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Author Udell, M.A.R.; Dorey, N.R.; Wynne, C.D.L.
Title Wolves outperform dogs in following human social cues Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 76 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1767-1773
Keywords Canis familiaris; Canis lupus; dog; dog shelter; domestication; momentary distal point; object choice; social cognition; wolf
Abstract Domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, have been shown capable of finding hidden food by following pointing gestures made with different parts of the human body. However, previous studies have reported that hand-reared wolves, C. lupus, fail to locate hidden food in response to similar points in the absence of extensive training. The failure of wolves to perform this task has led to the proposal that the ability to understand others' intentions is a derived character in dogs, not present in the ancestral population (wolves). Here we show that wolves, given the right rearing environment and daily interaction with humans, can use momentary distal human pointing cues to find food without training, whereas dogs tested outdoors and dogs at an animal shelter do not follow the same human points. In line with past studies, pet dogs tested indoors were successful in following these points. We also show that the reported failure of wolves in some past studies may be due to differences in the testing environment. Our findings indicate that domestication is not a prerequisite for human-like social cognition in canids, and show the need for additional research on the role of rearing conditions and environmental factors in the development of higher-level cognitive abilities.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4964
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Author Bräuer, J.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Chimpanzees do not take into account what others can hear in a competitive situation Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1435-9448
Keywords Social cognition – Food competition – Perspective taking
Abstract Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) know what others can and cannot see in a competitive situation. Does this reflect a general understanding the perceptions of others` In a study by Hare et al. (2000) pairs of chimpanzees competed over two pieces of food. Subordinate individuals preferred to approach food that was behind a barrier that the dominant could not see, suggesting that chimpanzees can take the visual perspective of others. We extended this paradigm to the auditory modality to investigate whether chimpanzees are sensitive to whether a competitor can hear food rewards being hidden. Results suggested that the chimpanzees did not take what the competitor had heard into account, despite being able to locate the hiding place themselves by the noise.
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Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 4218
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Author Kaminski, J.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Goats' behaviour in a competitive food paradigm: Evidence for perspective taking? Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour
Volume 143 Issue Pages (down) 1341-1356
Keywords SOCIAL COGNITION; GOATS; VISUAL PERSPECTIVE TAKING; COMPARATIVE COGNITION
Abstract Many mammalian species are highly social, creating intra-group competition for such things as food and mates. Recent research with nonhuman primates indicates that in competitive situations individuals know what other individuals can and cannot see, and they use this knowledge to their advantage in various ways. In the current study, we extended these findings to a non-primate species, the domestic goat, using the conspecific competition paradigm developed by Hare et al. (2000). Like chimpanzees and some other nonhuman primates, goats live in fission-fusion societies, form coalitions and alliances, and are known to reconcile after fights. In the current study, a dominant and a subordinate individual competed for food, but in some cases the subordinate could see things that the dominant could not. In the condition where dominants could only see one piece of food but subordinates could see both, subordinates' preferences depended on whether they received aggression from the dominant animal during the experiment. Subjects who received aggression preferred the hidden over the visible piece of food, whereas subjects who never received aggression significantly preferred the visible piece. By using this strategy, goats who had not received aggression got significantly more food than the other goats. Such complex social interactions may be supported by cognitive mechanisms similar to those of chimpanzees. We discuss these results in the context of current issues in mammalian cognition and socio-ecology.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 3430
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Author Proops, L.; Walton, M.; McComb, K.
Title The use of human-given cues by domestic horses, Equus caballus, during an object choice task Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 79 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1205-1209
Keywords domestication; Equus caballus; horse; interspecific communication; marker cue; pointing; social cognition
Abstract Selection pressures during domestication are thought to lead to an enhanced ability to use human-given cues. Horses fulfil a wide variety of roles for humans and have been domesticated for at least 5000 years but their ability to read human cues has not been widely studied. We tested the ability of 28 horses to attend to human-given cues in an object choice task. We included five different cues: distal sustained pointing, momentary tapping, marker placement, body orientation and gaze (head) alternation. Horses were able to use the pointing and marker placement cues spontaneously but not the tapping, body orientation and gaze alternation cues. The overall pattern of responding suggests that horses may use cues that provide stimulus enhancement at the time of choice and do not have an understanding of the communicative nature of the cues given. As such, their proficiency at this task appears to be inferior to that of domestic dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, but similar to that of domestic goats, Caprus hircus.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5083
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Author Sankey, C.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Leroy, H.; Henry, S.; Hausberger, M.
Title Positive interactions lead to lasting positive memories in horses, Equus caballus Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 79 Issue 4 Pages (down) 869-875
Keywords Equus caballus; horse; human–animal relationship; learning; memory; positive interaction; social cognition
Abstract Social relationships are important in social species. These relationships, based on repeated interactions, define each partner's expectations during the following encounters. The creation of a relationship implies high social cognitive abilities which require that each partner is able to associate the positive or negative content of an interaction with a specific partner and to recall this association. In this study, we tested the effects of repeated interactions on the memory kept by 23 young horses about humans, after 6 and 8 months of separation. The association of a reward with a learning task in an interactional context induced positive reactions towards humans during training. It also increased contact and interest, not only just after training, but also several months later, despite no further interaction with humans. In addition, this ‘positive memory’ of humans extended to novel persons. Overall, positive reinforcement enhanced learning and memorization of the task itself. These findings suggest remarkable social cognitive abilities that can be transposed from intraspecific to interspecific social contexts.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5418
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Author Defolie, C.; Malassis, R.; Serre, M.; Meunier, H.
Title Tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) adapt their communicative behaviour to human’s attentional states Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages (down) 747-755
Keywords Gestural communication; Intentionality; Non-human primates; Social cognition; Attention; Pointing
Abstract Animal communication has become a widely studied field of research, especially because of the associated debates on the origin of human language. Due to their phylogenetic proximity with humans, non-human primates represent a suitable model to investigate the precursors of language. This study focuses on the perception of the attentional states of others, an important prerequisite to intentional communication. We investigated whether capuchins (Cebus apella) produce a learnt pointing gesture towards a hidden and unreachable food reward as a function of the attentional status of the human experimenter. For that purpose, we tested five subjects that we first trained to indicate by a pointing gesture towards the human partner the position of a reward hidden by an assistant. Then, capuchins were tested in two experimental conditions randomly ordered. In the first condition—motivation trial—the experimenter was attentive to the subject gestures and rewarded him immediately when it pointed towards the baited cylinder. During the second condition—test trial—the experimenter adopted one of the following attention states and the subject was rewarded after 10 s has elapsed, regardless of the subject’s behaviour. Five attentional states were tested: (1) experimenter absent, (2) experimenter back to the monkey, (3) experimenter’s head away, (4) experimenter watching above the monkey, and (5) experimenter watching the monkey face. Our results reveal a variation in our subjects’ communicative behaviours with a discrimination of the different postural clues (body and head orientation) available in our experimental conditions. This study suggests that capuchins can flexibly use a communicative gesture to adapt to the attentional state of their partner and provides evidence that acquired communicative gestures of monkeys might be used intentionally.
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Publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5886
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Author Krueger, K.; Heinze, J.
Title Horse sense: social status of horses (Equus caballus) affects their likelihood of copying other horses` behavior Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages (down) 431-439
Keywords copying, horse, social cognition, sociality
Abstract Animals that live in stable social groups need to gather information on their own relative position in the group`s social hierarchy, either by directly threatening or challenging others, or in a less costly manner, by observing interactions among others. Such indirect inference of dominance relationships has previously been reported from primates, rats, and birds and fish. Here, we show that domestic horses, Equus caballus, are similarly capable of social cognition. Taking advantage of a specific “following behavior” that horses show towards humans in a riding arena, we investigated whether bystander horses adjust their response to an experimenter according to the observed interaction and their own dominance relationship with the horse whose reaction to the experimenter they had observed before. Horses copied the following behavior towards an experimenter after watching a dominant horse following, but did not follow after observing a subordinate horse or a horse from another social group doing so. The following behavior which horses show towards an experimenter therefore appears to be affected by the demonstrator`s behavior and social status relative to the observer.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4324
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Author Kaminski, J.; Pitsch, A.; Tomasello, M.
Title Dogs steal in the dark Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Abbreviated Journal Animal Cognition
Volume 16 Issue 3 Pages (down) 385-394
Keywords Domestic dog; Social cognition; Perspective taking; Competition
Abstract All current evidence of visual perspective taking in dogs can possibly be explained by dogs reacting to certain stimuli rather than understanding what others see. In the current study, we set up a situation in which contextual information and social cues are in conflict. A human always forbade the dog from taking a piece of food. The part of the room being illuminated was then varied, for example, either the area where the human was seated or the area where the food was located was lit. Results show that dogs steal significantly more food when it is dark compared to when it is light. While stealing forbidden food the dog’s behaviour also depends on the type of illumination in the room. Illumination around the food, but not the human, affected the dogs’ behaviour. This indicates that dogs do not take the sight of the human as a signal to avoid the food. It also cannot be explained by a low-level associative rule of avoiding illuminated food which dogs actually approach faster when they are in private. The current finding therefore raises the possibility that dogs take into account the human’s visual access to the food while making their decision to steal it.
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Publisher Springer-Verlag Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5669
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Author Smith, B.; Litchfield, C.
Title Dingoes (Canis dingo) can use human social cues to locate hidden food Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages (down) 367-376
Keywords Dingo – Dog – Human pointing – Object-choice task – Social cognition – Domestication
Abstract Abstract  There is contention concerning the role that domestication plays in the responsiveness of canids to human social cues, with most studies investigating abilities of recognized domestic dog breeds or wolves. Valuable insight regarding the evolution of social communication with humans might be gained by investigating Australian dingoes, which have an early history of domestication, but have been free-ranging in Australia for approximately 3500–5000 years. Seven ‘pure’ dingoes were tested outdoors by a familiar experimenter using the object-choice paradigm to determine whether they could follow nine human communicative gestures previously tested with domestic dogs and captive wolves. Dingoes passed all cues significantly above control, including the “benchmark” momentary distal pointing, with the exception of gaze only, gaze and point, and pointing from the incorrect location. Dingo performance appears to lie somewhere between wolves and dogs, which suggests that domestication may have played a role in their ability to comprehend human gestures.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5116
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Author Reid, P.J.
Title Adapting to the human world: Dogs' responsiveness to our social cues Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 80 Issue 3 Pages (down) 325-333
Keywords Domestic dog; Social cognition; Communicative gestures
Abstract Dogs are more skilful than a host of other species at tasks which require they respond to human communicative gestures in order to locate hidden food. Four basic interpretations for this proficiency surface from distilling the research findings. One possibility is that dogs simply have more opportunity than other species to learn to be responsive to human social cues. A different analysis suggests that the domestication process provided an opening for dogs to apply general cognitive problem-solving skills to a novel social niche. Some researchers go beyond this account and propose that dogs' co-evolution with humans equipped them with a theory of mind for social exchanges. Finally, a more prudent approach suggests that sensitivity to the behaviours of both humans and conspecifics would be particularly advantageous for a social scavenger like the dog. A predisposition to attend to human actions allows for rapid early learning of the association between gestures and the availability of food.
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ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4755
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