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Author Griffin, D.R.; Speck, G.B. doi  openurl
  Title New evidence of animal consciousness Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages (down) 5-18  
  Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Awareness; *Behavior, Animal; *Consciousness  
  Abstract This paper reviews evidence that increases the probability that many animals experience at least simple levels of consciousness. First, the search for neural correlates of consciousness has not found any consciousness-producing structure or process that is limited to human brains. Second, appropriate responses to novel challenges for which the animal has not been prepared by genetic programming or previous experience provide suggestive evidence of animal consciousness because such versatility is most effectively organized by conscious thinking. For example, certain types of classical conditioning require awareness of the learned contingency in human subjects, suggesting comparable awareness in similarly conditioned animals. Other significant examples of versatile behavior suggestive of conscious thinking are scrub jays that exhibit all the objective attributes of episodic memory, evidence that monkeys sometimes know what they know, creative tool-making by crows, and recent interpretation of goal-directed behavior of rats as requiring simple nonreflexive consciousness. Third, animal communication often reports subjective experiences. Apes have demonstrated increased ability to use gestures or keyboard symbols to make requests and answer questions; and parrots have refined their ability to use the imitation of human words to ask for things they want and answer moderately complex questions. New data have demonstrated increased flexibility in the gestural communication of swarming honey bees that leads to vitally important group decisions as to which cavity a swarm should select as its new home. Although no single piece of evidence provides absolute proof of consciousness, this accumulation of strongly suggestive evidence increases significantly the likelihood that some animals experience at least simple conscious thoughts and feelings. The next challenge for cognitive ethologists is to investigate for particular animals the content of their awareness and what life is actually like, for them.  
  Address Concord Field Station, Harvard University, Old Causeway Road, Bedford, MA 01730, USA  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:14658059 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2549  
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Author Griffin, D.R. doi  openurl
  Title From cognition to consciousness Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages (down) 3-16  
  Keywords Animal minds – Cognitive ethology – Cognition – Consciousness  
  Abstract This paper proposes an extension of scientific horizons in the study of animal behavior and cognition to include conscious experiences. From this perspective animals are best appreciated as actors rather than passive objects. A major adaptive function of their central nervous systems may be simple, but conscious and rational, thinking about alternative actions and choosing those the animal believes will get what it wants, or avoid what it dislikes or fears. Versatile adjustment of behavior in response to unpredictable challenges provides strongly suggestive evidence of simple but conscious thinking. And especially significant objective data about animal thoughts and feelings are already available, once communicative signals are recognized as evidence of the subjective experiences they often convey to others. The scientific investigation of human consciousness has undergone a renaissance in the 1990s, as exemplified by numerous symposia, books and two new journals. The neural correlates of cognition appear to be basically similar in all central nervous systems. Therefore other species equipped with very similar neurons, synapses, and glia may well be conscious. Simple perceptual and rational conscious thinking may be at least as important for small animals as for those with large enough brains to store extensive libraries of behavioral rules. Perhaps only in “megabrains” is most of the information processing unconscious.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3088  
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Author Kitchen, D.M.; Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M. doi  openurl
  Title Male chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) discriminate loud call contests between rivals of different relative ranks Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-6  
  Keywords Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; *Discrimination Learning; *Hierarchy, Social; Male; Papio hamadryas/*psychology; *Social Dominance; *Vocalization, Animal  
  Abstract Males in multi-male groups of chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) in Botswana compete for positions in a linear dominance hierarchy. Previous research suggests that males treat different categories of rivals differently; competitive displays between males of similar rank are more frequent and intense than those between disparately ranked males. Here we test whether males also respond differently to male-male interactions in which they are not directly involved, using playbacks of the loud 'wahoo' calls exchanged between competing males in aggressive displays. We played paired sequences of vocal contests between two adjacently ranked and two disparately ranked males to ten subjects, half ranking below the signalers in the call sequences and half above. Subjects who ranked above the two signalers showed stronger responses than lower-ranking subjects. Higher-ranking subjects also responded more strongly to sequences involving disparately ranked, as opposed to adjacently ranked opponents, suggesting that they recognized those individuals' relative ranks. Strong responses to sequences between disparately ranked opponents might have occurred either because such contests typically involve resources of high fitness value (defense of meat, estrous females or infants vulnerable to infanticide) or because they indicate a sudden change in one contestant's condition. In contrast, subjects who ranked lower than the signalers responded equally strongly to both types of sequences. These subjects may have been able to distinguish between the two categories of opponents but did not respond differently to them because they had little to lose or gain by a rank reversal between males that already ranked higher than they did.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. dkitchen@psych.upenn.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15164259 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 687  
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Author Fiset, S.; Landry, F.; Ouellette, M. doi  openurl
  Title Egocentric search for disappearing objects in domestic dogs: evidence for a geometric hypothesis of direction Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-12  
  Keywords Animals; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Form Perception; Male; Mental Recall; *Motion Perception; Orientation; Problem Solving; *Space Perception  
  Abstract In several species, the ability to locate a disappearing object is an adaptive component of predatory and social behaviour. In domestic dogs, spatial memory for hidden objects is primarily based on an egocentric frame of reference. We investigated the geometric components of egocentric spatial information used by domestic dogs to locate an object they saw move and disappear. In experiment 1, the distance and the direction between the position of the animal and the hiding location were put in conflict. Results showed that the dogs primarily used the directional information between their own spatial coordinates and the target position. In experiment 2, the accuracy of the dogs in finding a hidden object by using directional information was estimated by manipulating the angular deviation between adjacent hiding locations and the position of the animal. Four angular deviations were tested: 5, 7.5, 10 and 15 degrees . Results showed that the performance of the dogs decreased as a function of the angular deviations but it clearly remained well above chance, revealing that the representation of the dogs for direction is precise. In the discussion, we examine how and why domestic dogs determine the direction in which they saw an object disappear.  
  Address Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, Edmundston, New-Brunswick, Canada E3V 2S8. sfiset@umce.ca  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15750805 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2489  
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Author Fiset, S.; Beaulieu, C.; Landry, F. doi  openurl
  Title Duration of dogs' (Canis familiaris) working memory in search for disappearing objects Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-10  
  Keywords Animals; Dogs/*psychology; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; Male; *Memory; Visual Perception  
  Abstract Two experiments explored the duration of dogs' working memory in an object permanence task: a delay was introduced between the disappearance of a moving object behind a box and the beginning of the search by the animal. In experiment 1, the dogs were tested with retention intervals of 0, 10, 30, and 60 s. Results revealed that the dogs' accuracy declined as a function of the length of the retention interval but remained above chance for each retention interval. In experiment 2, with new subjects, longer retention intervals (0, 30, 60, 120, and 240 s) were presented to the dogs. Results replicated findings from experiment 1 and revealed that the dogs' accuracy remained higher than chance level with delays up to 240 s. In both experiments, the analysis of errors also showed that the dogs searched as a function of the proximity of the target box and were not subject to intertrial proactive interference. In the discussion, we explore different alternatives to explain why dogs' search behaviour for hidden objects decreased as a function of the retention intervals.  
  Address Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, E3V 2S8, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. sfiset@umce.ca  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12658530 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2586  
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Author Bshary, R.; Wickler, W.; Fricke, H. doi  openurl
  Title Fish cognition: a primate's eye view Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-13  
  Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Evolution; Fishes/*physiology; Intelligence; Learning; Primates/*physiology; Social Behavior  
  Abstract We provide selected examples from the fish literature of phenomena found in fish that are currently being examined in discussions of cognitive abilities and evolution of neocortex size in primates. In the context of social intelligence, we looked at living in individualized groups and corresponding social strategies, social learning and tradition, and co-operative hunting. Regarding environmental intelligence, we searched for examples concerning special foraging skills, tool use, cognitive maps, memory, anti-predator behaviour, and the manipulation of the environment. Most phenomena of interest for primatologists are found in fish as well. We therefore conclude that more detailed studies on decision rules and mechanisms are necessary to test for differences between the cognitive abilities of primates and other taxa. Cognitive research can benefit from future fish studies in three ways: first, as fish are highly variable in their ecology, they can be used to determine the specific ecological factors that select for the evolution of specific cognitive abilities. Second, for the same reason they can be used to investigate the link between cognitive abilities and the enlargement of specific brain areas. Third, decision rules used by fish could be used as 'null-hypotheses' for primatologists looking at how monkeys might make their decisions. Finally, we propose a variety of fish species that we think are most promising as study objects.  
  Address University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. rb286@cam.ac.uk  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11957395 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2617  
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Author Gould, J.L. doi  openurl
  Title Thinking about thinking: how Donald R. Griffin (1915-2003) remade animal behavior Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-4  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3092  
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Author Czeschlik, T. doi  openurl
  Title Animal cognition – the phylogeny and ontogeny of cognitive abilities Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-2  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3100  
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Author Wauters, A. M.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Richard, J. P.; Foraste M. doi  openurl
  Title Internal and external factors modulate food-calling in domestic hens Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-10  
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  Abstract Two series of experiments investigated factors affecting utterance of food calls in the domestic hen, Gallus domesticus. The first series of experiments tested the effect of food preference and the hen’s internal state on the utterance of food calls. Different food types were presented first singly and then in a choice test to 20 hens, first when hens were laying, and then when they were maternal. The second series of experiments tested the effect of hunger level on the utterance of food calls in laying hens, and maternal hens with or without chicks. These two series of experiments showed that laying hens and maternal hens showed a similar marked preference for certain types of food, but laying hens very rarely emitted food calls, in contrast to maternal hens. This shows the effect of the bird’s psychophysiological state on her tendency to emit food calls. The more a maternal hen preferred a food type, the more food calls she emitted. This was observed from the beginning of a test in single-food tests as well as in choice tests. Hunger level positively affected food-call production under certain feeding conditions in maternal hens, but not in laying hens. When maternal hens were tested in the absence of their chicks, utterance of food calls was more sustained than in the presence of chicks.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3306  
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Author Vick, S.-J.; Bovet, D.; Anderson, J. doi  openurl
  Title Gaze discrimination learning in olive baboons (Papio anubis) Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages (down) 1-10  
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  Abstract The ability to discriminate between pairs of photographs according to the portrayed model's visual attention status was examined in four olive baboons. Two baboons successfully managed to solve the problem, even when attention was demonstrated by eye direction alone. A third showed an ability to discriminate head direction but not eye direction. In order to investigate further their ability to discriminate attention, the two successful baboons and two naïve baboons were presented with a simple object-choice task accompanied by experimenter-given cues. There was no evidence of transfer from the photographic stimuli to a real model; only one baboon showed signs of using the experimenter's attention to chose between two objects, and only after over 300 trials. These results could suggest that the baboons used simple physical cues rather than a concept of attention to solve the picture discrimination but alternative explanations are also discussed.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3348  
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