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Rubenstein, D. (2015). Social Networks: Linking Form with Function in Equid Societies. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting. Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg, in prep. Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Animal societies develop from interactions and relationships that occur among individuals within populations. The fundamental tenet of behavioral ecology is that ecological factors shape behavior and determine the distribution and associations of individuals on landscapes. As a result, different social systems emerge in different habitats and under different environmental conditions. Since characterizing social systems depends on time and motion studies of individual actions and interactions that are often bilateral, such characterizations are often coarse-grained. If social relationships can be characterized using social networks, however, seemingly similar social organizations often reveal informative differences in terms of deep structure. Thus social network theory should be able to provide insights in to the connections between social form and function. This talk will explore how the network structures of horses, zebras and asses can provide novel insights into the functioning of animal societies with respect to the spread of memes, genes and diseases.
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Rozempolska-Ruciń, ska, I., Trojan, M., Kosik, E. ż, bieta, Próchniak, T., et al. (2013). How “natural” training methods can affect equine mental state? A critical approach -- a review. Animal Science Papers & Reports, 31(3), 185.
Abstract: Among equestrians the “natural” training methods of horses are gaining widespread popularity due to their spectacular efficiency. Underlying philosophy of trainers – founders of different “natural horsemanship training” (NHT) schools, along with other not well documented statements includes argumentation of solely welfare- and human-friendly effects of NHT in the horse. The aim of this review was to screen scientific papers related to NHT to answer the question whether „natural“ training methods may actually exert only positive effects upon equine mental state and human-horse relationship. It appears that NHT trainers may reduce stress and emotional tension and improve learning processes as they appropriately apply learning stimuli. Basing on revised literature it can be concluded that training is successful provided that [i] the strength of the aversive stimulus meets sensitivity of an individual horse, [ii] the aversive stimulus is terminated at a right moment to avoid the impression of punishment, and [iii] the animal is given enough time to assess its situation and make an independent decision in the form of adequate behavioural reaction. Neglecting any of these conditions may lead to substantial emotional problems, hyperactivity, or excessive fear in the horse-human relationship, regardless of the training method. However, we admit that the most successful NHT trainers reduce aversive stimulation to the minimum and that horses learn quicker with fear or stress reactions, apparently decreasing along with training process. Anyway, NHT should be acknowledged for absolutely positive role in pointing out the importance of proper stimulation in the schooling and welfare of horses.
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Rowe, M. L., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2009). Differences in Early Gesture Explain SES Disparities in Child Vocabulary Size at School Entry. Science, 323(5916), 951–953.
Abstract: Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families, on average, arrive at school with smaller vocabularies than children from high-SES families. In an effort to identify precursors to, and possible remedies for, this inequality, we videotaped 50 children from families with a range of different SES interacting with parents at 14 months and assessed their vocabulary skills at 54 months. We found that children from high-SES families frequently used gesture to communicate at 14 months, a relation that was explained by parent gesture use (with speech controlled). In turn, the fact that children from high-SES families have large vocabularies at 54 months was explained by children's gesture use at 14 months. Thus, differences in early gesture help to explain the disparities in vocabulary that children bring with them to school.
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Rousing, T., & Waiblinger, S. (2004). Evaluation of on-farm methods for testing the human-animal relationship in dairy herds with cubicle loose housing systems--test-retest and inter-observer reliability and consistency to familiarity of test person. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 85(3-4), 215–231.
Abstract: The human-animal relationship is an important factor when considering animal welfare at herd level. In the present study, two behavioural tests for the on-farm assessment of the human-animal relationship at herd level of dairy cows housed in loose housing cubicle systems were evaluated with respect to inter-observer reliability, test-retest reliability, effect of familiarity of test person as well as inter-correlation of the two tests. In a voluntary animal approach (VAA) test, the number of cows and the latencies to approach and touch a stationary test person was measured. In an avoidance (AV) test, the cows' avoidance reactions to an approaching test person were categorised. A first study was carried out in 12 commercial Danish and Austrian dairy farms. On each farm, both behaviour tests were carried out on the same day and repeated within 4-5 days. For each test, cows were tested by both an unfamiliar and a familiar test person (the stock-person) and two observers simultaneously registered the animals' test responses. The inter-observer reliability of both behavioural tests was found to be high (VAA: 2.5-m approach r=0.98 (P<0.001) and touch r=0.97 (P<0.001); AV: Kappa coefficientweighted=0.886 (prevalence index for flight distance>=2 m is 0.636)). The cows at herd level showed shortest latency for touching an unfamiliar test person on the first test day (P=0.006). Further, the AV test had a high test-retest reliability (Kappa coefficientweighted=0.503 (prevalence index for flight distance>=2 m is -0.660)) and results indicated no effect of familiarity of test person (Kappa coefficientweighted=0.463 (prevalence index for flight distance>=2 m is -0.677)). In a second study, the correlation between the two behavioural tests (similar measures) was evaluated. On each of 10 commercial Danish dairy farms with loose housing cubicle systems at four repeated sessions, both behaviour tests were carried out on the same day. For each test cows were tested by the stock-person. The VAA and AV tests at herd level were highly correlated (rs=-0.84; P=0.002). The results suggest that the AV test is valid and applicable for on-farm assessment of the human-animal relationship at herd level. This accounts only partly for the VAA test, which seem to be more unclear regarding motivation for the animals' approach behaviour.
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Rosati, A. G. (2017). Foraging Cognition: Reviving the Ecological Intelligence Hypothesis. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(9), 691–702.
Abstract: What are the origins of intelligent behavior? The demands associated with living in complex social groups have been the favored explanation for the evolution of primate cognition in general and human cognition in particular. However, recent comparative research indicates that ecological variation can also shape cognitive abilities. I synthesize the emerging evidence that ?foraging cognition? ? skills used to exploit food resources, including spatial memory, decision-making, and inhibitory control ? varies adaptively across primates. These findings provide a new framework for the evolution of human cognition, given our species? dependence on costly, high-value food resources. Understanding the origins of the human mind will require an integrative theory accounting for how humans are unique in both our sociality and our ecology.
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Ronald J. Schusterman, Colleen J. Reichmuth, & David Kastak. (2000). How Animals Classify Friends and Foes. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci., 9, 1–6.
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Rogers, L. J. (2010). Relevance of brain and behavioural lateralization to animal welfare. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 127(1-2), 1–11.
Abstract: The left and right sides of the brain are specialised to process information in different ways and to control different categories of behaviour. Research on a range of species has shown that the left hemisphere controls well-established patterns of behaviour performed in non-stressful situations, whereas the right hemisphere responds to unexpected stimuli and controls escape and other emergency responses. The known functions of each hemisphere are summarised in this paper. Then it is hypothesised that stressed animals rely on predominant use of the right hemisphere, and that a bias to use the right or left hemisphere, respectively, may explain the behavioural differences between animals with a negative cognitive bias and those with a positive cognitive bias. In some species of primates it has been shown that the preferred limb used to pick up food when the animal is in a relaxed state reflects the dominant hemisphere and may be an accessible measure indicating susceptibility to stress and tendency towards positive versus negative cognitive bias. Hence, limb preference might be a useful measure of such tendencies in domesticated species. Some difficulties in determining a relevant measure of limb preference in non-primate species are mentioned, followed by the suggestion that eye preferences for viewing certain stimuli may be a useful measure in species with laterally placed eyes. Finally, effects of experience on the development of hemispheric dominance are discussed, leading to a suggestion that the welfare of domestic animals may be enhanced by ensuring development of left hemisphere dominance (e.g. by exposing chick embryos to light) and by shifting right to left hemisphere dominance in animals with negative cognitive bias.
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Rogers, L. (2015). Laterality in domestic and feral horses. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting. Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg, in prep. Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
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Rocha, A. D. de L., Menescal-de-Oliveira, L., & da Silva, L. F. S. (2017). Effects of human contact and intra-specific social learning on tonic immobility in guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., .
Abstract: Abstract Social learning is the capacity of animals to acquire adaptive information from others. In the case of fear responses, animals can learn fearful or non-fearful responses by observing the behavior of conspecifics. Tonic immobility (TI) is an anti-predatory behavior elicited during intense fear situations. Studies have revealed that regular contact with humans can reduce TI responses in animals. In our study, we evaluated the effect of human contact on the TI responses in guinea pigs. We also evaluated the effect of cohabitation (non-fearful animals with fearful animals) on their TI responses. To achieve this, we measured the TI responses induced by postural inversion and restraint in guinea pigs as a result of different treatments. In our first experiment, we determined the effect of human contact on TI responses by establishing 3 treatment groups: no contact, handled, and habituated. In our second experiment, we addressed the effect of social learning on TI response by testing TI response in habituated, and unhabituated animals that had cohabitated for 10 days. In the first experiment, 10 days of either handling or habituation did not prevent TI in guinea pigs, but habituation did increase latency [F(2,119) = 14.19; p < 0.0001] and handling or habituation decrease duration [F(2,119) = 15.01; p < 0.0001] of the TI behavior in the guinea pigs. In the second experiment, the cohabitation of unhabituated and habituated animals reduced TI duration [F(2,93) = 5.058; p < 0.008]. These data suggest that both forms of human interaction can reduce experimenter fear in guinea pigs. It therefore seems that unhabituated guinea pigs learn not to fear the experimenter by cohabitating with habituated guinea pigs.
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Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2(9), 661–670.
Abstract: What are the neural bases of action understanding? Although this capacity could merely involve visual analysis of the action, it has been argued that we actually map this visual information onto its motor representation in our nervous system. Here we discuss evidence for the existence of a system, the ‘mirror system’, that seems to serve this mapping function in primates and humans, and explore its implications for the understanding and imitation of action.
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