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Author Tomasello, M.; Davis-Dasilva, M.; Camak, L.; Bard, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Observational learning of tool-use by young chimpanzees Type Journal Article
  Year 1987 Publication Abbreviated Journal Human Evolution  
  Volume 2 Issue 2 Pages 175-183  
  Keywords Chimpanzees; Observational Learning; Tool-Use  
  Abstract In the current study two groups of young chimpanzees (4–6 and 8–9 years old) were given a T-bar and a food item that could only be reached by using the T-bar. Experimental subjects were given the opportunity to observe an adult using the stick as a tool to obtain the food; control subjects were exposed to the adult but were given no demonstration. Subjects in the older group did not learn to use the tool. Subjects in the younger group who were exposed to the demonstrator learned to use the stick as a tool much more readily than those who were not. None of the subjects demonstrated an ability to imitatively copy the demonstrator's precise behavioral strategies. More than simple stimulus enhancement was involved, however, since both groups manipulated the T-bar, but only experimental subjects used it in its function as a tool. Our findings complement naturalistic observations in suggesting that chimpanzee tool-use is in some sense «culturally transmitted» — though perhaps not in the same sense as social-conventional behaviors for which precise copying of conspecifics is crucial.  
  Address  
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  Publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title (up)  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0393-9375 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5915  
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Author Brennan, P.A. doi  openurl
  Title The nose knows who's who: chemosensory individuality and mate recognition in mice Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Hormones and Behavior Abbreviated Journal Horm Behav  
  Volume 46 Issue 3 Pages 231-240  
  Keywords Animals; Chemoreceptors/physiology; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Embryo Implantation/physiology; Female; Individuality; Major Histocompatibility Complex/physiology; Male; Mice; Neurons, Afferent/physiology; Nose/cytology/physiology; Perception/physiology; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Maintenance/physiology; Pregnancy, Animal/*physiology; Receptors, Odorant/*physiology; Recognition (Psychology)/*physiology; Sexual Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Smell/*physiology; Urine/physiology; Vomeronasal Organ/cytology/physiology  
  Abstract Individual recognition is an important component of behaviors, such as mate choice and maternal bonding that are vital for reproductive success. This article highlights recent developments in our understanding of the chemosensory cues and the neural pathways involved in individuality discrimination in rodents. There appear to be several types of chemosensory signal of individuality that are influenced by the highly polymorphic families of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins or major urinary proteins (MUPs). Both have the capability of binding small molecules and may influence the individual profile of these chemosignals in biological fluids such as urine, skin secretions, or saliva. Moreover, these proteins, or peptides associated with them, can be taken up into the vomeronasal organ (VNO) where they can potentially interact directly with the vomeronasal receptors. This is particularly interesting given the expression of major histocompatibility complex Ib proteins by the V2R class of vomeronasal receptor and the highly selective responses of accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) mitral cells to strain identity. These findings are consistent with the role of the vomeronasal system in mediating individual discrimination that allows mate recognition in the context of the pregnancy block effect. This is hypothesized to involve a selective increase in the inhibitory control of mitral cells in the accessory olfactory bulb at the first level of processing of the vomeronasal stimulus.  
  Address Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, UK. pab23@cus.cam.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title (up)  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0018-506X ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15325224 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4191  
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Author Boyd, R.; Richerson, P.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Why does culture increase human adaptability? Type Journal Article
  Year 1995 Publication Ethology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Ethol. a. Sociob.  
  Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 125-143  
  Keywords Social learning; Adaptation; Culture; Sociobiology  
  Abstract It is often argued that culture is adaptive because it allows people to acquire useful information without costly learning. In a recent paper Rogers (1989) analyzed a simple mathematical model that showed that this argument is wrong. Here we show that Rogers' result is robust. As long as the only benefit of social learning is that imitators avoid learning costs, social learning does not increase average fitness. However, we also show that social learning can be adaptive if it makes individual learning more accurate or less costly.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4196  
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Author Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Valone, Thomas, J.; Templeton, Jennifer, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Potential disadvantages of using socially acquired information Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 357 Issue 1427 Pages 1559-1566  
  Keywords Public Information Informational Cascades Social Learning Sampling  
  Abstract The acquisition and use of socially acquired information is commonly assumed to be profitable. We challenge this assumption by exploring hypothetical scenarios where the use of such information either provides no benefit or can actually be costly. First, we show that the level of incompatibility between the acquisition of personal and socially acquired information will directly affect the extent to which the use of socially acquired information can be profitable. When these two sources of information cannot be acquired simultaneously, there may be no benefit to socially acquired information. Second, we assume that a solitary individual's behavioural decisions will be based on cues revealed by its own interactions with the environment. However, in many cases, for social animals the only socially acquired information available to individuals is the behavioural actions of others that expose their decisions, rather than the cues on which these decisions were based. We argue that in such a situation the use of socially acquired information can lead to informational cascades that sometimes result in sub-optimal behaviour. From this theory of informational cascades, we predict that when erroneous cascades are costly, individuals should pay attention only to socially generated cues and not behavioural decisions. We suggest three scenarios that might be examples of informational cascades in nature.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4197  
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Author Rogers, A.R. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Does Biology Constrain Culture? Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication American Anthropologist Abbreviated Journal Am Anthropol  
  Volume 90 Issue 4 Pages 819-831  
  Keywords models, learning, evolution, culture, fitness, adaptive, environment, human, natural selection, behavior  
  Abstract Most social scientists would agree that the capacity for human culture was probably fashioned by natural selection, but they disagree about the implications of this supposition. Some believe that natural selection imposes important constraints on the ways in which culture can vary, while others believe that any such constraints must be negligible. This article employs a “thought experiment” to demonstrate that neither of these positions can be justified by appeal to general properties of culture or of evolution. Natural selection can produce mechanisms of cultural transmission that are neither adaptive nor consistent with the predictions of acultural evolutionary models (those ignoring cultural evolution). On the other hand, natural selection can also produce mechanisms of cultural transmission that are highly consistent with acultural models. Thus, neither side of the sociobiology debate is justified in dismissing the arguments of the other. Natural selection may impose significant constraints on some human behaviors, but negligible constraints on others. Models of simultaneous genetic/cultural evolution will be useful in identifying domains in which acultural evolutionary models are, and are not, likely to be useful.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ citeulike:907484 Serial 4199  
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Author Bonnie, K.E.; Earley, R.L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Expanding the scope for social information use Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 171-18  
  Keywords behavioural cue; eavesdropping; public information; signalling; social information; social learning  
  Abstract Our understanding of how, why, and the circumstances under which animals use social information has been facilitated by three principal areas of research, social learning, public information use and social eavesdropping. With few exceptions, these related concepts have remained remarkably distinct within the literature, with little discussion or integration among them. Are these distinctions warranted? We tackle the issue by exploring similarities and differences between the concepts with respect to how animals gather and use social information, the type of information gathered, how information is packaged, and the relative payoffs to individuals involved. We contend that none of the currently dominant paradigms, social learning, public information use, or social eavesdropping, provide a unifying theme for studying social information use. Instead, we favour the central characteristic of the three concepts, social information use, as the overarching umbrella, and advocate a broader conceptual framework for understanding more comprehensively how animals behave with their social environments. Our intention is not to revolutionize the fields of social learning, public information use or social eavesdropping, but rather to stimulate discussion among researchers investigating the abilities of animals to extract information from the social environment.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4205  
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Author Beecher, M.D.; Burt, J.M.; O'Loghlen, A.L.; Templeton, C.N.; Campbell, S.E. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Bird song learning in an eavesdropping context Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 6 Pages 929-935  
  Keywords eavesdropping; Melospiza melodia; passerine; social learning; song acoustics; song learning; song repertoire; song sparrow; vocal communication  
  Abstract Bird song learning is a major model system for the study of learning with many parallels to human language development. In this experiment we examined a critical but poorly understood aspect of song learning: its social context. We compared how much young song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, learned from two kinds of adult `song tutors': one with whom the subject interacted vocally, and one whom the subject only overheard singing with another young bird. We found that although subjects learned from both song models, they learned more than twice as many songs from the overheard tutor. These results provide the first evidence that young birds choose their songs by eavesdropping on interactions, and in some cases may learn more by eavesdropping than by direct interaction.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4207  
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Author Range, F.; Huber, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Attention in common marmosets: implications for social-learning experiments Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 6 Pages 1033-1041  
  Keywords attention; Callithrix jacchus; common marmoset; imitation; social learning  
  Abstract The question whether a certain species is or is not able to imitate has received much recent attention. However, the ability to copy a demonstrated action might depend not only on the imitative ability of the observer but also on its attention, a factor widely neglected in discussions and experiments. Since attention differs between species as well as between individuals, it is likely to influence the amount and type of information different species and/or observers may extract from a given demonstration. We studied attention in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. In a series of experimental sessions, individual marmosets watched different conspecific models that were searching, manipulating an object and feeding. The observers could see the demonstration through two observation holes, which allowed us to measure exactly how often and for how long they watched the model. Marmosets were more attentive towards conspecifics engaged in a problem-solving task than an exploring model. Individual variation in attention was large, ranging from less than 10% to over 49%. Attention also depended on the identity of the model with an increase in attention if it was of the opposite sex. Overall, attention of marmosets was short with a median duration of 6 s while the model manipulated an object. This study measured the real interest of the observer towards a model, which could be an important variable in social-learning experiments.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4208  
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Author Shier, D.M.; Owings, D.H. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effects of social learning on predator training and postrelease survival in juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 4 Pages 567-577  
  Keywords antipredator behaviour; black-tailed prairie dog; Cynomys ludovicianus; postrelease survival; predator avoidance; social learning  
  Abstract We examined how social context and experience affected development of antipredator behaviour and subsequent postrelease survival in the black-tailed prairie dog. Captive-reared juveniles were initially exposed to four stimulus animals: a ferret, a rattlesnake, a hawk and a cottontail control (pretraining tests). Subjects were then trained with or without an adult female demonstrator. Training involved exposure to each stimulus animal two to three times over 5 weeks. After training, each juvenile was retested with each stimulus animal (post-training tests). During pretraining tests, juveniles responded differentially to the stimulus animals. They were least active with the snake, fled the most in tests with the hawk, and were less vigilant with the ferret than with the snake. Following training, juveniles trained with experienced adults were more wary with all three predators than juveniles trained without an experienced adult present. We then compared the antipredator behaviour of captive-reared juveniles trained with experienced adult females with that of wild-reared juveniles of the same age. For all behavioural measures except shelter use, wild-experienced animals differentiated more strongly among predator types than did captive-trained juveniles. One year after reintroduction, survivorship of juveniles trained with experienced adults was higher than that of juveniles trained without experienced adults, but did not differ from that of wild-reared juveniles. These findings provide the first evidence that social transmission of antipredator behaviour during training can enhance long-term survival following release and that as long as a social training regime is used, predator avoidance training can emulate experience acquired in the wild.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4212  
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Author Bryson, J.; Leong, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Primate errors in transitive inference: a two-tier learning model Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 1-15  
  Keywords Transitive inference, choice or performance – Task learning – Hippocampal learning – Modelling  
  Abstract Abstract  Transitive performance (TP) is a learning-based behaviour exhibited by a wide range of species, where if a subject has been taught to prefer A when presented with the pair AB but to prefer B when presented with the pair BC, then the subject will also prefer A when presented with the novel pair AC. Most explanations of TP assume that subjects recognize and learn an underlying sequence from observing the training pairs. However, data from squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and young children contradict this, showing that when three different items (a triad) are drawn from the sequence, subjects`` performance degrades systematically (McGonigle and Chalmers, Nature 267:694-696, 1977; Chalmers and McGonigle, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 37:355-377, 1984; Harris and McGonigle, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 47B:319-348, 1994). We present here the two-tier model, the first learning model of TP which accounts for this systematic performance degradation. Our model assumes primate TP is based on a general-purpose task learning system rather than a special-purpose sequence-learning system. It supports the hypothesis of Heckers et al. (Hippocampus 14:153-162, 2004) that TP is an expression of two separate general learning elements: one for associating actions and contexts, another for prioritising associations when more than one context is present. The two-tier model also provides explanations for why phased training is important for helping subjects learn the initial training pairs and why some subjects fail to do so. It also supports the Harris and McGonigle (The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 47B:319-348, 1994) explanation of why, once the training pairs have been acquired, subjects perform transitive choice automatically on two-item diads, but not when exposed to triads from the same sequence.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 4221  
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