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Author Ringhofer, M.; Yamamoto, S.
Title Domestic horses send signals to humans when they face with an unsolvable task Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume Issue Pages 1-9
Keywords
Abstract Some domestic animals are thought to be skilled at social communication with humans due to the process of domestication. Horses, being in close relationship with humans, similar to dogs, might be skilled at communication with humans. Previous studies have indicated that they are sensitive to bodily signals and the attentional state of humans; however, there are few studies that investigate communication with humans and responses to the knowledge state of humans. Our first question was whether and how horses send signals to their potentially helpful but ignorant caretakers in a problem-solving situation where a food item was hidden in a bucket that was accessible only to the caretakers. We then examined whether horses alter their behaviours on the basis of the caretakers’ knowledge of where the food was hidden. We found that horses communicated to their caretakers using visual and tactile signals. The signalling behaviour of the horses significantly increased in conditions where the caretakers had not seen the hiding of the food. These results suggest that horses alter their communicative behaviour towards humans in accordance with humans’ knowledge state.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Ringhofer2016 Serial 6037
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Author Riley, J.L.; Noble, D.W.A.; Byrne, R.W.; Whiting, M.J.
Title Does social environment influence learning ability in a family-living lizard? Type Journal Article
Year 2017 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 20 Issue 3 Pages 449-458
Keywords
Abstract Early developmental environment can have profound effects on individual physiology, behaviour, and learning. In birds and mammals, social isolation during development is known to negatively affect learning ability; yet in other taxa, like reptiles, the effect of social isolation during development on learning ability is unknown. We investigated how social environment affects learning ability in the family-living tree skink (Egernia striolata). We hypothesized that early social environment shapes cognitive development in skinks and predicted that skinks raised in social isolation would have reduced learning ability compared to skinks raised socially. Offspring were separated at birth into two rearing treatments: (1) raised alone or (2) in a pair. After 1 year, we quantified spatial learning ability of skinks in these rearing treatments (N = 14 solitary, 14 social). We found no effect of rearing treatment on learning ability. The number of skinks to successfully learn the task, the number of trials taken to learn the task, the latency to perform the task, and the number of errors in each trial did not differ between isolated and socially reared skinks. Our results were unexpected, yet the facultative nature of this species' social system may result in a reduced effect of social isolation on behaviour when compared to species with obligate sociality. Overall, our findings do not provide evidence that social environment affects development of spatial learning ability in this family-living lizard.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Riley2017 Serial 6190
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Author Miyata, H.; Gajdon, G.K.; Huber, L.; Fujita, K.
Title How do keas (Nestor notabilis) solve artificial-fruit problems with multiple locks? Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 45-58
Keywords
Abstract Keas, a species of parrots from New Zealand, are an interesting species for comparative studies of problem solving and cognition because they are known not only for efficient capacities for object manipulation but also for explorative and playful behaviors. To what extent are they efficient or explorative, and what cognitive abilities do they use? We examined how keas would solve several versions of artificial-fruit box problems having multiple locks. After training keas to remove a metal rod from over a Plexiglas lid that had to be opened, we exposed the birds to a variety of tasks having two or more locks. We also introduced a preview phase during which the keas had extended opportunity to look at the tasks before the experimenter allowed the birds to solve them, to examine whether the preview phase would facilitate the birds' performance on the tasks. In a large number of tests, the keas showed a strong trend to solve the tasks with no positive effect of previewing the tasks. When the tasks became complex, however, the keas corrected inappropriate responses more quickly when they had had chance to preview the problems than when they had not. The results suggest that the keas primarily used explorative strategies in solving the lock problems but might have obtained some information about the tasks before starting to solve them. This may reflect a good compromise of keas' trial-and-error tendency and their good cognitive ability that result from a selection pressure they have faced in their natural habitat.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Miyata2011 Serial 6549
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Author Millot, S.; Nilsson, J.; Fosseidengen, J.E.; Bégout, M.-L.; Fernö, A.; Braithwaite, V.A.; Kristiansen, T.S.
Title Innovative behaviour in fish: Atlantic cod can learn to use an external tag to manipulate a self-feeder Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal
Volume 17 Issue 3 Pages 779-785
Keywords
Abstract This study describes how three individual fish, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.), developed a novel behaviour and learnt to use a dorsally attached external tag to activate a self-feeder. This behaviour was repeated up to several hundred times, and over time these fish fine-tuned the behaviour and made a series of goal-directed coordinated movements needed to attach the feeder’s pull string to the tag and stretch the string until the feeder was activated. These observations demonstrate a capacity in cod to develop a novel behaviour utilizing an attached tag as a tool to achieve a goal. This may be seen as one of the very few observed examples of innovation and tool use in fish.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Millot2013 Serial 5933
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Author Malavasi, R.; Huber, L.
Title Evidence of heterospecific referential communication from domestic horses (Equus caballus) to humans Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 19 Issue 5 Pages 899-909
Keywords
Abstract Referential communication occurs when a sender elaborates its gestures to direct the attention of a recipient to its role in pursuit of the desired goal, e.g. by pointing or showing an object, thereby informing the recipient what it wants. If the gesture is successful, the sender and the recipient focus their attention simultaneously on a third entity, the target. Here we investigated the ability of domestic horses (Equus caballus) to communicate referentially with a human observer about the location of a desired target, a bucket of food out of reach. In order to test six operational criteria of referential communication, we manipulated the recipient’s (experimenter) attentional state in four experimental conditions: frontally oriented, backward oriented, walking away from the arena and frontally oriented with other helpers present in the arena. The rate of gaze alternation was higher in the frontally oriented condition than in all the others. The horses appeared to use both indicative (pointing) and non-indicative (nods and shakes) head gestures in the relevant test conditions. Horses also elaborated their communication by switching from a visual to a tactile signal and demonstrated perseverance in their communication. The results of the tests revealed that horses used referential gestures to manipulate the attention of a human recipient so to obtain an unreachable resource. These are the first such findings in an ungulate species.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Malavasi2016 Serial 6029
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Author 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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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Liedtke2017 Serial 6191
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Author Krueger, K.
Title Perissodactyla Cognition Type Book Chapter
Year 2017 Publication Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-10
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Publisher Springer International Publishing Place of Publication Cham Editor Vonk, J.; Shackelford, T.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 978-3-319-47829-6 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Krueger2017 Serial 6187
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Author Krueger, K.; Marr, I.; Farmer, K.
Title Equine Cognition Type Book Chapter
Year 2017 Publication Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-11
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Publisher Springer International Publishing Place of Publication Cham Editor Vonk, J.; Shackelford, T.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 978-3-319-47829-6 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Krueger2017 Serial 6181
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Author Kis, A.; Huber, L.; Wilkinson, A.
Title Social learning by imitation in a reptile (Pogona vitticeps) Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim.Cogn.
Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 325-331
Keywords
Abstract The ability to learn through imitation is thought to be the basis of cultural transmission and was long considered a distinctive characteristic of humans. There is now evidence that both mammals and birds are capable of imitation. However, nothing is known about these abilities in the third amniotic class--reptiles. Here, we use a bidirectional control procedure to show that a reptile species, the bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), is capable of social learning that cannot be explained by simple mechanisms such as local enhancement or goal emulation. Subjects in the experimental group opened a trap door to the side that had been demonstrated, while subjects in the ghost control group, who observed the door move without the intervention of a conspecific, were unsuccessful. This, together with differences in behaviour between experimental and control groups, provides compelling evidence that reptiles possess cognitive abilities that are comparable to those observed in mammals and birds and suggests that learning by imitation is likely to be based on ancient mechanisms.
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Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Kis2015 Serial 6193
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Author Huebner, F.; Fichtel, C.
Title Innovation and behavioral flexibility in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim.Cogn.
Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 777-787
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Abstract Innovations and problem-solving abilities can provide animals with important ecological advantages as they allow individuals to deal with novel social and ecological challenges. Innovation is a solution to a novel problem or a novel solution to an old problem, with the latter being especially difficult. Finding a new solution to an old problem requires individuals to inhibit previously applied solutions to invent new strategies and to behave flexibly. We examined the role of experience on cognitive flexibility to innovate and to find new problem-solving solutions with an artificial feeding task in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). Four groups of lemurs were tested with feeding boxes, each offering three different techniques to extract food, with only one technique being available at a time. After the subjects learned a technique, this solution was no longer successful and subjects had to invent a new technique. For the first transition between task 1 and 2, subjects had to rely on their experience of the previous technique to solve task 2. For the second transition, subjects had to inhibit the previously learned technique to learn the new task 3. Tasks 1 and 2 were solved by most subjects, whereas task 3 was solved by only a few subjects. In this task, besides behavioral flexibility, especially persistence, i.e., constant trying, was important for individual success during innovation. Thus, wild strepsirrhine primates are able to innovate flexibly, suggesting a general ecological relevance of behavioral flexibility and persistence during innovation and problem solving across all primates.
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ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number (down) Equine Behaviour @ team @ Huebner2015 Serial 5938
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