| Records |
Author  |
Range, F.; Bugnyar, T.; Schlogl, C.; Kotrschal, K. |
| Title |
Individual and sex differences in learning abilities of ravens |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
73 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
100-106 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Crows; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Exploratory Behavior/physiology; Female; *Individuality; Male; Sex Factors; Spatial Behavior |
| Abstract |
Behavioral and physiological characteristics of individuals within the same species have been found to be stable across time and contexts. In this study, we investigated individual differences in learning abilities and object and social manipulation to test for consistency within individuals across different tasks. Individual ravens (Corvus corax) were tested in simple color and position discrimination tasks to establish their learning abilities. We found that males were significantly better in the acquisition of the first discrimination task and the object manipulation task, but not in any of the other tasks. Furthermore, faster learners engaged less often in manipulations of conspecifics and exploration of objects to get access to food. No relationship between object and social manipulation and reversal training were found. Our results suggest that individual differences in regard to the acquisition of new tasks may be related to personalities or at least object manipulation in ravens. |
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Konrad Lorenz Research Station, A-4645 Gruenau 11, Austria. friederike.range@univie.ac.at |
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English |
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0376-6357 |
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PMID:16675158 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4146 |
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| Author |
Range, F.; Horn, L.; Bugnyar, T.; Gajdon, G.; Huber, L. |
| Title |
Social attention in keas, dogs, and human children |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
12 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
181-192 |
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Abstract: Understanding animals" abilities to cooperate with and learn from each other has been an active field of research in recent years. One important basis for all types of social interactions is the disposition of animals to pay attention to each other-a factor often neglected in discussions and experiments. Since attention differs between species as well as between individuals, it is likely to influence the amount and type of information different species and/or observers may extract from conspecifics in any given situation. Here, we carried out a standardized comparative study on attention towards a model demonstrating food-related behavior in keas, dogs and children. In a series of experimental sessions, individuals watched different conspecific models while searching, manipulating and feeding. Visual access to the demonstration was provided by two observation holes, which allowed us to determine exactly how often and for how long observers watched the model. We found profound differences in the factors that influence attention within as well as between the tested species. This study suggests that attention should be incorporated as an important variable when testing species in social situations. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4713 |
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| Author |
Schloegl, C.; Kotrschal, K.; Bugnyar, T. |
| Title |
Gaze following in common ravens, Corvus corax: ontogeny and habituation |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
74 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
769-778 |
| Keywords |
Corvus corax; gaze following; habituation; ontogenetic development; raven |
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Co-orientation with others by using their gaze direction is considered to be adaptive for detecting food or predators or monitoring social interactions. Like the great apes, common ravens are capable of following human experimenters' gaze direction not only into distant space but also behind visual barriers. We investigated the ontogenetic development of these abilities by confronting birds with a human foster parent looking up (experiment 1) and behind visual barriers (experiment 3) and their modification by habituation (experiments 2 and 4). We tested a group of 12 hand-reared ravens during their first 10 months of life. Ravens responded to others' look-ups soon after fledging but could track their gaze behind a visual barrier only 4 months later, at the age they usually become independent from their parents. Furthermore, ravens quickly ceased responding to repeated look-ups by the model, but did not habituate to repeated gaze cues directed behind a barrier. Our findings support the idea that the two modes of gaze following reflect different cognitive levels in ravens and, possibly, have different functions. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4204 |
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| Author |
Schloegl, C.; Kotrschal, K.; Bugnyar, T. |
| Title |
Modifying the object-choice task: Is the way you look important for ravens? |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2008 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
77 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
61-65 |
| Keywords |
Gaze; Modification; Object-choice task; Raven |
| Abstract |
Most animals seem to have difficulties in using gaze cues to find hidden food in object-choice tasks. For instance, chimpanzees usually fail in these tests, even though they are capable of following other's gaze geometrically behind barriers. Similar to chimpanzees, common ravens are skilled in tracking other's gaze but fail in object-choice tasks. We here explored whether procedural modifications, which had been used successfully in chimpanzees, would also yield positive results in ravens. In our modifications (a) the experimenter approached the cup while gazing at it, (b) the gaze cue was accompanied by a sound and (c) the experimenter could actually see the food while giving the gaze cue. Two out of seven birds performed above chance level in some of these conditions. However, we ascribe this improvement to the individuals' learning ability rather than to an understanding of the communicative nature of the task. This interpretation is further supported by results of a follow-up experiment suggesting that ravens may not rely on conspecifics' gaze cues for finding food caches in a natural foraging context. In sum, our results suggest that ravens may not transfer their gaze follow abilities to foraging situations involving hidden food. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4505 |
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Schmidt, J.; Scheid, C.; Kotrschal, K.; Bugnyar, T.; Schloegl, C. |
| Title |
Gaze direction – A cue for hidden food in rooks (Corvus frugilegus)? |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
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| Volume |
88 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
88-93 |
| Keywords |
Gaze; Object choice; Corvids; Effort; Rooks |
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Other individual's head- and eye-directions can be used as social cues indicating the presence of important events. Among birds, ravens and rooks have been shown to co-orient with conspecifics and with humans by following their gaze direction into distant space and behind visual screens. Both species use screens to cache food in private; also, it had been suggested that they may rely on gaze cues to detect hidden food. However, in an object-choice task, ravens failed to do so, and their competitive lifestyle may have prevented them from relying on these cues. Here we tested closely related and cooperative rooks. Food was hidden in one of two cups and the experimenter gazed at the baited cup. In a second experiment, we aimed to increase the birds’ motivation to choose correctly by increasing the investment needed to obtain the reward. To do so, the birds had to pull on a string to obtain the cup. Here, the birds as a group tended to rely on gaze cues. In addition, individual birds quickly learned to use the cue in both experiments. Although rooks may not use gaze cues to find hidden food spontaneously, they may quickly learn to do so. |
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0376-6357 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5420 |
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| Author |
Schwab, C.; Bugnyar, T.; Schloegl, C.; Kotrschal, K. |
| Title |
Enhanced social learning between siblings in common ravens, Corvus corax |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2008 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
75 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
501-508 |
| Keywords |
affiliation; cognition; common raven; Corvus corax; siblings; social learning; social relations |
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It has been suggested that social dynamics affect social learning but empirical support for this idea is scarce. Here we show that affiliate relationships among kin indeed enhance the performance of common ravens, Corvus corax, in a social learning task. Via daily behavioural protocols we first monitored social dynamics in our group of captive young ravens. Siblings spent significantly more time in close proximity to each other than did nonsiblings. We subsequently tested birds on a stimulus enhancement task in model-observer dyads composed of both siblings and nonsiblings. During demonstration the observer could watch the model manipulating one particular object (target object) in an adjacent room. After removing the model, the observer was confronted with five different objects including the former target object. Observers from sibling dyads handled the target object for significantly longer periods of time as compared with the other four available objects, whereas observers from nonsibling dyads did not show a preference for the target object. Also, siblings matched the model's decision to cache or not to cache objects significantly more often than did nonsiblings. Hence, siblings were likely to attend to both, the behaviour of the model (caching or noncaching) and object-specific details. Our results support the hypothesis that affiliate relations between individuals affect the transmission of information and may lead to directed social learning even when spatial proximity has been experimentally controlled for. |
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0003-3472 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5300 |
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