|   | 
Details
   web
Records
Author Ottoni, E.B.; de Resende, B.D.; Izar, P.
Title Watching the best nutcrackers: what capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) know about others' tool-using skills Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 215-219
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Cebus/*psychology; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Nuts; *Problem Solving
Abstract The present work is part of a decade-long study on the spontaneous use of stones for cracking hard-shelled nuts by a semi-free-ranging group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Nutcracking events are frequently watched by other individuals--usually younger, less proficient, and that are well tolerated to the point of some scrounging being allowed by the nutcracker. Here we report findings showing that the choice of observational targets is an active, non-random process, and that observers seem to have some understanding of the relative proficiency of their group mates, preferentially watching the more skilled nutcrackers, which enhances not only scrounging payoffs, but also social learning opportunities.
Address Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. ebottoni@usp.br
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) 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 PMID:15719240 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 355
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Place versus response learning revisited: tests of blocking on the radial maze Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Behavioral neuroscience Abbreviated Journal Behav Neurosci
Volume 119 Issue 2 Pages 567-586
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Male; *Maze Learning; Memory; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reproducibility of Results
Abstract Neurobiological and behavioral research indicates that place learning and response learning occur simultaneously, in parallel. Such findings seem to conflict with theories of associative learning in which different cues compete for learning. The authors conducted place+response training on a radial maze and then tested place learning and response learning separately by reconfiguring the maze in various ways. Consistent with the effects of manipulating place and response systems in the brain (M. G. Packard & J. L. McGaugh, 1996), well-trained rats showed strong place learning and strong response learning. Three experiments using associative blocking paradigms indicated that prior response learning interferes with place learning. Blocking and related tests can be used to better understand how memory systems interact during learning.
Address Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567, USA. bgibson@cisunix.unh.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0735-7044 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15839803 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 362
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Competition among spatial cues in a naturalistic food-carrying task Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Learning & behavior : a Psychonomic Society publication Abbreviated Journal Learn Behav
Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 143-159
Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Appetitive Behavior; *Association Learning; *Attention; Choice Behavior; *Cues; *Discrimination Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Space Perception; *Spatial Behavior
Abstract Rats collected nuts from a container in a large arena in four experiments testing how learning about a beacon or cue at a goal interacts with learning about other spatial cues (place learning). Place learning was quick, with little evidence of competition from the beacon (Experiments 1 and 2). Rats trained to approach a beacon regardless of its location were subsequently impaired when the well-learned beacon was removed and other spatial cues identified the location of the goal (Experiment 3). The competition between beacon and place cues reflected learned irrelevance for place cues (Experiment 4). The findings differ from those of some studies of associative interactions between cue and place learning in other paradigms.
Address University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1543-4494 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12882373 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 368
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Varieties of learning and memory in animals Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 5-14
Keywords Animals; Association Learning; Birds; Conditioning, Classical; Evolution; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; *Memory; Social Environment; Species Specificity; Taste
Abstract It is often assumed that there is more than one kind of learning--or more than one memory system--each of which is specialized for a different function. Yet, the criteria by which the varieties of learning and memory should be distinguished are seldom clear. Learning and memory phenomena can differ from one another across species or situations (and thus be specialized) in a number of different ways. What is needed is a consistent theoretical approach to the whole range of learning phenomena, and one is explored here. Parallels and contrasts in the study of sensory systems illustrate one way to integrate the study of general mechanisms with an appreciation of species-specific adaptations.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:8418217 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 380
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Mulcahy, N.J.; Call, J.
Title Apes save tools for future use Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 312 Issue 5776 Pages 1038-1040
Keywords Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Evolution; *Mental Processes; *Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; *Pongo pygmaeus
Abstract Planning for future needs, not just current ones, is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements. Whether this skill is a uniquely human adaptation is a controversial issue. In a study we conducted, bonobos and orangutans selected, transported, and saved appropriate tools above baseline levels to use them 1 hour later (experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these results to a 14-hour delay between collecting and using the tools. Experiment 3 showed that seeing the apparatus during tool selection was not necessary to succeed. These findings suggest that the precursor skills for planning for the future evolved in great apes before 14 million years ago, when all extant great ape species shared a common ancestor.
Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16709782 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 466
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Lazareva, O.F.; Smirnova, A.A.; Bagozkaja, M.S.; Zorina, Z.A.; Rayevsky, V.V.; Wasserman, E.A.
Title Transitive responding in hooded crows requires linearly ordered stimuli Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior Abbreviated Journal J Exp Anal Behav
Volume 82 Issue 1 Pages 1-19
Keywords Animals; *Association; Cognition/physiology; Crows; Discrimination (Psychology); *Discrimination Learning; Feedback; Reinforcement (Psychology); Visual Perception/physiology
Abstract Eight crows were taught to discriminate overlapping pairs of visual stimuli (A+ B-, B+ C-, C+ D-, and D+ E-). For 4 birds, the stimuli were colored cards with a circle of the same color on the reverse side whose diameter decreased from A to E (ordered feedback group). These circles were made available for comparison to potentially help the crows order the stimuli along a physical dimension. For the other 4 birds, the circles corresponding to the colored cards had the same diameter (constant feedback group). In later testing, a novel choice pair (BD) was presented. Reinforcement history involving stimuli B and D was controlled so that the reinforcement/nonreinforcement ratios for the latter would be greater than for the former. If, during the BD test, the crows chose between stimuli according to these reinforcement/nonreinforcement ratios, then they should prefer D; if they chose according to the diameter of the feedback stimuli, then they should prefer B. In the ordered feedback group, the crows strongly preferred B over D; in the constant feedback group, the crows' choice did not differ significantly from chance. These results, plus simulations using associative models, suggest that the orderability of the postchoice feedback stimuli is important for crows' transitive responding.
Address Institute of Higher Nervous Activity, Moscow State University. olga-lazareva@uiowa.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0022-5002 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15484868 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 612
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A.
Title Testing for social learning and imitation in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, using an artificial fruit Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 77-85
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Callithrix/*psychology; Discrimination Learning; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Food Preferences; Fruit; *Imitative Behavior; Male; *Social Behavior; Social Environment
Abstract We tested for social learning and imitation in common marmosets using an artificial foraging task and trained conspecific demonstrators. We trained a demonstrator marmoset to open an artificial fruit, providing a full demonstration of the task to be learned. Another marmoset provided a partial demonstration, controlling for stimulus enhancement effects, by eating food from the outside of the apparatus. We thus compared three observer groups, each consisting of four animals: those that received the full demonstration, those that received the partial demonstration, and a control group that saw no demonstration prior to testing. Although none of the observer marmosets succeeded in opening the artificial fruit during the test periods, there were clear effects of demonstration type. Those that saw the full demonstration manipulated the apparatus more overall, whereas those from the control group manipulated it the least of the three groups. Those from the full-demonstration group also contacted the particular parts of the artificial fruit that they had seen touched (localised stimulus enhancement) to a greater extent than the other two groups. There was also an interaction between the number of hand and mouth touches made to the artificial fruit for the full- and partial-demonstration groups. Whether or not these data represent evidence for imitation is discussed. We also propose that the clear differences between the groups suggest that social learning mechanisms provide real benefits to these animals in terms of developing novel food-processing skills analogous to the one presented here.
Address Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and Scottish Primate Research Group, University of St Andrews, KY16 9JU, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.ac.uk
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) 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 PMID:15069606 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 735
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Chiesa, A.D.; Pecchia, T.; Tommasi, L.; Vallortigara, G.
Title Multiple landmarks, the encoding of environmental geometry and the spatial logics of a dual brain Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 281-293
Keywords Animals; Association Learning/*physiology; Chickens; *Cues; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Environment; Exploratory Behavior/*physiology; Logic; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/physiology
Abstract A series of place learning experiments was carried out in young chicks (Gallus gallus) in order to investigate how the geometry of a landmark array and that of a walled enclosure compete when disoriented animals could rely on both of them to re-orient towards the centre of the enclosure. A square-shaped array (four wooden sticks) was placed in the middle of a square-shaped enclosure, the two structures being concentric. Chicks were trained to ground-scratch to search for food hidden in the centre of the enclosure (and the array). To check for effects of array degradation, one, two, three or all landmarks were removed during test trials. Chicks concentrated their searching activity in the central area of the enclosure, but their accuracy was inversely contingent on the number of landmarks removed; moreover, the landmarks still present within the enclosure appeared to influence the shape of the searching patterns. The reduction in the number of landmarks affected the searching strategy of chicks, suggesting that they had focussed mainly on local cues when landmarks were present within the enclosure. When all the landmarks were removed, chicks searched over a larger area, suggesting an absolute encoding of distances from the local cues and less reliance on the relationships provided by the geometry of the enclosure. Under conditions of monocular vision, chicks tended to rely on different strategies to localize the centre on the basis of the eye (and thus the hemisphere) in use, the left hemisphere attending to details of the environment and the right hemisphere attending to the global shape.
Address Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, via S. Anastasio 12, 34100, Trieste, Italy
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) 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 PMID:16941155 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2443
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Call, J.
Title Inferences by exclusion in the great apes: the effect of age and species Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 393-403
Keywords Age Factors; Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Concept Formation; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Gorilla gorilla; Hominidae/classification/*psychology; Male; Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; Pongo pygmaeus; *Problem Solving; Species Specificity
Abstract This study investigated the ability of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos to make inferences by exclusion using the procedure pioneered by Premack and Premack (Cognition 50:347-362, 1994) with chimpanzees. Thirty apes were presented with two different food items (banana vs. grape) on a platform and covered with identical containers. One of the items was removed from the container and placed between the two containers so that subjects could see it. After discarding this item, subjects could select between the two containers. In Experiment 1, apes preferentially selected the container that held the item that the experimenter had not discarded, especially if subjects saw the experimenter remove the item from the container (but without seeing the container empty). Experiment 3 in which the food was removed from one of the containers behind a barrier confirmed these results. In contrast, subjects performed at chance levels when a stimulus (colored plastic chip: Exp. 1; food item: Exp. 2 and Exp. 3) designated the item that had been removed. These results indicated that apes made inferences, not just learned to use a discriminative cue to avoid the empty container. Apes perceived and treated the item discarded by the experimenter as if it were the very one that had been hidden under the container. Results suggested a positive relationship between age and inferential ability independent of memory ability but no species differences.
Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. call@eva.mpg.de
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) 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 PMID:16924458 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2444
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Sovrano, V.A.; Bisazza, A.; Vallortigara, G.
Title How fish do geometry in large and in small spaces Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 47-54
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Color Perception; Cues; *Discrimination Learning; *Distance Perception; *Fishes; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Social Environment; *Space Perception; Visual Perception
Abstract It has been shown that children and non-human animals seem to integrate geometric and featural information to different extents in order to reorient themselves in environments of different spatial scales. We trained fish (redtail splitfins, Xenotoca eiseni) to reorient to find a corner in a rectangular tank with a distinctive featural cue (a blue wall). Then we tested fish after displacement of the feature on another adjacent wall. In the large enclosure, fish chose the two corners with the feature, and also tended to choose among them the one that maintained the correct arrangement of the featural cue with respect to geometric sense (i.e. left-right position). In contrast, in the small enclosure, fish chose both the two corners with the features and the corner, without any feature, that maintained the correct metric arrangement of the walls with respect to geometric sense. Possible reasons for species differences in the use of geometric and non-geometric information are discussed.
Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. valeriaanna.sovrano@unipd.it
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language (down) 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 PMID:16794851 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2462
Permanent link to this record