Kaminski, G., Gentaz, E., & Mazens, K. (2012). Development of children’s ability to detect kinship through facial resemblance. Anim. Cogn., 15(3), 421–427.
Abstract: Facial features appear to be a prominent kinship cue for ascribing relatedness among human individuals. Although there is evidence that adults can detect kinship in unrelated and unfamiliar individual’s faces, it remains to be seen whether people already possess the ability when they are young. To further understand the development of this skill, we explored children’s ability to detect parent-offspring resemblance in unrelated and unfamiliar faces. To this end, we tested approximately 140 children, aged 5–11, in two photo-matching tasks. We used a procedure that asked them to match one neonate’s face to one of three adults’ faces (Task 1), or to match one adult’s face to one of three neonate’s faces (Task 2). Our findings reveal asymmetrical performance, depending on the tasks assigned (performance of Task 2 is stronger than for Task 1), and on the sex of individuals who made up the parent-offspring pair (male parents are better matched with neonates than female parents, and boys are better matched than girls). The picture that emerges from our study is, on one hand, that the ability to detect kinship is already present at the age of five but continues to improve as one gets older, and on the other, that perception of parent-offspring facial resemblance varies according to the appraisers’ characteristics.
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Meyer, S., Nürnberg, G., Puppe, B., & Langbein, J. (2012). The cognitive capabilities of farm animals: categorisation learning in dwarf goats (Capra hircus). Anim. Cogn., 15(4), 567–576.
Abstract: The ability to establish categories enables organisms to classify stimuli, objects and events by assessing perceptual, associative or rational similarities and provides the basis for higher cognitive processing. The cognitive capabilities of farm animals are receiving increasing attention in applied ethology, a development driven primarily by scientifically based efforts to improve animal welfare. The present study investigated the learning of perceptual categories in Nigerian dwarf goats ( Capra hircus ) by using an automated learning device installed in the animals’ pen. Thirteen group-housed goats were trained in a closed-economy approach to discriminate artificial two-dimensional symbols presented in a four-choice design. The symbols belonged to two categories: category I, black symbols with an open centre (rewarded) and category II, the same symbols but filled black (unrewarded). One symbol from category I and three different symbols from category II were used to define a discrimination problem. After the training of eight problems, the animals were presented with a transfer series containing the training problems interspersed with completely new problems made from new symbols belonging to the same categories. The results clearly demonstrate that dwarf goats are able to form categories based on similarities in the visual appearance of artificial symbols and to generalise across new symbols. However, the goats had difficulties in discriminating specific symbols. It is probable that perceptual problems caused these difficulties. Nevertheless, the present study suggests that goats housed under farming conditions have well-developed cognitive abilities, including learning of open-ended categories. This result could prove beneficial by facilitating animals’ adaptation to housing environments that favour their cognitive capabilities.
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Mandal, M. K., Bulman-Fleming, M. B., & Tiwari, G. (Eds.). (2000). Side Bias: A Neuropsychological Perspective. Netherlands: Springer.
Abstract: The beginnings of the idea about a book on “side bias” began in the year
1994 during the senior editor"s research association with late Professor M.P.
Bryden and colleagues at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Over many
discussions with Professor Bryden, it was clear that the concept of “side bias”
encompasses all aspects of motor behaviour within the context of human
(and non-human animal) laterality. The tendency to favour one side or limb
over the other is important not only from the perspective of understanding
the functional asymmetries of the cerebral hemispheres, but also to an
understanding of a myriad of aspects of human behaviour, as the
contributions to this volume will attest.
By side bias, most people would think of bias in terms of hand
preference or performance. The phenomenon of side bias, however, is more
general and influences motor behaviour of all kinds, ranging from simple
hand movement to complex behaviours like facial expression and attention.
Therefore, the concept has been operationalized in terms of bias reflected in
the motor expression of paired (such as hands, feet, eyes, or ears) or
nonpaired organs (such as the face) as a function of preference, performance
or attentional/intentional factors. ....
More see: http://www.springerlink.com/content/gr1726/front-matter.pdf
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Bergmüller, R. (2010). Animal Personality and Behavioural Syndromes. In P. Kappeler (Ed.), Animal Behaviour – Evolution and Mechanisms (pp. 587–621). Heidelberg: Springer.
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Köhler, W. (1921). Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen. Berlin: Springer.
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Adelman, M., & Knijnik, J. (2013). Gender and Equestrian Sport. Dordrecht: Springer.
Abstract: This volume brings together studies from various disciplines of the social sciences and humanities (Anthropology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, History and Literary theory) that examine the equestrian world as a historically gendered and highly dynamic field of contemporary sport and culture. From elite international dressage and jumping, polo and the turf, to the rodeo world of the Americas and popular forms of equestrian sport and culture, we are introduced to a range of issues as they unfold at local and global, national and international levels. Students and scholars of gender, culture and sport will find much of interest in this original look at contemporary issues such as “engendered” (women’s and men’s) dentities/subjectivities of equestrians, representations of girls, horses and the world of adventure in juvenile fiction; the current “feminization” of particular equestrian activities (and where boys and men stand in relation to this); how broad forms of social inequality and stratification play themselves out within gendered equestrian contexts; men and women and their relation to horses within the framework of current discussions on the relation of animals to humans (which may include not only love and care, but also exploitation and violence), among others. Singular contributions that incorporate a wide variety of classic and contemporary theoretical perspectives and empirical methodologies show how horse cultures around the globe contribute to historical and current constructions of embodied “femininities” and “masculinities”, reflecting a world that has been moving “beyond the binaries” while continuing to be enmeshed in their persistent and contradictory legacy. The final chapter makes a brave attempt at synthesizing individual chapters and moving forward from the evidences they provide, to suggest a compelling agenda for future research.
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(1998). Animal Acoustic Communication: Sound Analysis and Research Methods. Berlin: Springer.
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Oese, E. und A. (1982). Pferdesport – Ein Handbuch für Trainer, Übungsleiter, Pferdezüchter und Aktive. Berlin: Sportverlag.
Abstract: Pferdekunde, Pflege und Haltung des Pferdes, Grundausbildung des Reiters, Grundausbildung des Pferdes, Grundlagen der allgemeinen Trainings und Wettkampflehre des Pferdesports, Dressurtraining, Springtraining, Gelände, Vielseitigkeits und Militarytraining, Fahren, Voltigieren, Pferdeleistungsprüfungen, Reitjagd, Reittouristik...
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Bökönyi, S. The Przevalsky Horse. Souvenir Press Ltd.
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Meester J, S. H., & W. Setzer, H. W. (Eds.). (1971). The mammals of Africa (Vol. Part 14). City of Washington: Smithsonian Press.
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