| Records |
| Author |
Moses, S.N.; Villate, C.; Ryan, J.D. |
| Title |
An investigation of learning strategy supporting transitive inference performance in humans compared to other species |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Neuropsychologia |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neuropsychologia |
| Volume |
44 |
Issue |
8 |
Pages |
1370-1387 |
| Keywords |
Adult; Analysis of Variance; Association Learning/*physiology; *Cognition; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Logic; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology; Photic Stimulation/methods; Reaction Time/physiology |
| Abstract |
Generalizations about neural function are often drawn from non-human animal models to human cognition, however, the assumption of cross-species conservation may sometimes be invalid. Humans may use different strategies mediated by alternative structures, or similar structures may operate differently within the context of the human brain. The transitive inference problem, considered a hallmark of logical reasoning, can be solved by non-human species via associative learning rather than logic. We tested whether humans use similar strategies to other species for transitive inference. Results are crucial for evaluating the validity of widely accepted assumptions of similar neural substrates underlying performance in humans and other animals. Here we show that successful transitive inference in humans is unrelated to use of associative learning strategies and is associated with ability to report the hierarchical relationship among stimuli. Our work stipulates that cross-species generalizations must be interpreted cautiously, since performance on the same task may be mediated by different strategies and/or neural systems. |
| Address |
Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada. smoses@rotman-baycrest.on.ca |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0028-3932 |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16503340 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
153 |
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| Author |
Flack, J.C.; de Waal, F.B.M.; Krakauer, D.C. |
| Title |
Social structure, robustness, and policing cost in a cognitively sophisticated species |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
The American Naturalist |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am Nat |
| Volume |
165 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
E126-139 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Conflict (Psychology); Female; Macaca nemestrina/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior |
| Abstract |
Conflict management is one of the primary requirements for social complexity. Of the many forms of conflict management, one of the rarest and most interesting is third-party policing, or intervening impartially to control conflict. Third-party policing should be hard to evolve because policers personally pay a cost for intervening, while the benefits are diffused over the whole group. In this study we investigate the incidence and costs of policing in a primate society. We report quantitative evidence of non-kin policing in the nonhuman primate, the pigtailed macaque. We find that policing is effective at reducing the intensity of or terminating conflict when performed by the most powerful individuals. We define a measure, social power consensus, that predicts effective low-cost interventions by powerful individuals and ineffective, relatively costly interventions by low-power individuals. Finally, we develop a simple probabilistic model to explore whether the degree to which policing can effectively reduce the societal cost of conflict is dependent on variance in the distribution of power. Our data and simple model suggest that third-party policing effectiveness and cost are dependent on power structure and might emerge only in societies with high variance in power. |
| Address |
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA. jflack@santafe.edu |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1537-5323 |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15795848 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
168 |
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| Author |
Aureli, F.; de Waal, F.B. |
| Title |
Inhibition of social behavior in chimpanzees under high-density conditions |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1997 |
Publication |
American journal of primatology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am. J. Primatol. |
| Volume |
41 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
213-228 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/*psychology; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Crowding; Female; Male; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Population Density; *Social Environment; Stress, Psychological |
| Abstract |
This is the first study to investigate the short-term effects of high population density on captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Subjects of the study were 45 chimpanzees living in five different groups at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. The groups were observed under two conditions: 1) when they had access to both the indoor and outdoor sections of their enclosures; 2) during cold days when they were locked into the indoor runs, which reduced the available space by more than half. Under the high-density condition, allogrooming and submissive greetings decreased, but juvenile play increased. Remarkably, the rate of various forms of agonistic behavior, such as aggression, bluff charge, bluff display, and hooting, occurred less frequently under the high-density condition. This general decrease in adult social activity, including agonistic behavior, can be interpreted as an inhibition strategy to reduce opportunities for conflict when interindividual distances are reduced. This strategy is probably effective only in the short run, however. Behavioral indicators of anxiety, such as rough scratching and yawning, showed elevated rates, suggesting increased social tension under the high-density condition. |
| Address |
Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0275-2565 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:9057966 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
203 |
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| Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
| Title |
Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
335-353 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Motivation; *Social Environment; Transfer (Psychology) |
| Abstract |
Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. Zentall@uky.edu |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1435-9448 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:17024510 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
217 |
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| Author |
Flack, J.C.; Girvan, M.; de Waal, F.B.M.; Krakauer, D.C. |
| Title |
Policing stabilizes construction of social niches in primates |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
439 |
Issue |
7075 |
Pages |
426-429 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Conflict (Psychology); Female; Macaca nemestrina/*physiology/*psychology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior |
| Abstract |
All organisms interact with their environment, and in doing so shape it, modifying resource availability. Termed niche construction, this process has been studied primarily at the ecological level with an emphasis on the consequences of construction across generations. We focus on the behavioural process of construction within a single generation, identifying the role a robustness mechanism--conflict management--has in promoting interactions that build social resource networks or social niches. Using 'knockout' experiments on a large, captive group of pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), we show that a policing function, performed infrequently by a small subset of individuals, significantly contributes to maintaining stable resource networks in the face of chronic perturbations that arise through conflict. When policing is absent, social niches destabilize, with group members building smaller, less diverse, and less integrated grooming, play, proximity and contact-sitting networks. Instability is quantified in terms of reduced mean degree, increased clustering, reduced reach, and increased assortativity. Policing not only controls conflict, we find it significantly influences the structure of networks that constitute essential social resources in gregarious primate societies. The structure of such networks plays a critical role in infant survivorship, emergence and spread of cooperative behaviour, social learning and cultural traditions. |
| Address |
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA. jflack@santafe.edu |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16437106 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
298 |
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| Author |
Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.; Bergman, T.J. |
| Title |
Primate social cognition and the origins of language |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Trends in Cognitive Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends. Cognit. Sci. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
264-266 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; Humans; *Language; Papio; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Perception |
| Abstract |
Are the cognitive mechanisms underlying language unique, or can similar mechanisms be found in other domains? Recent field experiments demonstrate that baboons' knowledge of their companions' social relationships is based on discrete-valued traits (identity, rank, kinship) that are combined to create a representation of social relations that is hierarchically structured, open-ended, rule-governed, and independent of sensory modality. The mechanisms underlying language might have evolved from the social knowledge of our pre-linguistic primate ancestors. |
| Address |
Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1364-6613 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15925802 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
343 |
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| Author |
Gentner, T.Q.; Fenn, K.M.; Margoliash, D.; Nusbaum, H.C. |
| Title |
Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
440 |
Issue |
7088 |
Pages |
1204-1207 |
| Keywords |
Acoustic Stimulation; *Animal Communication; Animals; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Humans; *Language; Learning/*physiology; Linguistics; Models, Neurological; Semantics; Starlings/*physiology; Stochastic Processes |
| Abstract |
Humans regularly produce new utterances that are understood by other members of the same language community. Linguistic theories account for this ability through the use of syntactic rules (or generative grammars) that describe the acceptable structure of utterances. The recursive, hierarchical embedding of language units (for example, words or phrases within shorter sentences) that is part of the ability to construct new utterances minimally requires a 'context-free' grammar that is more complex than the 'finite-state' grammars thought sufficient to specify the structure of all non-human communication signals. Recent hypotheses make the central claim that the capacity for syntactic recursion forms the computational core of a uniquely human language faculty. Here we show that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) accurately recognize acoustic patterns defined by a recursive, self-embedding, context-free grammar. They are also able to classify new patterns defined by the grammar and reliably exclude agrammatical patterns. Thus, the capacity to classify sequences from recursive, centre-embedded grammars is not uniquely human. This finding opens a new range of complex syntactic processing mechanisms to physiological investigation. |
| Address |
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.edu |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16641998 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
353 |
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| Author |
Ratcliffe, J.M.; Fenton, M.B.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Behavioral flexibility positively correlated with relative brain volume in predatory bats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Brain, behavior and evolution |
Abbreviated Journal |
Brain Behav Evol |
| Volume |
67 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
165-176 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Brain/*anatomy & histology/physiology; Chiroptera/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; Organ Size; Predatory Behavior/*physiology |
| Abstract |
We investigated the potential relationships between foraging strategies and relative brain and brain region volumes in predatory (animal-eating) echolocating bats. The species we considered represent the ancestral state for the order and approximately 70% of living bat species. The two dominant foraging strategies used by echolocating predatory bats are substrate-gleaning (taking prey from surfaces) and aerial hawking (taking airborne prey). We used species-specific behavioral, morphological, and ecological data to classify each of 59 predatory species as one of the following: (1) ground gleaning, (2) behaviorally flexible (i.e., known to both glean and hawk prey), (3) clutter tolerant aerial hawking, or (4) open-space aerial hawking. In analyses using both species level data and phylogenetically independent contrasts, relative brain size was larger in behaviorally flexible species. Further, relative neocortex volume was significantly reduced in bats that aerially hawk prey primarily in open spaces. Conversely, our foraging behavior index did not account for variability in hippocampus and inferior colliculus volume and we discuss these results in the context of past research. |
| Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. jmr247@cornell.edu |
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English |
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Edition |
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0006-8977 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16415571 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
358 |
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| Author |
Cameron, E.Z. |
| Title |
Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: evidence for a mechanism |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1549 |
Pages |
1723-1728 |
| Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Body Constitution; *Evolution; Female; Glucose/metabolism/physiology; Litter Size; Male; Mammals/*physiology; *Models, Biological; Reproduction/physiology; Seasons; Sex Factors; *Sex Ratio; Time Factors |
| Abstract |
Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers of different condition should adjust the birth sex ratio of their offspring in relation to future reproductive benefits. Published studies addressing variation in mammalian sex ratios have produced surprisingly contradictory results. Explaining the source of such variation has been a challenge for sex-ratio theory, not least because no mechanism for sex-ratio adjustment is known. I conducted a meta-analysis of previous mammalian sex-ratio studies to determine if there are any overall patterns in sex-ratio variation. The contradictory nature of previous results was confirmed. However, studies that investigated indices of condition around conception show almost unanimous support for the prediction that mothers in good condition bias their litters towards sons. Recent research on the role of glucose in reproductive functioning have shown that excess glucose favours the development of male blastocysts, providing a potential mechanism for sex-ratio variation in relation to maternal condition around conception. Furthermore, many of the conflicting results from studies on sex-ratio adjustment would be explained if glucose levels in utero during early cell division contributed to the determination of offspring sex ratios. |
| Address |
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15306293 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
413 |
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| Author |
Broom, M. |
| Title |
A unified model of dominance hierarchy formation and maintenance |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Journal of theoretical biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Theor. Biol. |
| Volume |
219 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
63-72 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior; *Models, Psychological; *Social Dominance; Social Environment |
| Abstract |
In many different species it is common for animals to spend large portions of their lives in groups. Such groups need to divide available resources amongst the individuals they contain and this is often achieved by means of a dominance hierarchy. Sometimes hierarchies are stable over a long period of time and new individuals slot into pre-determined positions, but there are many situations where this is not so and a hierarchy is formed out of a group of individuals meeting for the first time. There are several different models both of the formation of such dominance hierarchies and of already existing hierarchies. These models often treat the two phases as entirely separate, whereas in reality, if there is a genuine formation phase to the hierarchy, behaviour in this phase will be governed by the rewards available, which in turn depends upon how the hierarchy operates once it has been formed. This paper describes a method of unifying models of these two distinct phases, assuming that the hierarchy formed is stable. In particular a framework is introduced which allows a variety of different models of each of the two parts to be used in conjunction with each other, thus enabling a wide range of situations to be modelled. Some examples are given to show how this works in practice. |
| Address |
Centre for Statistics and Stochastic Modelling, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, U.K. m.broom@sussex.ac.uk |
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English |
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Edition |
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0022-5193 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:12392975 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
439 |
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