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Author Meehan, C.L.; Mench, J.A.
Title The challenge of challenge: Can problem solving opportunities enhance animal welfare? Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 102 Issue 3-4 Pages 246-261
Keywords Cognition; Environmental enrichment; Challenge; Eustress; Problem solving; Intrinsic motivation
Abstract Cognitive mechanisms are an important part of the organization of the behavior systems of animals. In the wild, animals regularly face problems that they must overcome in order to survive and thrive. Solving such problems often requires animals to process, store, retrieve, and act upon information from the environment--in other words, to use their cognitive skills. For example, animals may have to use navigational, tool-making or cooperative social skills in order to procure their food. However, many enrichment programs for captive animals do not include the integration of these types of cognitive challenges. Thus, foraging enrichments typically are designed to facilitate the physical expression of feeding behaviors such as food-searching and food consumption, but not to facilitate complex problem solving behaviors related to food acquisition. Challenging animals by presenting them with problems is almost certainly a source of frustration and stress. However, we suggest here that this is an important, and even necessary, feature of an enrichment program, as long as animals also possess the skills and resources to effectively solve the problems with which they are presented. We discuss this with reference to theories about the emotional consequences of coping with challenge, the association between lack of challenge and the development of abnormal behavior, and the benefits of stress (arousal) in facilitating learning and memory of relevant skills. Much remains to be done to provide empirical support for these theories. However, they do point the way to a practical approach to improving animal welfare--to design enrichments to facilitate the cognitive mechanisms which underlie the performance of complex behaviors that cannot be performed due to the restrictions inherent to the captive environment.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2890
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Author Quesada, J; Kintsch, W.; Gomez, E.
Title Complex problem-solving: a field in search of a definition? Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science Abbreviated Journal Theor Issues Ergon Sci
Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages 5-33
Keywords Problem solving; Dynamic decision making; Micro-worlds; Expertise
Abstract Complex problem-solving (CPS) is as an area of cognitive science that has received a good amount of attention, but theories in the field have not progressed accordingly. The reasons could be the lack of good definitions and classifications of the tasks (taxonomies). Although complexity is a term used pervasively in psychology and is operationalized in different ways, there are no psychological theories of complexity. The definition of problem-solving has been changed in the past to reflect the varied interests of the researchers and has lost its initial concreteness. These two facts together make it difficult to define CPS or make clear if CPS should reuse the theory and methods of classical problem-solving or on the contrary should build a theoretical structure starting from scratch. A taxonomy is offered of tasks using both formal features and psychological features that are theory-independent that could help compare the CPS tasks used in the literature. The adequateness is also reviewed of the most extended definitions of CPS and conclude that they are in serious need of review, since they cover tasks that are not considered problem-solving by their own authors or are not complex, but ignore others that should clearly be included.
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Publisher Taylor and Francis Ltd Place of Publication Editor
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Notes (up) Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 604
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Author Levin, L.E.
Title Passage order through different pathways in groups of schooling fish, and the diversified leadership hypothesis Type Journal Article
Year 1996 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 37 Issue 1 Pages 1-8
Keywords Animal sociality; Inter-individual variability; Aggregation-dispersion; Group problem solving
Abstract The diversified leadership hypothesis proposes that different individuals within a school of fish act as leaders in different circumstances. This `circumstantial leadership' results from inter-individual behavioral variability and a `cohesion-dispersion' tendency modulated by `failure-success' contingencies. The hypothesis predicts that when offered different pathways to escape the restriction of their swimming space, individuals within a group of fish will show 1. (a) consistent passage orders in each pathway, but2. (b) different passage orders in different pathways. Using an avoidance paddle and three different groups of fish (Aphyocharax erithrurus) the results confirmed prediction 1. (a) while prediction2. (b) was verified only in one group.
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Notes (up) Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ room B 3.029 Serial 2069
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Author Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Use of social information in the problem solving of orangutans (<em>Pongo pygmaeus</em>) and human children (<em>Homo sapiens</em>) Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology Abbreviated Journal J. Comp. Psychol.
Volume 109 Issue 3 Pages 308-320
Keywords cross species imitative learning in problem solving, human 3–4 yr olds vs orangutans
Abstract Fourteen juvenile and adult orangutans and 24 3- and 4-yr-old children participated in 4 studies on imitative learning in a problem-solving situation. In all studies a simple to operate apparatus was used, but its internal mechanism was hidden from subjects to prevent individual learning. In the 1st study, orangutans observed a human demonstrator perform 1 of 4 actions on the apparatus and obtain a reward; they subsequently showed no signs of imitative learning. Similar results were obtained in a 2nd study in which orangutan demonstrators were used. Similar results were also obtained in a 3rd study in which a human encouraged imitation from an orangutan that had previously been taught to mimic arbitrary human actions. In a 4th study, human 3- and 4-yr-old children learned the task by means of imitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
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Publisher US: American Psychological Association Place of Publication Editor
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ISSN 1939-2087 (Electronic); 0735-7036 (Print) ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) Approved yes
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ 1995-42883-001 Serial 5448
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Author Benson-Amram, S.; Weldele, M.L.; Holekamp, K.E.
Title A comparison of innovative problem-solving abilities between wild and captive spotted hyaenas, Crocuta crocuta Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Animal Behaviour Abbreviated Journal
Volume 85 Issue 2 Pages 349-356
Keywords Crocuta crocuta; innovation; neophobia; problem solving; spotted hyaena
Abstract Innovative problem solving enables individuals to deal with novel social and ecological challenges. However, our understanding of the importance of innovation for animals in their natural habitat is limited because experimental investigations of innovation have historically focused on captive animals. To determine how captivity affects innovation, and whether captive studies of animal innovation suffer from low external validity, we need experimental investigations of innovation in both wild and captive populations of the same species in diverse taxa. Here we inquired whether wild and captive spotted hyaenas differ in their ability to solve the same novel technical problem, and in the diversity of exploratory behaviours they exhibit when first interacting with the problem. Our results suggest that wild and captive populations show important differences in their innovative problem-solving abilities. Captive hyaenas were significantly more successful at solving the novel problem, and significantly more diverse in their initial exploratory behaviour, than were wild hyaenas. We were able to rule out hypotheses suggesting that these differences result from excess energy or time available to captive animals. We conclude that captive hyaenas were more successful because captive individuals were less neophobic and more exploratory than their wild counterparts. These results have important implications for our interpretation of studies on innovative problem solving in captive animals and aid our attempts to gain a broader understanding of the importance of innovation for animals in their natural habitat.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5657
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Author Griffin, A.S.; Guez, D.
Title Innovation and problem solving: A review of common mechanisms Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 109 Issue Pages 121-134
Keywords Behavioural flexibility; Cognition; Innovation; Problem solving
Abstract Behavioural innovations have become central to our thinking about how animals adjust to changing environments. It is now well established that animals vary in their ability to innovate, but understanding why remains a challenge. This is because innovations are rare, so studying innovation requires alternative experimental assays that create opportunities for animals to express their ability to invent new behaviours, or use pre-existing ones in new contexts. Problem solving of extractive foraging tasks has been put forward as a suitable experimental assay. We review the rapidly expanding literature on problem solving of extractive foraging tasks in order to better understand to what extent the processes underpinning problem solving, and the factors influencing problem solving, are in line with those predicted, and found, to underpin and influence innovation in the wild. Our aim is to determine whether problem solving can be used as an experimental proxy of innovation. We find that in most respects, problem solving is determined by the same underpinning mechanisms, and is influenced by the same factors, as those predicted to underpin, and to influence, innovation. We conclude that problem solving is a valid experimental assay for studying innovation, propose a conceptual model of problem solving in which motor diversity plays a more central role than has been considered to date, and provide recommendations for future research using problem solving to investigate innovation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cognition in the wild.
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ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6556
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Author Heyes, C.M.; Dawson, G.R.
Title A demonstration of observational learning in rats using a bidirectional control Type Journal Article
Year 1990 Publication Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology Abbreviated Journal Q J Exp Psychol B
Volume 42 Issue 1 Pages 59-71
Keywords appetite; attention; imitation; problem solving; psychomotor performance; Appetitive Behavior; Attention; Imitative Behavior; Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance
Abstract Hungry rats observed a conspecific demonstrator pushing a single manipulandum, a joystick, to the right or to the left for food reward and were then allowed access to the joystick from a different orientation. The effects of right-pushing vs left-pushing observation experience on (1) response acquisition, (2) reversal of a left-right discrimination, and (3) responding in extinction, were examined. Rats that had observed left-pushing made more left responses during acquisition than rats that had observed right-pushing, and rats that had observed demonstrators pushing in the direction that had previously been reinforced took longer to reach criterion reversal and made more responses in extinction than rats that had observed demonstrators pushing in the opposite direction to that previously reinforced. These results provide evidence that rats are capable of learning a response, or a response-reinforcer contingency, through conspecific observation.
Address University of Cambridge, U.K.
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ISSN 02724995 (Issn) ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) Cited By (since 1996): 49; Export Date: 17 May 2007; Source: Scopus; Language of Original Document: English; Correspondence Address: Heyes, C.M. Approved no
Call Number Serial 1766
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Author Sterling, E.J.; Povinelli, D.J.
Title Tool use, aye-ayes, and sensorimotor intelligence Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Folia Primatologica; International Journal of Primatology Abbreviated Journal Folia Primatol (Basel)
Volume 70 Issue 1 Pages 8-16
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior; Female; *Intelligence; Male; Problem Solving; *Psychomotor Performance; Strepsirhini/*physiology/psychology
Abstract Humans, chimpanzees, capuchins and aye-ayes all display an unusually high degree of encephalization and diverse omnivorous extractive foraging. It has been suggested that the high degree of encephalization in aye-ayes may be the result of their diverse, omnivorous extractive foraging behaviors. In combination with certain forms of tool use, omnivorous extractive foraging has been hypothesized to be linked to higher levels of sensorimotor intelligence (stages 5 or 6). Although free-ranging aye-ayes have not been observed to use tools directly in the context of their extractive foraging activities, they have recently been reported to use lianas as tools in a manner that independently suggests that they may possess stage 5 or 6 sensorimotor intelligence. Although other primate species which display diverse, omnivorous extractive foraging have been tested for sensorimotor intelligence, aye-ayes have not. We report a test of captive aye-ayes' comprehension of tool use in a situation designed to simulate natural conditions. The results support the view that aye-ayes do not achieve stage 6 comprehension of tool use, but rather may use trial-and-error learning to develop tool-use behaviors. Other theories for aye-aye encephalization are considered.
Address Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Gottingen, Germany
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ISSN 0015-5713 ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) PMID:10050062 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4178
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Author Clement, T.S.; Zentall, T.R.
Title Development of a single-code/default coding strategy in pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2000 Publication Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS Abbreviated Journal Psychol Sci
Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages 261-264
Keywords Animals; Attention; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; Retention (Psychology)
Abstract We tested the hypothesis that pigeons could use a cognitively efficient coding strategy by training them on a conditional discrimination (delayed symbolic matching) in which one alternative was correct following the presentation of one sample (one-to-one), whereas the other alternative was correct following the presentation of any one of four other samples (many-to-one). When retention intervals of different durations were inserted between the offset of the sample and the onset of the choice stimuli, divergent retention functions were found. With increasing retention interval, matching accuracy on trials involving any of the many-to-one samples was increasingly better than matching accuracy on trials involving the one-to-one sample. Furthermore, following this test, pigeons treated a novel sample as if it had been one of the many-to-one samples. The data suggest that rather than learning each of the five sample-comparison associations independently, the pigeons developed a cognitively efficient single-code/default coding strategy.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
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ISSN 0956-7976 ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) PMID:11273414 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 246
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Author Funk, M.S.
Title Problem solving skills in young yellow-crowned parakeets (Cyanoramphus auriceps) Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 167-176
Keywords Animals; *Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Motor Skills; *Parakeets; Play and Playthings; *Problem Solving; Social Behavior
Abstract Despite the long divergent evolutionary history of birds and mammals, early avian and primate cognitive development have many convergent features. Some of these features were investigated with a series of tasks designed to assess human infant development. The tasks were presented to young parakeets to assess their means-end problem solving abilities. Examples of these early skills are: attaining and playing with objects, retrieving rewards through use of a stick or rake, or by pulling in rewards on supports or on the ends of strings. Twelve such tasks were presented to 11 young yellow-crowned parakeets ( Cyanoramphus auriceps) to investigate their natural abilities; there was no attempt to train them to do those tasks that they did not spontaneously perform. Six of the birds were parent-raised and five were hand-raised. The birds completed 9 of the 12 tasks, demonstrating all the Piagetian sensorimotor circular reactions, but they failed to hand-watch (“claw-watch”), to stack objects, or to fill a container. Their ordinality on the tasks differed from that of human infants in that locomotion to obtain objects occurred earlier in the avian sequence of development and the mid-level tasks were performed by the two groups of avian subjects in a mixed order perhaps indicating that these abilities may not emerge in any particular order for these birds as they supposedly do for human infants. The hand-raised group needed fewer sessions to complete these means-end tasks.
Address Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. mdfunk@northwestern.edu
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes (up) PMID:12357289 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2596
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