Records |
Author |
Christensen, J.W.; Rundgren, M.; Olsson, K. |
Title |
Training methods for horses: habituation to a frightening stimulus |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Equine veterinary journal |
Abbreviated Journal |
Equine Vet J |
Volume |
38 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
439-443 |
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Conditioning (Psychology); *Fear; Heart Rate/*physiology; Horses/physiology/*psychology; Learning; Male; Random Allocation; *Reinforcement (Psychology); Safety; Time Factors |
Abstract |
REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Responses of horses in frightening situations are important for both equine and human safety. Considerable scientific interest has been shown in development of reactivity tests, but little effort has been dedicated to the development of appropriate training methods for reducing fearfulness. OBJECTIVES: To investigate which of 3 different training methods (habituation, desensitisation and counter-conditioning) was most effective in teaching horses to react calmly in a potentially frightening situation. HYPOTHESES: 1) Horses are able to generalise about the test stimulus such that, once familiar with the test stimulus in one situation, it appears less frightening and elicits a reduced response even when the stimulus intensity is increased or the stimulus is presented differently; and 2) alternative methods such as desensitisation and counter-conditioning would be more efficient than a classic habituation approach. METHODS: Twenty-seven naive 2-year-old Danish Warmblood stallions were trained according to 3 different methods, based on classical learning theory: 1) horses (n = 9) were exposed to the full stimulus (a moving, white nylon bag, 1.2 x 0.75 m) in 5 daily training sessions until they met a predefined habituation criterion (habituation); 2) horses (n = 9) were introduced gradually to the stimulus and habituated to each step before the full stimulus was applied (desensitisation); 3) horses (n = 9) were trained to associate the stimulus with a positive reward before being exposed to the full stimulus (counter-conditioning). Each horse received 5 training sessions of 3 min per day. Heart rate and behavioural responses were recorded. RESULTS: Horses trained with the desensitisation method showed fewer flight responses in total and needed fewer training sessions to learn to react calmly to test stimuli. Variations in heart rate persisted even when behavioural responses had ceased. In addition, all horses on the desensitisation method eventually habituated to the test stimulus whereas some horses on the other methods did not. CONCLUSIONS AND POTENTIAL RELEVANCE: Desensitisation appeared to be the most effective training method for horses in frightening situations. Further research is needed in order to investigate the role of positive reinforcement, such as offering food, in the training of horses. |
Address |
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Health, Welfare and Nutrition, Tjele, Denmark |
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ISSN |
0425-1644 |
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PMID:16986605 |
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no |
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Serial |
1783 |
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Author |
Waite, T.A. |
Title |
Interruptions improve choice performance in gray jays: prolonged information processing versus minimization of costly errors |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
209-214 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Female; Learning; Male; Models, Biological; Motivation; Reinforcement Schedule; Songbirds/*physiology; Time Factors |
Abstract |
Under the assumption that selection favors minimization of costly errors, erroneous choice may be common when its fitness cost is low. According to an adaptive-choice model, this cost depends on the rate at which an animal encounters the choice: the higher this rate, the smaller the cost of choosing a less valuable option. Errors should thus be more common when interruptions to foraging are shorter. A previous experiment supported this prediction: gray jays, Perisoreus canadensis, were more error prone when subjected to shorter delays to access to food rewards. This pattern, though, is also predicted by an attentional-constraints model. Because the subjects were able to inspect the rewards during delays, their improved performance when subjected to longer delays could have been a byproduct of the experimentally prolonged opportunity for information processing. To evaluate this possibility, a follow-up experiment manipulated both delay to access and whether rewards could be inspected during delays. Depriving jays of the opportunity to inspect rewards (using opaque lids) induced only a small, nonsignificant increase in error rate. This effect was independent of length of delay and so the jays' improved performance when subjected to longer delays was not simply a byproduct of prolonged information processing. More definitively, even when the jays were prevented from inspecting rewards during delays, their performance improved when subjected to longer delays. The findings are thus consistent with the adaptive-choice model. |
Address |
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1293, USA. waite.1@osu.edu |
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ISSN |
1435-9448 |
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Notes |
PMID:12461598 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2592 |
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Author |
West, R.E.; Young, R.J. |
Title |
Do domestic dogs show any evidence of being able to count? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
183-186 |
Keywords |
Animal Feed; Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; *Dogs; Female; Male; *Mathematics; Reinforcement (Psychology); Visual Perception |
Abstract |
Numerical competence has been demonstrated in a wide range of animal species. The level of numerical abilities shown ranges from simple relative numerousness judgements to true counting. In this study we used the preferential looking technique to test whether 11 pet dogs could count. The dogs were presented with three simple calculations: “1+1=2”; “1+1=1”; and “1+1=3”. These calculations were performed by presenting the dogs with treats that were placed behind a screen that allowed manipulation of the outcome of the calculation. When the dogs expected the outcome they spent the same amount of time looking at the result of the calculation as they did on the initial presentation. However, when the result was unexpected dogs spent significantly longer looking at the outcome of the calculation. The results suggest that the dogs were anticipating the outcome of the calculations they observed, thus suggesting that dogs may have a rudimentary ability to count. |
Address |
De Montfort University-Lincoln, Caythorpe, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG32 3EP, UK |
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1435-9448 |
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Notes |
PMID:12357291 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2594 |
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Author |
Schwartz, B.L.; Colon, M.R.; Sanchez, I.C.; Rodriguez, I.A.; Evans, S. |
Title |
Single-trial learning of “what” and “who” information in a gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla): implications for episodic memory |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
85-90 |
Keywords |
Animals; Cognition; Gorilla gorilla/*psychology; *Learning; Male; *Memory; Perception; Reinforcement Schedule |
Abstract |
Single-trial learning and long-term memory of “what” and “who” information were examined in an adult gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We presented the gorilla with a to-be-remembered food item at the time of study. In Experiment 1, following a retention interval of either approximately 7 min or 24 h, the gorilla responded with one of five cards, each corresponding to a particular food. The gorilla was accurate on 70% of the short retention-interval trials and on 82% of the long retention-interval trials. In Experiment 2, the food stimulus was provided by one of two experimenters, each of whom was represented by a card. The gorilla identified the food (55% of the time) and the experimenter (82% of the time) on the short retention-interval trials. On the long retention-interval trials, the gorilla was accurate for the food (73%) and for the person (87%). The results are interpreted in light of theories of episodic memory. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL 33199, USA. schwartb@fiu.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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Notes |
PMID:12150040 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2604 |
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Author |
Burke, D.; Cieplucha, C.; Cass, J.; Russell, F.; Fry, G. |
Title |
Win-shift and win-stay learning in the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
79-84 |
Keywords |
Animals; Echidna/*psychology; Ecology; Female; *Learning; *Memory; *Predatory Behavior; Reinforcement (Psychology) |
Abstract |
Numerous previous investigators have explained species differences in spatial memory performance in terms of differences in foraging ecology. In three experiments we attempted to extend these findings by examining the extent to which the spatial memory performance of echidnas (or “spiny anteaters”) can be understood in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of their prey (ants and termites). This is a species and a foraging situation that have not been examined in this way before. Echidnas were better able to learn to avoid a previously rewarding location (to “win-shift”) than to learn to return to a previously rewarding location (to “win-stay”), at short retention intervals, but were unable to learn either of these strategies at retention intervals of 90 min. The short retention interval results support the ecological hypothesis, but the long retention interval results do not. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. darren_burke@uow.edu.au |
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1435-9448 |
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Notes |
PMID:12150039 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2605 |
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Author |
Cerutti, D.T.; Staddon, J.E.R. |
Title |
Immediacy versus anticipated delay in the time-left experiment: a test of the cognitive hypothesis |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
30 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
45-57 |
Keywords |
Animals; Choice Behavior/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae; Male; Models, Psychological; Psychological Theory; *Reinforcement (Psychology); *Reinforcement Schedule; Time Perception/*physiology |
Abstract |
In the time-left experiment (J. Gibbon & R. M. Church, 1981), animals are said to compare an expectation of a fixed delay to food, for one choice, with a decreasing delay expectation for the other, mentally representing both upcoming time to food and the difference between current time and upcoming time (the cognitive hypothesis). The results of 2 experiments support a simpler view: that animals choose according to the immediacies of reinforcement for each response at a time signaled by available time markers (the temporal control hypothesis). It is not necessary to assume that animals can either represent or subtract representations of times to food to explain the results of the time-left experiment. |
Address |
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-1050, USA. cerutti@psych.duke.edu |
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0097-7403 |
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Notes |
PMID:14709114 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2768 |
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Author |
Boysen, S.T.; Bernston, G.G.; Hannan, M.B.; Cacioppo, J.T. |
Title |
Quantity-based interference and symbolic representations in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1996 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
22 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
76-86 |
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Pan troglodytes; *Reinforcement (Psychology); Task Performance and Analysis |
Abstract |
Five chimpanzees with training in counting and numerical skills selected between 2 arrays of different amounts of candy or 2 Arabic numerals. A reversed reinforcement contingency was in effect, in which the selected array was removed and the subject received the nonselected candies (or the number of candies represented by the nonselected Arabic numeral). Animals were unable to maximize reward by selecting the smaller array when candies were used as array elements. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the candy arrays, all animals showed an immediate shift to a more optimal response strategy of selecting the smaller numeral, thereby receiving the larger reward. Results suggest that a response disposition to the high-incentive candy stimuli introduced a powerful interference effect on performance, which was effectively overridden by the use of symbolic representations. |
Address |
Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222, USA |
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0097-7403 |
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Notes |
PMID:8568498 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2781 |
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Author |
Boysen, S.T.; Berntson, G.G. |
Title |
Responses to quantity: perceptual versus cognitive mechanisms in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1995 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
21 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
82-86 |
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Choice Behavior; Cognition/*physiology; Female; *Pan troglodytes; Perception/*physiology; Reinforcement (Psychology); Task Performance and Analysis |
Abstract |
Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the smaller numeral and thus receiving the larger reward. These findings suggest that a basic predisposition to respond to the perceptual-motivational features of incentive stimuli can interfere with task performance and that this interference can be overridden when abstract symbols serve as choice stimuli. |
Address |
Comparative Cognition Project, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222 |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:7844508 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2783 |
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Author |
Kaplan, A.I.; Borodovskii, M.I. |
Title |
[Alternative animal behavior: a model and its statistical characteristics] |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1989 |
Publication |
Nauchnye Doklady Vysshei Shkoly. Biologicheskie Nauki |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nauchnye Doki Vyss Shkoly Biol Nauki |
Volume |
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Issue |
3 |
Pages |
29-32 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Male; Mathematics; *Models, Biological; *Models, Statistical; Rats; Reinforcement (Psychology) |
Abstract |
The rats' alternative behaviour in T-maze at simultaneous two-sided food refreshment in 13 trials a day during 6 days has been studied. It has been found that in the first testing days the indexes of alternative behaviour of animals correspond to the characteristics of the random alternation. However, on the 5-6th day of testing in the overwhelming majority of rats the true deviation of alternation index above or below than the theoretical values has been revealed. A question on the existence of two strategies of cognitive behaviour alteration and perseveration in rat population is under discussion. |
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Russian |
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Al'ternativnoe povedenie zhivotnykh: model' i statisticheskie kharakteristiki |
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Edition |
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0470-4606 |
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PMID:2742929 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2799 |
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Author |
Pickens, C.L.; Holland, P.C. |
Title |
Conditioning and cognition |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neurosci Biobehav Rev |
Volume |
28 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
651-661 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Conditioning (Psychology)/*physiology; Discrimination Learning/physiology; Humans; Memory; Models, Psychological; Reinforcement (Psychology); Visual Perception/physiology |
Abstract |
Animals' abilities to use internal representations of absent objects to guide adaptive behavior and acquire new information, and to represent multiple spatial, temporal, and object properties of complex events and event sequences, may underlie many aspects of human perception, memory, and symbolic thought. In this review, two classes of simple associative learning tasks that address these core cognitive capacities are discussed. The first set, including reinforcer revaluation and mediated learning procedures, address the power of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli to gain access, through learning, to representations of upcoming events. The second set of investigations concern the construction of complex stimulus representations, as illustrated in studies of contextual learning, the conjunction of explicit stimulus elements in configural learning procedures, and recent studies of episodic-like memory. The importance of identifying both cognitive process and brain system bases of performance in animal models is emphasized. |
Address |
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA |
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0149-7634 |
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PMID:15555675 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2803 |
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