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Mercado, E. I. I. I., Uyeyama, R. U., Pack, A. A., & Herman, L. M. (1999). Memory for action events in the bottlenosed dolphin. Anim. Cogn., 2(1), 17–25.
Abstract: We investigated whether a bottlenosed dolphin’s ability to recall and repeat actions on command would immediately generalize to actions performed with specified objects. The dolphin was tested on her ability to repeat 18 novel behaviors performed with potentially interchangeable objects specified using an artificial gestural language. Such “action events” were correctly repeated at above chance levels, indicating that the dolphin had access to memories of those events. Performance levels were, however, lower than in previous tests. The dolphin appeared to have difficulty recalling which object an action was performed with. Previous research has demonstrated that animals can recall features of their environment and features of their actions independently of one another. The results of this study demonstrate (1) that the dolphin’s concept of repeating extends beyond simply accessing memories of movement patterns, and (2) that dolphins’ memories of past events incorporate representations of both self-performed acts and objects, locations, or gestural instructions.
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Fiorito, G., Biederman, G. B., Davey, V. A., & Gherardi, F. (1998). The role of stimulus preexposure in problem solving by Octopus vulgaris. Anim. Cogn., 1(2), 107–112.
Abstract: Octopus vulgaris is able to open transparent glass jars closed with plastic plugs and containing live crabs. The decrease in performance times for removing the plug and seizing the prey with increasing experience of the task has been taken to indicate learning. However, octopuses' attack behaviors are typically slow and variable in novel environmental situations. In this study the role of preexposure to selected features of the problem-solving context was investigated. Although octopuses failed to benefit from greater familiarity with the training context or with selected elements of the task of solving the jar problem, the methodological strategies used are instructive in potentially clarifying the role of complex problem-solving behaviors in this species including stimulus preexposure and social learning.
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Galef Jr., B. G., & Whiskin, E. E. (1999). Use of public information when foraging: effects of time available to sample foods. Anim. Cogn., 2(2), 103–107.
Abstract: It has been proposed that use of socially acquired information by animals should increase as the time available for individual resource sampling decreases. We gave Norway rat “observers” either 2 or 5 h day-1 to sample four foods. Three of these foods were relatively palatable, but protein-poor; the fourth was relatively unpalatable, but protein-rich. We found that observer rats that for 2 h day-1 both sampled foods and interacted with demonstrators eating only the protein-rich food ate more of the protein-rich food than did observers that sampled for 2 h day-1 but had no opportunity to interact with demonstrators. On the other hand, observer rats that could sample foods for 5 h day-1 ate equal amounts of protein-rich food whether they interacted with a demonstrator fed protein-rich food or not. Subsequent analyses showed that the time available to observers to sample foods, rather than the opportunity to interact with demonstrators determined whether such interaction influenced observers' food choices. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that animals increase their use of public information in response to temporal constraints on opportunities for resource sampling.
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Diekamp, B., Prior, H., & Güntürkün, O. (1999). Functional lateralization, interhemispheric transfer and position bias in serial reversal learning in pigeons (Columba livia). Anim. Cogn., 2(4), 187–196.
Abstract: In the present study we investigated lateralization of color reversal learning in pigeons. After monocular acquisition of a simple color discrimination with either the left or right eye, birds were tested in a serial reversal procedure. While there was only a slight and non-significant difference in choice accuracy during original color discrimination, a stable superiority of birds using the right eye emerged in serial reversals. Both groups showed a characteristic 'learning-to-learn' effect, but right-eyed subjects improved faster and reached a lower asymptotic error rate. Subsequent testing for interocular transfer demonstrated a difference between pre- and post-shift choice accuracy in pigeons switching from right to left eye but not vice versa. This can be accounted for by differences in maximum performance using either the left or right eye along with an equally efficient but incomplete interocular transfer in both directions. Detailed analysis of the birds' response patterns during serial reversals revealed a preference for the right of two response keys in both groups. This bias was most pronounced at the beginning of a session. It decreased within sessions, but became more pronounced in late reversals, thus indicating a successful strategy for mastering the serial reversal task. Interocular transfer of response patterns revealed an unexpected asymmetry. Birds switching from right to left eye continued to prefer the right side, whereas pigeons shifting from left to right eye were now biased towards the left side. The results suggest that lateralized performance during reversal learning in pigeons rests on a complex interplay of learning about individual stimuli, stimulus dimensions, and lateralized response strategies.
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Miklósi, Á. (2002). On the usefulness and limits of functional analogies. Anim. Cogn., 5(1), 17–18.
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Á. Miklósi. (1999). The Evolution of Cognition. Anim. Cogn., 2(3), 179–180.
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Janson, C. H. (2007). Experimental evidence for route integration and strategic planning in wild capuchin monkeys. Anim. Cogn., 10(3), 341–356.
Abstract: Abstract Both in captivity and the wild, primates are found to travel mostly to the nearest available resource, but they may skip over the closest resource and travel to more distant resources, which are often found to be more productive. This study examines the tradeoff between distance and reward in the foraging choices of one group of wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus) using feeding platforms in large-scale foraging experiments conducted over four years. Three feeding sites were arrayed in an oblique triangle, such that once the monkey group had chosen one site to feed, they had a choice between two remaining sites, a close one with less food and the other up to 2.3 times as far away but with more food. Sites were provisioned once per day. The capuchins generally chose the closer feeding site, even when the more distant site offered up to 12 times as much food. The distances to, rewards of, or various profitability measures applied to each alternative site individually did not explain the groups choices in ways consistent with foraging theory or principles of operant psychology. The groups site choices were predicted only by comparing efficiency measures of entire foraging pathways: (1) direct travel to the more rewarding distant site, versus (2) the longer “detour” through the closer site on the way to the more distant one. The group chose the detour more often when the reward was larger and the added detour distance shorter. They appeared to be more sensitive to the absolute increase in detour distance than to the relative increase compared to the straight route. The qualitative and quantitative results agree with a simple rule: do not use the detour unless the energy gain from extra food outweighs the energy cost of extra travel. These results suggest that members of this group integrate information on spatial location, reward, and perhaps potential food competition in their choice of multi-site foraging routes, with important implications for social foraging.
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Kubinyi, E., Miklósi, Á., Topál, J., & Csányi, V. (2003). Social mimetic behaviour and social anticipation in dogs: preliminary results. Anim. Cogn., 6(1), 57–63.
Abstract: Learning contributes to the development of mutual mimicry in group mates. The aim of our study was to investigate whether dogs would initiate walking a detour if they were repeatedly exposed to the detouring behaviour of their owner. Eight dog owners were asked to modify their usual way of approaching their home at the end of their daily walks, namely, to make a short detour before the entrance. Owners performed the detour at least 180 times, over a period of 3-6 months. During the first 30 detours (trials 1-30) all dogs followed the owner on the new route. Between trials 151 and 180, four dogs started to walk the detour before the owner displayed any intention to walk in that direction in 50-93% of the cases. Further observations that were carried out on one dog showed that the initialisation of the detours manifested sooner if a second familiar person started to walk the detours. Interestingly, the dog persisted in initialising detours long after the owners stopped detouring. We describe the observed phenomenon in the framework of social anticipation that manifests when an animal learns the proper sequence of an act performed by another animal, so that it can (1) predict the action in this sequence, and (2) as a result start either a similar or a complementary action as a response. These observations suggest that the dogs' social anticipation ability contributes to behavioural synchronisation and cooperative processes between dog and owner.
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Fagot, J., Kruschke, J. K., Dépy, D., & Vauclair, J. (1998). Associative learning in baboons (Papio papio) and humans (Homo sapiens): species differences in learned attention to visual features. Anim. Cogn., 1(2), 123–133.
Abstract: We examined attention shifting in baboons and humans during the learning of visual categories. Within a conditional matching-to-sample task, participants of the two species sequentially learned two two-feature categories which shared a common feature. Results showed that humans encoded both features of the initially learned category, but predominantly only the distinctive feature of the subsequently learned category. Although baboons initially encoded both features of the first category, they ultimately retained only the distinctive features of each category. Empirical data from the two species were analyzed with the 1996 ADIT connectionist model of Kruschke. ADIT fits the baboon data when the attentional shift rate is zero, and the human data when the attentional shift rate is not zero. These empirical and modeling results suggest species differences in learned attention to visual features.
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Miklósi, A. '., Polgárdi, R., Topál, J., & Csányi, V. (2000). Intentional behaviour in dog-human communication: an experimental analysis of “showing” behaviour in the dog. Anim. Cogn., 3(3), 159–166.
Abstract: Despite earlier scepticism there is now evidence for simple forms of intentional and functionally referential communication in many animal species. Here we investigate whether dogs engage in functional referential communication with their owners. “Showing” is defined as a communicative action consisting of both a directional component related to an external target and an attention-getting component that directs the attention of the perceiver to the informer or sender. In our experimental situation dogs witness the hiding of a piece of food (or a favourite toy) which they cannot get access to. We asked whether dogs would engage in “showing” in the presence of their owner. To control for the motivational effects of both the owner and the food on the dogs' behaviour, control observations were also staged where only the food (or the toy) or the owner was present. Dogs' gazing frequency at both the food (toy) and the owner was greater when only one of these was present. In other words, dogs looked more frequently at their owner when the food (toy) was present, and they looked more at the location of the food (toy) when the owner was present. When both the food (toy) and the owner were present a new behaviour, “gaze alternation”, emerged which was defined as changing the direction of the gaze from the location of the food (toy) to looking at the owner (or vice versa) within 2 s. Vocalisations that occurred in this phase were always associated with gazing at the owner or the location of the food. This behaviour, which was specific to this situation, has also been described in chimpanzees, a gorilla and humans, and has often been interpreted as a form of functionally referential communication. Based on our observations we argue that dogs might be able to engage in functionally referential communication with their owner, and their behaviour could be described as a form of “showing”. The contribution of domestication and individual learning to the well-developed communicative skills in dogs is discussed and will be the subject of further studies.
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