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Mader, D. R., & Price, E. O. (1980). Discrimination learning in horses: effects of breed, age and social dominance. J. Anim Sci., 50(5), 962–965.
Abstract: The discrimination learning ability of Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds was compared by means of visual cues in a three-choice test with food as a reward. Quarter Horses learned significantly faster than Thoroughbreds, and learning progressed more rapidly for both breeds in a second discrimination task. Significant negative correlations were observed between age and rate of learning. Quarter Horses tended to be less reactive than Thoroughbreds, but individual emotional reactivity ratings and learning scores were not correlated. No correlation was found between social dominance and learning scores. Learning studies with horses may provide a better understanding of the behavioral traits that influence trainability in this species.
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Rubin, L., Oppegard, C., & Hindz, H. F. (1980). The effect of varying the temporal distribution of conditioning trials on equine learning behavior. J. Anim Sci., 50(6), 1184–1187.
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of varying the temporal distrbution of conditioning sessions on equine learning behavior. In the first experiment, 15 ponies were trained to clear a small hurdle in response to a buzzer in order to avoid a mild electric shock. Three treatments were used. One group received 10 learning trials daily, seven times a week; one group was trained in the same fashion two times a week and one group was trained once a week. The animals conditioned only once a week achieved a high level of performance in significantly fewer sessions than the ones conditioned seven times a week, although elapsed time from start of training to completion was two to three times greater for the former group. The twice-a-week group learned at an intermediate rate. In the second experiment, the ponies were rearranged into three new groups. They were taught to move backward a specific distance in response to a visual cue in order to avoid an electric shock. Again, one group was trained seven times a week, one group was trained two times and one group was trained once a week. As in the first experiment, the animals trained once a week achieved the learning criteria in significantly fewer sessions than those trained seven times a week, but, as in trial 1, elapsed time from start to finish was greater for them. The two times-a-week group learned at a rate in-between the rates of the other two groups.
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Hintz, R. L. (1980). Genetics of performance in the horse. J. Anim Sci., 51(3), 582–594.
Abstract: Criteria used to measure performance, environmental factors that influence performance and estimates of heritability are needed to estimate genetic differences. Published heritability estimates of various measures of performance in the horse are summarized. The average heritability estimates of pulling ability and cutting ability are .25 and .04, respectively. Heritability estimates are .18, .19 and .17 for log of earnings from jumping, 3-day event and dressage performance, respectively. Heritability estimates of performance rates, log of earnings, earnings, handicap weight, best handicap weight, time and best time for the Thoroughbred are .55, .49, .09, .49, .33, .15 and .23, respectively. Heritability estimates of log of earnings, earnings, time and best time for the trotter are .41, .20, .32, and .25, respectively. The heritability estimate of best time for the pacer is .23. The effectiveness of selection will depend on which performance trait is to be improved.
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Zentall, T. R., Hogan, D. E., Edwards, C. A., & Hearst, E. (1980). Oddity learning in the pigeon as a function of the number of incorrect alternatives. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process, 6(3), 278–299.
Abstract: Pigeons' rate of learning a two-color oddity task increased as a function of the number of incorrect alternatives from 2 to 24 in Experiments 1, 2, and 3. In general, pigeons that were transferred from many-incorrect-alternative to two-incorrect-alternative oddity performed better than controls, but considerably below baseline (Experiments 2 and 3). In Experiment 4, pigeons showed no unconditioned tendency to peck the odd stimulus among 24 incorect alternatives, when pecks were nondifferentially reinforced, and in Experiment 5, when this procedure was preceded by oddity training, a progressive drop in odd-stimulus pecking was found. In Experiment 6, pigeons exposed to a nine-stimulus array in which the odd stimulus appeared (a) in the center or (b) separate from the array learned faster than when the odd stimulus was at the edge. This outcome suggests ththe figure-ground relation between the odd stimulus and the incorrect alternatives plays a role in the facilitation produced by increasing the number of incorrect alternatives but that poor performance on the standard, three-alternative oddity task appears to be due to center-odd trials which provide a difficult size or number discrimination.
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Shettleworth, S. J., & Juergensen, M. R. (1980). Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: brain stimulation reinforcement for seven action patterns. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process, 6(4), 352–375.
Abstract: Golden hamsters were reinforced with intracranial electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus (ICS) for spending time engaging in one of seven topographically defined action patterns (APs). The stimulation used as reinforcer elicited hoarding and/or feeding and supported high rates of bar pressing. In Experiment 1, hamsters were reinforced successively for digging, open rearing, and face washing. Digging increased most in time spent, and face washing increased least. Experiments 2-5 examined these effects further and also showed that “scrabbling,” like digging, was performed a large proportion of the time, almost without interruption, for contingent ICS but that scratching the body with a hindleg and scent-marking showed relatively little effect of contingent ICS, the latter even in an environment that facilitated marking. In Experiment 6, naive hamsters received ICS not contingent on behavior every 30 sec (fixed-time 30-sec schedule). Terminal behaviors that developed on this schedule were APs that were easy to reinforce in the other experiments, but a facultative behavior, face washing, was one not so readily reinforced. Experiment 7 confirmed a novel prediction from Experiment 6--that wall rearing, a terminal AP, would be performed at a high level for contingent ICS. All together, the results point to both motivational factors and associative factors being involved in the considerable differences in performance among different reinforced activities.
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van Niekerk, H. P. (1980). Ethological studies within the man-horse relationship. J S Afr Vet Assoc, 51(4), 237–238.
Abstract: Certain aspects of ethology and the horse's senses are discussed to bring about a better understanding between man and horse. Furthermore the behaviour of horses with respect to housing, feeding, breeding, veterinary treatment and work are considered.
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Clutton-Brock, T. H., & Harvey, P. H. (1980). Primates, brains and ecology. J. Zool. Lond., 190(3), 309–323.
Abstract: The paper examines systematic relationships among primates between brain size (relative to body size) and differences in ecology and social system. Marked differences in relative brain size exist between families. These are correlated with inter-family differences in body size and home range size. Variation in comparative brain size within families is related to diet (folivores have comparatively smaller brains than frugivores), home range size and possibly also to breeding system. The adaptive significance of these relationships is discussed.
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Bunnell, B., & Perkins, M. (1980). Performance correlates of social behavior and organization: Social rank and complex problem solving in crab-eating macaques (M. fascicularis). Primates, 21(4), 515–523.
Abstract: Abstract Seventeen male crab-eating macaques, drawn from two captive troops, were tested on a series of complex problem solving tasks in a Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (wgta). The animals were trained on a series of 6-trial object quality learning set problems followed by a series of 10-trial object quality learning set problems. They were then given problems in which the correct stimulus object was reversed part way through the problem. After the animals reached criterion on this task, the reversal learning set was then extinguished. High ranking animals made more intraproblem errors than low ranking animals on the 6-trial problems, but there was no relationship between social status and the rapidity with which the object quality learning set was established. Animals that received overtraining on the 6-trial problems transferred their learning virtually intact to the 10-trial problems; however, high ranking animals without overtraining made more errors than low ranking animals. On reversal learning and reversal extinction, high ranking animals made more errors on critical trials, indicating that they formed and extinguished the reversal set more slowly than low ranking animals. Object quality sets, as measured by trial-2 performance, were not affected by the reversal conditions.
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Bunnell, B., Gore, W., & Perkins, M. (1980). Performance correlates of social behavior and organization: Social rank and reversal learning in crab-eating macaques (M. fascicularis). Primates, 21(3), 376–388.
Abstract: Abstract Seventeen male crab-eating macaques drawn from two captive troops, were tested on a brightness discrimination, reversal learning task. Fourteen of these animals completed ten reversals. It was found that the performance of the three highest ranking animals from each troop, taken together, was poorer than that of the lower ranking animals that were tested. The high ranking animals made more errors before reaching criterion on both initial learning and the reversal problems. Analysis of error patterns revealed that, while the high ranking animals had no more difficulty than the others in withholding their responses to the previously correct stimulus following reversals, they did not adopt the correct strategy as soon as the low ranking animals. The results have been interpreted in terms of a carry-over of a hypothetical factor or factors resulting from pressures created by the ongoing social dynamics involved in establishing and maintaining a given social rank at the time laboratory testing occurred.
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Harvey, P. H., Clutton-Brock, T. H., & Mace, G. M. (1980). Brain size and ecology in small mammals and primates. PNAS, 77(7), 4387–4389.
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