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Author Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.; Bergman, T.J.
Title Primate social cognition and the origins of language Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 6 Pages 264-266
Keywords Animals; *Cognition; Humans; *Language; Papio; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Perception
Abstract Are the cognitive mechanisms underlying language unique, or can similar mechanisms be found in other domains? Recent field experiments demonstrate that baboons' knowledge of their companions' social relationships is based on discrete-valued traits (identity, rank, kinship) that are combined to create a representation of social relations that is hierarchically structured, open-ended, rule-governed, and independent of sensory modality. The mechanisms underlying language might have evolved from the social knowledge of our pre-linguistic primate ancestors.
Address Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu
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ISSN (up) 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15925802 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 343
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Author Hare, B.; Tomasello, M.
Title Human-like social skills in dogs? Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 9 Pages 439-444
Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition/*physiology; Dogs; *Evolution; Humans; *Social Behavior
Abstract Domestic dogs are unusually skilled at reading human social and communicative behavior--even more so than our nearest primate relatives. For example, they use human social and communicative behavior (e.g. a pointing gesture) to find hidden food, and they know what the human can and cannot see in various situations. Recent comparisons between canid species suggest that these unusual social skills have a heritable component and initially evolved during domestication as a result of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression towards humans. Differences in chimpanzee and human temperament suggest that a similar process may have been an important catalyst leading to the evolution of unusual social skills in our own species. The study of convergent evolution provides an exciting opportunity to gain further insights into the evolutionary processes leading to human-like forms of cooperation and communication.
Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, Germany. hare@eva.mpg.de
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ISSN (up) 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16061417 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 546
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Author Gomez, J.-C.
Title Species comparative studies and cognitive development Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 118-125
Keywords Animals; Attention/physiology; Brain/*growth & development; Child, Preschool; Cognition/*physiology; Concept Formation/physiology; Dogs; Evolution; Fixation, Ocular; Gorilla gorilla; Humans; Infant; Learning/*physiology; Macaca mulatta; Mental Recall/physiology; Personal Construct Theory; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract The comparative study of infant development and animal cognition brings to cognitive science the promise of insights into the nature and origins of cognitive skills. In this article, I review a recent wave of comparative studies conducted with similar methodologies and similar theoretical frameworks on how two core components of human cognition--object permanence and gaze following--develop in different species. These comparative findings call for an integration of current competing accounts of developmental change. They further suggest that evolution has produced developmental devices capable at the same time of preserving core adaptive components, and opening themselves up to further adaptive change, not only in interaction with the external environment, but also in interaction with other co-developing cognitive systems.
Address Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY15 9JU, UK
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ISSN (up) 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15737820 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2851
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Author Paukner, A.; Anderson, J.R.; Fujita, K.
Title Redundant food searches by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): a failure of metacognition? Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 110-117
Keywords Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Cebus; *Concept Formation; Female; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; *Visual Perception
Abstract This study investigated capuchin monkeys' understanding of their own visual search behavior as a means to gather information. Five monkeys were presented with three tubes that could be visually searched to determine the location of a bait. The bait's visibility was experimentally manipulated, and the monkeys' spontaneous visual searches before tube selection were analyzed. In Experiment 1, three monkeys selected the baited tube significantly above chance; however, the monkeys also searched transparent tubes. In Experiment 2, a bent tube in which food was never visible was introduced. When the bent tube was baited, the monkeys failed to deduce the bait location and responded randomly. They also continued to look into the bent tube despite not gaining any pertinent information from it. The capuchin monkeys' behavior contrasts with the efficient employment of visual search behavior reported in humans, apes and macaques. This difference is consistent with species-related variations in metacognitive abilities, although other explanations are also possible.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK. ap14@stir.ac.uk
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16184375 Approved no
Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 15
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Author Palmer, M.E.; Calve, M.R.; Adamo, S.A.
Title Response of female cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (Cephalopoda) to mirrors and conspecifics: evidence for signaling in female cuttlefish Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 151-155
Keywords Analysis of Variance; *Animal Communication; Animals; Bias (Epidemiology); Female; Male; Pigmentation/*physiology; Recognition (Psychology)/*physiology; Sepia/*physiology; Visual Perception/*physiology
Abstract Cuttlefish have a large repertoire of body patterns that are used for camouflage and interspecific signaling. Intraspecific signaling by male cuttlefish has been well documented but studies on signaling by females are lacking. We found that females displayed a newly described body pattern termed Splotch toward their mirror image and female conspecifics, but not to males, prey or inanimate objects. Female cuttlefish may use the Splotch body pattern as an intraspecific signal, possibly to reduce agonistic interactions. The ability of females to produce a consistent body pattern in response to conspecifics and mirrors suggests that they can recognize same-sex conspecifics using visual cues, despite the lack of sexual dimorphism visible to human observers.
Address Dorset Environmental Science Centre, Dorset, ON, Canada, P0A 1E0
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16408230 Approved no
Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 16
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Author Zentall, T.R.
Title Configural/holistic processing or differential element versus compound similarity Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 141-142
Keywords Animals; *Chickens; Conditioning, Classical; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Photic Stimulation; *Visual Perception
Abstract Before accepting a configural or holistic account of visual perception, one should be sure that an analytic (elemental) account does not provide an equal or better explanation of the results. I suggest that when one forms a compound of a color and a line orientation with one element previously trained as an S+ and the other as an S-, the resulting transfer found will depend on the relative salience of the two elements, and most important, the similarity of the compound to each of the training stimuli. Thus, if a line orientation is placed on a colored background (a separable compound), it will appear more like the colored field used in training, and color will control responding. However, if the line itself is colored (an integral compound), the compound will appear more like the line used in training, and line orientation will control responding. Not only does this account do a better job of explaining the data but it is simpler and it is testable.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15449103 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 229
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Author Agrillo, C.; Dadda, M.; Bisazza, A.
Title Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 63-70
Keywords Animals; Cognition; *Cyprinodontiformes; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Mathematics; *Pattern Recognition, Visual
Abstract The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates.
Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. christian.agrillo@unipd.it
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16868736 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 339
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Author Miklósi, Á.; Soproni, K.
Title A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human pointing gesture Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 81-93
Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Child; Child, Preschool; Dogs; Fixation, Ocular; *Gestures; Hand; Humans; *Nonverbal Communication; Pinnipedia; Primates; Problem Solving; *Recognition (Psychology); Species Specificity
Abstract We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic. (1) We compare and evaluate current experimental methods (2) We compare available experimental results on performance of different species and investigate the interaction of species differences and other independent variables (3) We evaluate how our present understanding of pointing comprehension answers questions about function, evolution and mechanisms. Recently, a number of different hypotheses have been put forward to account for the presence of this ability in some species and for the lack of such comprehension in others. In our view, there is no convincing evidence for the assumption that the competitive lifestyles of apes would inhibit the utilization of this human gesture. Similarly, domestication as a special evolutionary factor in the case of some species falls short in explaining high levels of pointing comprehension in some non-domestic species. We also disagree with the simplistic view of describing the phenomenon as a simple form of conditioning. We suggest that a more systematic comparative research is needed to understand the emerging communicative representational abilities in animals that provide the background for comprehending the human pointing gesture.
Address Department of Ethology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Pazmany P 1/c, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary. miklosa@ludens.elte.hu
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16235075 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 463
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Author Zucca, P.; Milos, N.; Vallortigara, G.
Title Piagetian object permanence and its development in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 243-258
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Birds/*physiology; *Cognition; *Cues
Abstract Object permanence in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) was investigated using a complete version of the Uzgiris and Hunt scale 1. Nine hand-raised jays were studied, divided into two groups according to their different developmental stages (experiment 1, older jays: 2-3 months old, n = 4; experiment 2, younger jays: 15 days old, n = 5). In the first experiment, we investigated whether older jays could achieve piagetian stage 6 of object permanence. Tasks were administered in a fixed sequence (1-15) according to the protocols used in other avian species. The aim of the second experiment was to check whether testing very young jays before their development of “neophobia” could influence the achievement times of piagetian stages. Furthermore, in this experiment tasks were administered randomly to investigate whether the jays' achievement of stage 6 follows a fixed sequence related to the development of specific cognitive abilities. All jays tested in experiments 1 and 2 fully achieved piagetian stage 6 and no “A not B” errors were observed. Performance on visible displacement tasks was better than performance on invisible ones. The results of experiment 2 show that “neophobia” affected the response of jays in terms of achievement times; the older jays in experiment 1 took longer to pass all the tasks when compared with the younger, less neophobic, jays in experiment 2. With regard to the achieving order, jays followed a fixed sequence of acquisition in experiment 2, even if tasks were administered randomly, with the exception of one subject. The results of these experiments support the idea that piagetian stages of cognitive development exist in avian species and that they progress through relatively fixed sequences.
Address Department of Psychology, Laboratory of Animal Cognition and Comparative Neuroscience, Via S. Anastasio 12, 34100, Trieste, Italy. zucca@units.it
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17242935 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2423
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Author Tanaka, M.
Title Recognition of pictorial representations by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 169-179
Keywords Animals; Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Pan troglodytes/*physiology; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Photography
Abstract In this study, I investigated chimpanzees' ability to recognize pictorial representations. Four adults and three juvenile chimpanzees were trained to choose images of photographs of flowers among 12 items belonging to four categories on a touch-sensitive monitor. As a generalization test, the following five types of images were presented: (1) novel photographs, (2) colored sketches (more realistic), (3) a colored clip art (cartoon-like images), (4) black-and-white line drawings, and (5) Kanji characters (as the control images). One adult and all three juvenile chimpanzees were able to choose any style of the nonphotographic images of flowers significantly above the chance level, whereas none could choose the correct Kanji characters corresponding to a flower significantly above the chance level. The other three adult chimpanzees' performance level did not exceed the chance level in terms of choosing nonphotographic images although they showed good transfer skills to novel photographs. The results revealed that not all chimpanzees could recognize pictures used by humans without training. The results also suggest “critical period” in acquisition of skill in recognizing pictures in chimpanzees. Only one adult chimpanzee, who had acquired skill in recognizing visual symbols, also recognized pictures aside from the juvenile chimpanzees. Her learning history might have aided her in acquiring this skill. The results of this study suggest a relationship between pictorial competence and symbolic one.
Address Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan. mtanaka@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
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ISSN (up) 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17171361 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2428
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