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Shettleworth, S. J. (1985). Foraging, memory, and constraints on learning. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 443, 216–226. |
Shettleworth, S. J. (1978). Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: Pavlovian conditioning with food and shock unconditioned stimuli. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process, 4(2), 152–169.
Abstract: The effects of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs) for food or shock on a variety of behaviors of golden hamsters were observed in three experiments. The aim was to see whether previously reported differences among the behaviors produced by food reinforcement and punishment procedures could be accounted for by differential effects of Pavlovian conditioning on the behaviors. There was some correspondence between the behaviors observed to the CSs and the previously reported effects of instrumental training. However, the Pavlovian conditioned responses (CRs) alone would not have predicted the effects of instrumental training. Moreover, CRs depended to some extent on the context in which training and testing occurred. These findings, together with others in the literature, suggest that the results of Pavlovian conditioning procedures may not unambiguously predict what system of behaviors will be most readily modified by instrumental training with a given reinforcer.
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Dyer, F. C. (2002). Animal behaviour: when it pays to waggle (Vol. 419). |
Ralston, S. L. (1984). Controls of feeding in horses. J. Anim Sci., 59(5), 1354–1361.
Abstract: Members of the genus Equus are large, nonruminant herbivores. These animals utilize the products of both enzymatic digestion in the small intestine and bacterial fermentation (volatile fatty acids) in the cecum and large colon as sources of metabolizable energy. Equine animals rely primarily upon oropharyngeal and external stimuli to control the size and duration of an isolated meal. Meal frequency, however, is regulated by stimuli generated by the presence and (or) absorption of nutrients (sugars, fatty acids, protein) in both the large and small intestine plus metabolic cues reflecting body energy stores. The control of feeding in this species reflects its evolutionary development in an environment which selected for consumption of small, frequent meals of a variety of forages.
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Dunbar, R. I. M., McAdam, M. R., & O'connell, S. (2005). Mental rehearsal in great apes (Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus) and children. Behav. Process., 69(3), 323–330.
Abstract: The ability to rehearse possible future courses of action in the mind is an important feature of advanced social cognition in humans, and the “social brain” hypothesis implies that it might also be a feature of primate social cognition. We tested two chimpanzees, six orangutans and 63 children aged 3-7 years on a set of four puzzle boxes, half of which were presented with an opportunity to observe the box before being allowed to open it (“prior view”), the others being given without an opportunity to examine the boxes before handling them (“no prior view”). When learning effects are partialled out, puzzle boxes in the “prior view” condition were opened significantly faster than boxes given in the “no prior view” condition by the children, but not by either of the great apes. The three species differ significantly in the speed with which they opened boxes in the “no prior view” condition. The three species' performance on this task was a function of relative frontal lobe volume, suggesting that it may be possible to identify quantitative neuropsychological differences between species.
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Ward, C., & Smuts, B. B. (2007). Quantity-based judgments in the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Anim. Cogn., 10(1), 71–80.
Abstract: We examined the ability of domestic dogs to choose the larger versus smaller quantity of food in two experiments. In experiment 1, we investigated the ability of 29 dogs (results from 18 dogs were used in the data analysis) to discriminate between two quantities of food presented in eight different combinations. Choices were simultaneously presented and visually available at the time of choice. Overall, subjects chose the larger quantity more often than the smaller quantity, but they found numerically close comparisons more difficult. In experiment 2, we tested two dogs from experiment 1 under three conditions. In condition 1, we used similar methods from experiment 1 and tested the dogs multiple times on the eight combinations from experiment 1 plus one additional combination. In conditions 2 and 3, the food was visually unavailable to the subjects at the time of choice, but in condition 2, food choices were viewed simultaneously before being made visually unavailable, and in condition 3, they were viewed successively. In these last two conditions, and especially in condition 3, the dogs had to keep track of quantities mentally in order to choose optimally. Subjects still chose the larger quantity more often than the smaller quantity when the food was not simultaneously visible at the time of choice. Olfactory cues and inadvertent cuing by the experimenter were excluded as mechanisms for choosing larger quantities. The results suggest that, like apes tested on similar tasks, some dogs can form internal representations and make mental comparisons of quantity.
Keywords: Animals; *Choice Behavior; Dogs; Female; Food; Male; *Size Perception
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Palleroni, A., Hauser, M., & Marler, P. (2005). Do responses of galliform birds vary adaptively with predator size? Anim. Cogn., 8(3), 200–210.
Abstract: Past studies of galliform anti-predator behavior show that they discriminate between aerial and ground predators, producing distinctive, functionally referential vocalizations to each class. Within the category of aerial predators, however, studies using overhead models, video images and observations of natural encounters with birds of prey report little evidence that galliforms discriminate between different raptor species. This pattern suggests that the aerial alarm response may be triggered by general features of objects moving in the air. To test whether these birds are also sensitive to more detailed differences between raptor species, adult chickens with young were presented with variously sized trained raptors (small, intermediate, large) under controlled conditions. In response to the small hawk, there was a decline in anti-predator aggression and in aerial alarm calling as the young grew older and less vulnerable to attack by a hawk of this size. During the same developmental period, responses to the largest hawk, which posed the smallest threat to the young at all stages, did not change; there were intermediate changes at this time in response to the middle-sized hawk. Thus the anti-predator behavior of the adult birds varied in an adaptive fashion, changing as a function of both chick age and risk. We discuss these results in light of current issues concerning the cognitive mechanisms underlying alarm calling behavior in animals.
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Jackson, R. R., & Li, D. (2004). One-encounter search-image formation by araneophagic spiders. Anim. Cogn., 7(4), 247–254.
Abstract: An experimental study of search-image use by araneophagic jumping spiders (i.e., salticid spiders that prey routinely on other spiders) supports five conclusions. First, araneophagic salticids have an innate predisposition to form search images for specific prey from their preferred prey category (spiders) rather than for prey from a non-preferred category (insects). Second, single encounters are sufficient for forming search images. Third, search images are based on selective attention specifically to optical cues. Fourth, there are trade-offs in attention during search-image use (i.e., forming a search image for one type of spider diminishes the araneophagic salticid's attention to other spiders). Fifth, the araneophagic salticid's adoption of search images is costly to the prey (i.e., when the araneophagic salticid adopts a search, the prey's prospects for surviving encounters with the araneophagic salticid are diminished). Cognitive and ecological implications of search-image use are discussed.
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Westergaard, G. C., Liv, C., Rocca, A. M., Cleveland, A., & Suomi, S. J. (2004). Tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) attribute value to foods and tools during voluntary exchanges with humans. Anim. Cogn., 7(1), 19–24.
Abstract: This research examined exchange and value attribution in tufted capuchin monkeys ( Cebus apella). We presented subjects with opportunities to obtain various foods and a tool from an experimenter in exchange for the foods or tool in the subjects' possession. The times elapsed before the first chow biscuits were expelled and/or an exchange took place were recorded as the dependent measures. Laboratory chow biscuits, grapes, apples, and a metal bolt (a tool used to probe for syrup) were used as experimental stimuli. The subjects demonstrated the ability to recognize that exchanges could occur when an experimenter was present with a desirable food. Results indicate that subjects exhibited significant variation in their willingness to barter based upon the types of foods that were both in their possession and presented by the experimenter. Subjects more readily traded chow biscuits for fruit, and more readily traded apples for grapes than grapes for apples. During the exchange of tools and food, the subjects preferred the following in descending order when the probing apparatus was baited with sweet syrup: grapes, metal bolts, and chow biscuits. However when the apparatus was not baited, the values changed to the following in descending order: grapes, chow, and metal bolts. These results indicate that tufted capuchins recognize opportunities to exchange and engage in a simple barter system whereby low-valued foods are readily traded for more highly valued food. Furthermore, these capuchins demonstrate that their value for a tool changes depending upon its utility.
Keywords: Animals; Cebus/*physiology; *Food; Humans; *Object Attachment; *Social Behavior
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Weatherly, J. N., Arthur, E. I. L., & Tischart, L. M. (2003). Altering “motivational” variables alters induction produced by upcoming food-pellet reinforcement. Anim. Cogn., 6(1), 17–26.
Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that rats will increase their rates of lever pressing for sucrose rewards in the first half of an experimental session when food pellets, rather than the same sucrose, continually serve as the reward in the second half of the session. This effect has been coined induction, and the present study investigated whether it could be altered by altering “motivational” variables. Experiment 1 manipulated subjects' motivation by altering, across conditions, their level of food deprivation. Predictably, the size of induction varied directly with level of deprivation. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated subjects' motivation by feeding them food pellets and sucrose, respectively, prior to their responding in the experimental session. These pre-session feedings decreased the size of the observed induction in both experiments. The results from the present study indicate that the size of induction is correlated with subjects' motivation to respond for the available reinforcers. They are also consistent with the idea that operant processes underlie the effect. The notion that induction might encompass the concept of “anticipation” is also discussed.
Keywords: Animals; *Conditioning, Operant; Food Deprivation; Male; *Motivation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
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