. These results provide further evidence that tool-use may derive from domain-general, rather than domain-specific cognitive capacities that evolved for tool use per se. |
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Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, New Haven, CT, USA. laurie.santos@yale.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16341524 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2478 |
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Author |
Santos, L.R.; Rosati, A.; Sproul, C.; Spaulding, B.; Hauser, M.D. |
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Title |
Means-means-end tool choice in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus): finding the limits on primates' knowledge of tools |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
8 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
236-246 |
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Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Female; Male; *Problem Solving; Saguinus/*psychology |
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Most studies of animal tool use require subjects to use one object to gain access to a food reward. In many real world situations, however, animals perform more than one action in sequence to achieve their goals. Of theoretical interest is whether animals have the cognitive capacity to recognize the relationship between consecutive action sequences in which there may be one overall goal and several subgoals. Here we ask if cotton-top tamarins, a species that in captivity uses tools to solve means-end problems, can go one step further and use a sequence of tools (means) to obtain food (end). We first trained subjects to use a pulling tool to obtain a food reward. After this initial training, subjects were presented with problems in which one tool had to be used in combination with a second in order to obtain food. Subjects showed great difficulty when two tools were required to obtain the food reward. Although subjects attended to the connection between the tool and food reward, they ignored the physical connection between the two tools. After training on a two-tool problem, we presented subjects with a series of transfer tests to explore if they would generalize to new types of connections between the tools. Subjects readily transferred to new connections. Our results therefore provide the first evidence to date that tamarins can learn to solve problems involving two tools, but that they do so only with sufficient training. |
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Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. laurie.santos@yale.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15668762 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2495 |
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