Records |
Author |
Lonsdorf, E.V. |
Title |
What is the role of mothers in the acquisition of termite-fishing behaviors in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
36-46 |
Keywords |
Animals; Animals, Wild; *Behavior, Animal; Cooking and Eating Utensils; Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; *Imitative Behavior; Learning; Mothers/*psychology; Motor Skills; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Problem Solving |
Abstract |
This paper explores the role of maternal influences on the acquisition of a tool-using task in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in order to build on and complement previous work done in captivity. Young chimpanzees show a long period of offspring dependency on mothers and it is during this period that offspring learn several important skills, especially how to and on what to forage. At Gombe National Park, one skill that is acquired during dependency is termite-fishing, a complex behavior that involves inserting a tool made from the surrounding vegetation into a termite mound and extracting the termites that attack and cling to the tool. All chimpanzees observed at Gombe have acquired the termite-fishing skill by the age of 5.5 years. Since the mother is the primary source of information throughout this time period, I investigated the influence of mothers' individual termite-fishing characteristics on their offsprings' speed of acquisition and proficiency at the skill once acquired. Mother's time spent alone or with maternal family members, which is highly correlated to time spent termite-fishing, was positively correlated to offspring's acquisition of critical elements of the skill. I also investigated the specific types of social interactions that occur between mothers and offspring at the termite mound and found that mothers are highly tolerant to offspring, even when the behavior of the offspring may disrupt the termite-fishing attempt. However, no active facilitation by mothers of offsprings' attempts were observed. |
Address |
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. elonsdorf@lpzoo.org |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16195914 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2480 |
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Author |
Held, S.; Baumgartner, J.; Kilbride, A.; Byrne, R.W.; Mendl, M. |
Title |
Foraging behaviour in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa): remembering and prioritizing food sites of different value |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
114-121 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; *Association Learning; Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; *Space Perception; Sus scrofa/*psychology |
Abstract |
This experiment investigated whether domestic pigs can remember the locations of food sites of different relative value, and how a restricted retrieval choice affects their foraging behaviour. Nine juvenile female pigs were trained to relocate two food sites out of a possible eight in a spatial memory task. The two baited sites contained different amounts of food and an obstacle was added to the smaller amount to increase handling time. On each trial, a pig searched for the two baited sites (search visit). Once it had found and eaten the bait, it returned for a second (relocation) visit, in which the two same sites were baited. Baited sites were changed between trials. All subjects learnt the task. When allowed to retrieve both baits, the subjects showed no preference for retrieving a particular one first (experiment 1). When they were allowed to retrieve only one bait, a significant overall preference for retrieving the larger amount emerged across subjects (experiment 2). To test whether this preference reflected an avoidance of the obstacle with the smaller bait, 15 choice-restricted control trials were conducted. In control trials obstacles were present with both baits. Pigs continued to retrieve the larger bait, indicating they had discriminated between the two food sites on the basis of quantity or profitability and adjusted their behaviour accordingly when the relocation choice was restricted. This suggests for the first time that domestic pigs have the ability to discriminate between food sites of different relative value and to remember their respective locations. |
Address |
Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Centre for Behavioural Biology, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, UK. suzanne.held@bris.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15871038 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2487 |
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Author |
Palleroni, A.; Hauser, M.; Marler, P. |
Title |
Do responses of galliform birds vary adaptively with predator size? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
200-210 |
Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Avoidance Learning; *Behavior, Animal; Body Size; Chickens; Female; Food Chain; Male; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Predatory Behavior; *Recognition (Psychology); Risk Assessment |
Abstract |
Past studies of galliform anti-predator behavior show that they discriminate between aerial and ground predators, producing distinctive, functionally referential vocalizations to each class. Within the category of aerial predators, however, studies using overhead models, video images and observations of natural encounters with birds of prey report little evidence that galliforms discriminate between different raptor species. This pattern suggests that the aerial alarm response may be triggered by general features of objects moving in the air. To test whether these birds are also sensitive to more detailed differences between raptor species, adult chickens with young were presented with variously sized trained raptors (small, intermediate, large) under controlled conditions. In response to the small hawk, there was a decline in anti-predator aggression and in aerial alarm calling as the young grew older and less vulnerable to attack by a hawk of this size. During the same developmental period, responses to the largest hawk, which posed the smallest threat to the young at all stages, did not change; there were intermediate changes at this time in response to the middle-sized hawk. Thus the anti-predator behavior of the adult birds varied in an adaptive fashion, changing as a function of both chick age and risk. We discuss these results in light of current issues concerning the cognitive mechanisms underlying alarm calling behavior in animals. |
Address |
Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. aliparti@wjh.harvard.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15660209 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2496 |
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Author |
Harris, E.H.; Washburn, D.A. |
Title |
Macaques' (Macaca mulatta) use of numerical cues in maze trials |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
190-199 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Cues; *Discrimination Learning; Macaca mulatta/*psychology; Male; Mathematics; *Maze Learning; *Pattern Recognition, Visual |
Abstract |
We tested the ability of number-trained rhesus monkeys to use Arabic numeral cues to discriminate between different series of maze trials and anticipate the final trial in each series. The monkeys' prior experience with numerals also allowed us to investigate spontaneous transfer between series. A total of four monkeys were tested in two experiments. In both experiments, the monkeys were trained on a computerized task consisting of three reinforced maze trials followed by one nonreinforced trial. The goal of the maze was an Arabic numeral 3, which corresponded to the number of reinforced maze trials in the series. In experiment 1 (n=2), the monkeys were given probe trials of the numerals 2 and 4 and in experiment 2 (n=2), they were given probe trials of the numerals 2-8. The monkeys receiving the probe trials 2 and 4 showed some generalization to the new numerals and developed a pattern of performing more slowly on the nonreinforced trial than the reinforced trial before it for most series, indicating the use of the changing numeral cues to anticipate the nonreinforced trial. The monkeys receiving probe trials of the numerals 2-8 did not predict precisely when the nonreinforced trial would occur in each series, but they did incorporate the changing numerals into their strategy for performing the task. This study provides the first evidence that number-trained monkeys can use Arabic numerals to perform a task involving sequential presentations. |
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Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. eharris11@gsu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15654597 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2498 |
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Author |
Hodgson, Z.G.; Healy, S.D. |
Title |
Preference for spatial cues in a non-storing songbird species |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
211-214 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning/*physiology; *Cues; Feeding Behavior/physiology; Female; Male; Memory/*physiology; Sex Factors; Songbirds/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/*physiology |
Abstract |
Male mammals typically outperform their conspecific females on spatial tasks. A sex difference in cues used to solve the task could underlie this performance difference as spatial ability is reliant on appropriate cue use. Although comparative studies of memory in food-storing and non-storing birds have examined species differences in cue preference, few studies have investigated differences in cue use within a species. In this study, we used a one-trial associative food-finding task to test for sex differences in cue use in the great tit, Parus major. Birds were trained to locate a food reward hidden in a well covered by a coloured cloth. To determine whether the colour of the cloth or the location of the well was learned during training, the birds were presented with three wells in the test phase: one in the original location, but covered by a cloth of a novel colour, a second in a new location covered with the original cloth and a third in a new location covered by a differently coloured cloth. Both sexes preferentially visited the well in the training location rather than either alternative. As great tits prefer colour cues over spatial cues in one-trial associative conditioning tasks, cue preference appears to be related to the task type rather than being species dependent. |
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Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK. s.healy@ed.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15611879 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2499 |
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Author |
Cole, P.D.; Adamo, S.A. |
Title |
Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis: Cephalopoda) hunting behavior and associative learning |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
27-30 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; *Association Learning; *Conditioning, Classical; Female; Male; *Mollusca; Photic Stimulation; *Predatory Behavior |
Abstract |
Because most learning studies in cephalopods have been performed on octopods, it remains unclear whether such abilities are specific to octopus, or whether they correlate with having a larger and more centrally organized brain. To investigate associative learning in a different cephalopod, six sexually mature cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) participated in a counterbalanced, within-subjects, appetitive, classical conditioning procedure. Two plastic spheres (conditioned stimuli, CSs), differing in brightness, were presented sequentially. Presentation of the CS+ was followed 5 s later by a live feeder fish (unconditioned stimulus, US). Cuttlefish began to attack the CS+ with the same type of food-acquisition seizures used to capture the feeder fish. After seven blocks of training (42 presentations of each CS) the difference in seizure probability between CS+ and CS- trials more than doubled; and was found to be significantly higher in late versus early blocks. These results indicate that cuttlefish exhibit autoshaping under some conditions. The possible ecological significance of this type of learning is briefly discussed. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15592760 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2500 |
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Ferkin, M.H.; Pierce, A.A.; Sealand, R.O.; Delbarco-Trillo, J. |
Title |
Meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, can distinguish more over-marks from fewer over-marks |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
182-189 |
Keywords |
Animals; Arvicolinae/*psychology; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Intermediate Filament Proteins; Male; Mathematics; Sex Factors; *Smell |
Abstract |
Is it possible that voles have a sense of number? To address this question, we determined whether voles discriminate between two different scent-marking individuals and identify the individual whose scent marks was on top more often than the other individual. We tested whether voles show a preference for the individual whose scent marks was on top most often. If so, the simplest explanation was that voles can make a relative size judgement-such as distinguishing an area containing more of one individual's over-marks as compared to less of another individual's over-marks. We found that voles respond preferentially to the donor that provided a greater number of over-marks as compared to the donor that provided a lesser number of over-marks. Thus, we concluded that voles might display the capacity for relative numerousness. Interestingly, female voles were better able than male voles to distinguish between small differences in the relative number of over-marks by the two scent donors. |
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Department of Biology, The University of Memphis, Ellington Hall, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. mhferkin@memphis.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15580367 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2501 |
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Werner, C.W.; Tiemann, I.; Cnotka, J.; Rehkamper, G. |
Title |
Do chickens (Gallus gallus f. domestica) decompose visual figures? |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
129-140 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Chickens; Conditioning, Classical; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Photic Stimulation; *Visual Perception |
Abstract |
To investigate whether learning to discriminate between visual compound stimuli depends on decomposing them into constituting features, hens were first trained to discriminate four features (red, green, horizontal, vertical) from two dimensions (colour, line orientation). After acquisition, hens were trained with compound stimuli made up from these dimensions in two ways: a separable (line on a coloured background) stimulus and an integral one (coloured line). This compound training included a reversal of reinforcement of only one of the two dimensions (half-reversal). After having achieved the compound stimulus discrimination, a second dimensional training identical to the first was performed. Finally, in the second compound training the other dimension was reversed. Two major results were found: (1) an interaction between the dimension reversed and the type of compound stimulus: in compound training with colour reversal, separable compound stimuli were discriminated worse than integral compounds and vice versa in compound training with line orientation reversed. (2) Performance in the second compound training was worse than in the first one. The first result points to a similar mode of processing for separable and integral compounds, whereas the second result shows that the whole stimulus is psychologically superior to its constituting features. Experiment 2 repeated experiment 1 using line orientation stimuli of reversed line and background brightness. Nevertheless, the results were similar to experiment 1. Results are discussed in the framework of a configural exemplar theory of discrimination that assumes the representation of the whole stimulus situation combined with transfer based on a measure of overall similarity. |
Address |
C. and O. Vogt Institute of Brain Research, Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Universitatsstr. 1, 40225, Dusseldorf, Germany. wernerc@uni-duesseldorf.de |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15490291 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2503 |
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Call, J.; Carpenter, M.; Tomasello, M. |
Title |
Copying results and copying actions in the process of social learning: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens) |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
151-163 |
Keywords |
Animals; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; Pan troglodytes; *Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance; Random Allocation; *Social Environment; Species Specificity |
Abstract |
There is currently much debate about the nature of social learning in chimpanzees. The main question is whether they can copy others' actions, as opposed to reproducing the environmental effects of these actions using their own preexisting behavioral strategies. In the current study, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens) were shown different demonstrations of how to open a tube-in both cases by a conspecific. In different experimental conditions, demonstrations consisted of (1) action only (the actions necessary to open the tube without actually opening it); (2) end state only (the open tube, without showing any actions); (3) both of these components (in a full demonstration); or (4) neither of these components (in a baseline condition). In the first three conditions subjects saw one of two different ways that the tube could open (break in middle; caps off ends). Subjects' behavior in each condition was assessed for how often they opened the tube, how often they opened it in the same location as the demonstrator, and how often they copied the demonstrator's actions or style of opening the tube. Whereas chimpanzees reproduced mainly the environmental results of the demonstrations (emulation), human children often reproduced the demonstrator's actions (imitation). Because the procedure used was similar in many ways to the procedure that Meltzoff (Dev Psych 31:1, 1995) used to study the understanding of others' unfulfilled intentions, the implications of these findings with regard to chimpanzees' understanding of others' intentions are also discussed. |
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Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. call@eva.mpg.de |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15490290 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2504 |
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Author |
Mercado, E. 3rd; Herman, L.M.; Pack, A.A. |
Title |
Song copying by humpback whales: themes and variations |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
93-102 |
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Acoustics; Animals; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; Sound Spectrography; *Vocalization, Animal; Whales/*psychology |
Abstract |
Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) produce long, structured sequences of sound underwater, commonly called “songs.” Humpbacks progressively modify their songs over time in ways that suggest that individuals are copying song elements that they hear being used by other singers. Little is known about the factors that determine how whales learn from their auditory experiences. Song learning in birds is better understood and appears to be constrained by stable core attributes such as species-specific sound repertoires and song syntax. To clarify whether similar constraints exist for song learning by humpbacks, we analyzed changes over 14 years in the sounds used by humpback whales singing in Hawaiian waters. We found that although the properties of individual sounds within songs are quite variable over time, the overall distribution of certain acoustic features within the repertoire appears to be stable. In particular, our findings suggest that species-specific constraints on temporal features of song sounds determine song form, whereas spectral variability allows whales to flexibly adapt song elements. |
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Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Park Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. emiii@buffalo.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15490289 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2505 |
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