Records |
Author |
Horner, V.; Whiten, A. |
Title |
Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
164-181 |
Keywords |
Animals; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; Pan troglodytes; *Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance; *Social Environment; Species Specificity |
Abstract |
This study explored whether the tendency of chimpanzees and children to use emulation or imitation to solve a tool-using task was a response to the availability of causal information. Young wild-born chimpanzees from an African sanctuary and 3- to 4-year-old children observed a human demonstrator use a tool to retrieve a reward from a puzzle-box. The demonstration involved both causally relevant and irrelevant actions, and the box was presented in each of two conditions: opaque and clear. In the opaque condition, causal information about the effect of the tool inside the box was not available, and hence it was impossible to differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant parts of the demonstration. However, in the clear condition causal information was available, and subjects could potentially determine which actions were necessary. When chimpanzees were presented with the opaque box, they reproduced both the relevant and irrelevant actions, thus imitating the overall structure of the task. When the box was presented in the clear condition they instead ignored the irrelevant actions in favour of a more efficient, emulative technique. These results suggest that emulation is the favoured strategy of chimpanzees when sufficient causal information is available. However, if such information is not available, chimpanzees are prone to employ a more comprehensive copy of an observed action. In contrast to the chimpanzees, children employed imitation to solve the task in both conditions, at the expense of efficiency. We suggest that the difference in performance of chimpanzees and children may be due to a greater susceptibility of children to cultural conventions, perhaps combined with a differential focus on the results, actions and goals of the demonstrator. |
Address |
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JU, UK. vkh1@st-andrews.ac.uk |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1435-9448 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15549502 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
732 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Heyes, C.M. |
Title |
Social learning in animals: categories and mechanisms |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1994 |
Publication |
Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Biol. Rev. |
Volume |
69 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
207-231 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Conditioning (Psychology); *Learning; Reinforcement (Psychology); *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
There has been relatively little research on the psychological mechanisms of social learning. This may be due, in part, to the practice of distinguishing categories of social learning in relation to ill-defined mechanisms (Davis, 1973; Galef, 1988). This practice both makes it difficult to identify empirically examples of different types of social learning, and gives the false impression that the mechanisms responsible for social learning are clearly understood. It has been proposed that social learning phenomena be subsumed within the categorization scheme currently used by investigators of asocial learning. This scheme distinguishes categories of learning according to observable conditions, namely, the type of experience that gives rise to a change in an animal (single stimulus vs. stimulus-stimulus relationship vs. response-reinforcer relationship), and the type of behaviour in which this change is detected (response evocation vs. learnability) (Rescorla, 1988). Specifically, three alignments have been proposed: (i) stimulus enhancement with single stimulus learning, (ii) observational conditioning with stimulus-stimulus learning, or Pavlovian conditioning, and (iii) observational learning with response-reinforcer learning, or instrumental conditioning. If, as the proposed alignments suggest, the conditions of social and asocial learning are the same, there is some reason to believe that the mechanisms underlying the two sets of phenomena are also the same. This is so if one makes the relatively uncontroversial assumption that phenomena which occur under similar conditions tend to be controlled by similar mechanisms. However, the proposed alignments are intended to be a set of hypotheses, rather than conclusions, about the mechanisms of social learning; as a basis for further research in which animal learning theory is applied to social learning. A concerted attempt to apply animal learning theory to social learning, to find out whether the same mechanisms are responsible for social and asocial learning, could lead both to refinements of the general theory, and to a better understanding of the mechanisms of social learning. There are precedents for these positive developments in research applying animal learning theory to food aversion learning (e.g. Domjan, 1983; Rozin & Schull, 1988) and imprinting (e.g. Bolhuis, de Vox & Kruit, 1990; Hollis, ten Cate & Bateson, 1991). Like social learning, these phenomena almost certainly play distinctive roles in the antogeny of adaptive behaviour, and they are customarily regarded as 'special kinds' of learning (Shettleworth, 1993).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University College London |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1464-7931 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:8054445 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
708 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Janik, V.M. |
Title |
Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
289 |
Issue |
5483 |
Pages |
1355-1357 |
Keywords |
Animals; Animals, Wild/physiology; Dolphins/*physiology; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; *Social Behavior; *Vocalization, Animal |
Abstract |
Dolphin communication is suspected to be complex, on the basis of their call repertoires, cognitive abilities, and ability to modify signals through vocal learning. Because of the difficulties involved in observing and recording individual cetaceans, very little is known about how they use their calls. This report shows that wild, unrestrained bottlenose dolphins use their learned whistles in matching interactions, in which an individual responds to a whistle of a conspecific by emitting the same whistle type. Vocal matching occurred over distances of up to 580 meters and is indicative of animals addressing each other individually. |
Address |
School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, Bute Building, Fife KY16 9TS, UK |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0036-8075 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:10958783 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
550 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
Title |
Varieties of learning and memory in animals |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1993 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
19 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
5-14 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; Birds; Conditioning, Classical; Evolution; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; *Memory; Social Environment; Species Specificity; Taste |
Abstract |
It is often assumed that there is more than one kind of learning--or more than one memory system--each of which is specialized for a different function. Yet, the criteria by which the varieties of learning and memory should be distinguished are seldom clear. Learning and memory phenomena can differ from one another across species or situations (and thus be specialized) in a number of different ways. What is needed is a consistent theoretical approach to the whole range of learning phenomena, and one is explored here. Parallels and contrasts in the study of sensory systems illustrate one way to integrate the study of general mechanisms with an appreciation of species-specific adaptations. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0097-7403 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:8418217 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
380 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Shettleworth, S.J.; Sutton, J.E. |
Title |
Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
125-141 |
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cues; *Feeding Behavior; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Homing Behavior; *Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; *Space Perception |
Abstract |
Rats homed with food in a large lighted arena. Without visual cues, they used dead reckoning. When a beacon indicated the home, rats could also use the beacon. Homing did not differ in 2 groups of rats, 1 provided with the beacon and 1 without it; tests without the beacon gave no evidence that beacon learning overshadowed dead reckoning (Experiment 1). When the beacon was at the home for 1 group and in random locations for another, there was again no evidence of cue competition (Experiment 2). Dead reckoning experience did not block acquisition of beacon homing (Experiment 3). Beacon learning and dead reckoning do not compete for predictive value but acquire information in parallel and are used hierarchically. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0097-7403 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15839771 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
364 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
Title |
Taking the best for learning |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
Volume |
69 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
147-9; author reply 159-63 |
Keywords |
*Algorithms; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Decision Making; Evolution; *Learning; *Models, Theoretical |
Abstract |
Examples of how animals learn when multiple, sometimes redundant, cues are present provide further examples not considered by Hutchinson and Gigerenzer that seem to fit the principle of taking the best. “The best” may the most valid cue in the present circumstances; evolution may also produce species-specific biases to use the most functionally relevant cues. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 3G3. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0376-6357 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15845301 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
361 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Markman, E.M.; Abelev, M. |
Title |
Word learning in dogs? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Trends in Cognitive Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends. Cognit. Sci. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
11 |
Pages |
479-81; discussion 481 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; Dogs; *Learning; *Verbal Learning; *Vocabulary |
Abstract |
In a recent paper, Kaminski, Call and Fischer report pioneering research on word-learning in a dog. In this commentary we suggest ways of distinguishing referential word use from mere association. We question whether the dog is reasoning by exclusion and, if so, compare three explanations – learned heuristics, default assumptions, and pragmatic reasoning – as they apply to children and might apply to dogs. Kaminski et al.'s work clearly raises important questions about the origins and basis of word learning and social cognition. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Bldg 420, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1364-6613 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15491899 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
274 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Dorrance, B.R.; Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
115 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
62-67 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Coturnix; Female; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; *Motivation; Reinforcement (Psychology); Time Factors |
Abstract |
The 2-action method was used to examine whether imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation of the demonstrated behavior. Two groups of observers were fed before observation (satiated groups), whereas 2 other groups of observers were deprived of food before observation (hungry groups). Quail were tested either immediately following observation or after a 30-min delay. Results indicated that quail in the hungry groups imitated, whereas those in the satiated groups did not, regardless of whether their test was immediate or delayed. The results suggest that observer quail may not learn (through observation) behavior that leads to a reinforcer for which they are unmotivated at the time of test. In addition, the results show that quail are able to delay the performance of a response acquired through observation (i.e., they show deferred imitation). |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0044, USA |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0735-7036 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:11334220 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
245 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Klein, E.D.; Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitation and affordance learning by pigeons (Columba livia) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
117 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
414-419 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Cues; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Odors; Sound |
Abstract |
The bidirectional control procedure was used to determine whether pigeons (Columba livia) would imitate a demonstrator that pushed a sliding screen for food. One group of observers saw a trained demonstrator push a sliding screen door with its beak (imitation group), whereas 2 other groups watched the screen move independently (possibly learning how the environment works) with a conspecific either present (affordance learning with social facilitation) or absent (affordance learning alone). A 4th group could not see the screen being pushed (sound and odor control). Imitation was evidenced by the finding that pigeons that saw a demonstrator push the screen made a higher proportion of matching screen pushes than observers in 2 appropriate control conditions. Further, observers that watched a screen move without a demonstrator present made a significantly higher proportion of matching screen pushes than would be expected by chance. Thus, these pigeons were capable of affordance learning. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-004, USA |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0735-7036 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:14717643 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
234 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Action imitation in birds |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Learning & behavior : a Psychonomic Society publication |
Abbreviated Journal |
Learn Behav |
Volume |
32 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
15-23 |
Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Birds; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; Motivation; Psychological Theory; *Social Environment; *Social Facilitation; Vocalization, Animal |
Abstract |
Action imitation, once thought to be a behavior almost exclusively limited to humans and the great apes, surprisingly also has been found in a number of bird species. Because imitation has been viewed by some psychologists as a form of intelligent behavior, there has been interest in how it is distributed among animal species. Although the mechanisms responsible for action imitation are not clear, we are now at least beginning to understand the conditions under which it occurs. In this article, I try to identify and differentiate the various forms of socially influenced behavior (species-typical social reactions, social effects on motivation, social effects on perception, socially influenced learning, and action imitation) and explain why it is important to differentiate imitation from other forms of social influence. I also examine some of the variables that appear to be involved in the occurrence of imitation. Finally, I speculate about why a number of bird species, but few mammal species, appear to imitate. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1543-4494 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15161137 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
230 |
Permanent link to this record |