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Biro, D., & Matsuzawa, T. (2001). Use of numerical symbols by the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): Cardinals, ordinals, and the introduction of zero. Anim. Cogn., 4(3), 193–199.
Abstract: An adult female chimpanzee with previous training in the use of Arabic numerals 1–9 was introduced to the meaning of “zero” in the context of three different numerical tasks. The first two were cardinal tasks where the subject was required either to select numerals corresponding to the number of items presented on a computer screen (productive use of numerals) or to match sets of the appropriate size to numerals presented as samples (receptive use). The third task addressed the ordinal meaning of the same symbols where the subject was required to respond to numerals sequentially, arranging them into an ascending series. The subject mastered the recognition of the meaning of zero in all three tasks. However, details of her usage of the symbol revealed that transfer of the meaning between different kinds of tasks was incomplete, suggesting that the level of ion characteristic of human numerical ability was not attained in the chimpanzee. Over the course of acquisition leading to the high levels of accuracy eventually observed, the newly introduced zero appeared to shift along the length of a continuous numerical scale toward the lower end, while confusions with 1 remained the most frequently encountered mistakes. Such patterns of error thus suggest that Ai's understanding of the meaning of zero in relation to the rest of the number symbols was not consistent with an “absence of items versus presence of items” scheme.
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Gould, J. L., Zabka, T. S., Malizia, R. W., Park, A., & Mukerji, J. (1999). Possible decision-making preadaptations in the molly Poecilia sphenops. Anim. Cogn., 2(2), 91–95.
Abstract: In many species females choose a mate from among several available males; in other species, the social system provides no apparent opportunity for making a decision among alternative suitors, and decision-making capacity is assumed to be minimal. The origins, bases, and logic of female mate choices are contentious questions with important cognitive implications. Female short-finned mollies, Poecilia sphenops, have never been observed to choose mates in the wild, where instead a male-contest social system prevails. Nevertheless they readily choose between models of males in the laboratory. Some of their decisions anticipate features found in males in more recently evolved species where the social system permits female choice. The willingness of females to choose traits in a species without such traits or evident need or opportunity for female choice in the wild is remarkable. These observations suggest that choice behavior can be latent in a species, and may direct or bias the development of behavioral preferences.
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Soler, M., & Soler, J. J. (1999). Innate versus learned recognition of conspecifics in great spotted cuckoos Clamator glandarius. Anim. Cogn., 2(2), 97–102.
Abstract: When birds raised by another species become adults, they (if they are non-brood-parasitic species) usually attempt to mate with birds of their foster species rather than with birds of their own species, a phenomenon called sexual imprinting. Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests of other species (the hosts) that rear the young, but the problem of sexual imprinting among brood parasites has generally been neglected, and brood parasites have been considered as an exception among birds. Here, we show, with data from field observations and field experiments, firstly, that adult great spotted cuckoos Clamator glandarius sometimes maintain contact with both older nestling and fledgling cuckoos. Adult cuckoos visited parasitized nests during the last days of the nestling period (5 observations) and, when parasitic chicks left the nest, adult cuckoos maintained contact with the young (14 observations). Adults and fledgling cuckoos communicated vocally (5 observations), and an adult great spotted cuckoo even fed a parasite fledgling in two cases. Secondly, when experimentally cross-fostered in nests of magpie Pica pica hosts outside the parasite breeding range (thus avoiding visual and acoustic communication with adult cuckoos), young cuckoos did not learn to recognize their own species when only one cuckoo chick was introduced per nest, but they learnt to recognize conspecifics when two cuckoos were reared together. This means that young great spotted cuckoos apparently must learn to recognize conspecifics, that is, recognition is not innate. Social interactions between adult brood parasites and young have also been reported in other brood parasites; thus, brood parasites are probably not an exception to the general phenomenon of imprinting, and young brood parasites may need to be imprinted on conspecifics, although more studies on other brood parasite species are needed to confirm this.
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Ottoni, E., de Resende, B., & Izar, P. (2006). Erratum. Anim. Cogn., 9(2), 156.
Abstract: Without Abstract
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Lombardi, C. Matching and oddity relational learning by pigeons ( Columba livia ): transfer from color to shape. Anim. Cogn., .
Abstract: Abstract Relational learning, as opposed to perceptual learning, is based on the abstract properties of the stimuli. Although at present there is no doubt that pigeons are capable of relational behavior, this study aims to further disclose the conditions under which it occurs. Pigeons were trained in an outdoor cage on a matching-to-sample or an oddity-from-sample task, with colored cardboard stimuli presented horizontally. The apparatus involved three sliding lids on which the stimuli were drawn and which, when displaced, revealed the reinforcement. The lids were either adjacent to each other or somewhat separated. Training sessions involved two colors, and test sessions six different colors (same dimension test), or six different shapes (different dimension test). One group of birds trained under the “adjacent” condition failed when tested with new stimuli, but succeeded in both dimension tests after training under the “separate” condition. Two other groups of birds succeeded in all tests after training under the latter condition. These results show that depending on procedural details, pigeons are or are not able to transfer from one visual dimension to another, thus extending previous related findings.
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Sousa, C., & Matsuzawa, T. (2001). The use of tokens as rewards and tools by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Anim. Cogn., 4(3), 213–221.
Abstract: This paper explores the effectiveness of token rewards in maintaining chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) in working at intellectually costly tasks, and studies the “saving” behavior of the subjects, investigating the factors that can condition it. Two experiments were run. Tokens were introduced as rewards in a matching-to-sample task and used as exchange tools for food by three adult female chimpanzees. Subjects' performances were maintained at constant high levels of accuracy, suggesting that the tokens were almost equivalent to direct food rewards. The results also showed the emergence of saving behavior. The subjects spontaneously saved the tokens during the matching-to-sample task before exchanging them for food. The chimpanzees also learned a new symbolic discrimination task, with tokens as the reward. During this learning process a rarely reported phenomenon emerged: one of the subjects showed symmetry, a form of stimulus equivalence.
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Parr, L. A., Winslow, J. T., & Hopkins, W. D. (1999). Is the inversion effect in rhesus monkeys face-specific? Anim. Cogn., 2(3), 123–129.
Abstract: This study investigated the face inversion effect in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Face stimuli consisted of ten black-and-white examples of unfamiliar rhesus monkey faces, brown capuchin faces, and human faces. Two non-face categories included ten examples of automobiles and abstract shapes. All stimuli were presented in a sequential matching-to-sample format using an automated joystick-testing paradigm. Subjects performed significantly better on upright than on inverted presentations of automobiles, rhesus monkey and capuchin faces, but not human faces or abstract shapes. These results are inconsistent with data from humans and chimpanzees that show the inversion effect only for categories of stimuli for which subjects have developed expertise. The inversion effect in rhesus monkeys does not appear to be face-specific, and should therefore not be used as a marker of specialized face processing in this species.
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Kutsukake, N., & Castles, D. L. (2001). Reconciliation and variation in post-conflict stress in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata fuscata): testing the integrated hypothesis. Anim. Cogn., 4(3), 259–268.
Abstract: Reconciliation in primates, a post-conflict affiliative interaction between former opponents, appears to have two functions: (1) to repair relationship damaged by aggression such that animals who share more valuable relationships are more likely to reconcile, and (2) to reduce the post-conflict uncertainty and stress of former combatants. The 'integrated hypothesis' of reconciliation links these functions by arguing that the disturbance of a valuable relationship by aggression should result in particularly high levels of stress, which in turn should facilitate efforts to reconcile and thus gain relief from post-conflict stress. A key prediction of the integrated hypothesis is that victims of aggression suffer more stress following conflicts with individuals with whom they share a valuable relationship. In this article, we test the integrated hypothesis by observing the post-conflict behaviour of victims among a free-ranging provisioned troop of Japanese macaques ( Macaca fuscata fuscata) living in Shiga Heights, Nagano, Japan. In this troop, monkeys reconciled roughly one in seven conflicts. The only factor that we could significantly relate to the occurrence of reconciliation was kinship; kin reconciled more frequently than non-kin did. Receiving aggression increased and reconciliation reduced the probability of being re-attacked after aggressive interactions, supporting the hypothesis that reconciliation repairs relationships. Victims' self-directed behaviour (SDB) – a behavioural index of stress comprising increases in scratching, self-grooming, and body-shaking – was elevated following aggression but decreased rapidly following reconciliation, supporting the idea that reconciliation functions to reduce post-conflict stress. Post-conflict SDB varied as follows: (1) victims showed a higher level of stress following aggression with kin than with non-kin, and (2) juvenile victims were less distressed than adults. The level of post-conflict SDB performed by juveniles following conflicts with kin was indistinguishable from that performed by adults but was greatly reduced following attacks from non-kin. These results indicate that post-conflict SDB keenly reflects the value of relationships between opponents, and that the post-conflict behaviour of free-ranging Japanese macaques fits the predictions of the integrated hypothesis.
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Okanoya, K., Ikebuchi, M., Uno, H., & Watanabe, S. (2001). Left-side dominance for song discrimination in Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica). Anim. Cogn., 4(3), 241–245.
Abstract: Male Bengalese finches are left-side dominant for the motor control of song in the sensorimotor nucleus (the high vocal center, or HVc) of the telencephalon. We examined whether perceptual discrimination of songs might also be lateralized in this species. Twelve male Bengalese finches were trained by operant conditioning to discriminate between a Bengalese finch song and a zebra finch song. Before training, the left HVc was lesioned in four birds and the right HVc was lesioned in four other birds. The remaining four birds were used as controls without surgery. Birds with a left HVc lesion required significantly more time to learn to discriminate between the two songs than did birds with a right HVc lesion or intact control birds. These results suggest that the left HVc is not only dominant for the motor control of song, but also for the perceptual discrimination of song.
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Cheng, K. (2004). K.J. Jeffery (ed) The neurobiology of spatial behaviour. Anim. Cogn., 7(3), 199–200.
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