Lazareva, O. F., Smirnova, A. A., Bagozkaja, M. S., Zorina, Z. A., Rayevsky, V. V., & Wasserman, E. A. (2004). Transitive responding in hooded crows requires linearly ordered stimuli. J Exp Anal Behav, 82(1), 1–19.
Abstract: Eight crows were taught to discriminate overlapping pairs of visual stimuli (A+ B-, B+ C-, C+ D-, and D+ E-). For 4 birds, the stimuli were colored cards with a circle of the same color on the reverse side whose diameter decreased from A to E (ordered feedback group). These circles were made available for comparison to potentially help the crows order the stimuli along a physical dimension. For the other 4 birds, the circles corresponding to the colored cards had the same diameter (constant feedback group). In later testing, a novel choice pair (BD) was presented. Reinforcement history involving stimuli B and D was controlled so that the reinforcement/nonreinforcement ratios for the latter would be greater than for the former. If, during the BD test, the crows chose between stimuli according to these reinforcement/nonreinforcement ratios, then they should prefer D; if they chose according to the diameter of the feedback stimuli, then they should prefer B. In the ordered feedback group, the crows strongly preferred B over D; in the constant feedback group, the crows' choice did not differ significantly from chance. These results, plus simulations using associative models, suggest that the orderability of the postchoice feedback stimuli is important for crows' transitive responding.
|
Gangemi, A., Pisanelli, D. M., & Steve, G. (2000). Understanding systematic conceptual structures in polysemous medical terms. Proc AMIA Symp, , 285–289.
Abstract: Polysemy is a bottleneck for the demanding needs of semantic data management. We suggest the importance of a well-founded conceptual analysis for understanding some systematic structures underlying polysemy in the medical lexicon. We present some cases studies, which exploit the methods (ontological integration and general theories) and tools (description logics and ontology libraries) of the ONIONS methodology defined elsewhere by the authors. This paper addresses an aspect (systematic metomymies) of the project we are involved in, which investigates the feasibility of building a large-scale ontology library of medicine that integrates the most important medical terminology banks.
|
Sovrano, V. A., Rainoldi, C., Bisazza, A., & Vallortigara, G. (1999). Roots of brain specializations: preferential left-eye use during mirror-image inspection in six species of teleost fish. Behav. Brain. Res., 106(1-2), 175–180.
Abstract: It has recently been reported that predator inspection is more likely to occur when a companion (i.e. the mirror image of the test animal) is visible on the left rather than on the right side of mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki. This very unexpected outcome could be consistent with the hypothesis of a preferential use of the right eye during sustained fixation of a predator as well as of a preferential use of the left eye during fixation of conspecifics. We measured the time spent in monocular viewing during inspection of their own mirror images in females of six species of fish, belonging to different families--G. holbrooki, Xenotoca eiseni, Phoxinus phoxinus, Pterophyllum scalare, Xenopoecilus sarasinorum, and Trichogaster trichopterus. Results revealed a consistent left-eye preference during sustained fixation in all of the five species. Males of G. holbrooki, which do not normally show any social behaviour, did not exhibit any eye preferences during mirror-image inspection. We found, however, that they could be induced to manifest a left-eye preference, likewise females, if tested soon after capture, when some affiliative tendencies can be observed. These findings add to current evidence in a variety of vertebrate species for preferential involvement of structures located in the right side of the brain in response to the viewing of conspecifics.
|
Weeks, J. W., Crowell-Davis, S. L., & Heusner, G. (2002). Preliminary study of the development of the Flehmen response in Equus caballus. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 78(2-4), 329–335.
Abstract: The flehmen response is commonly seen in most ungulates as well as in several other species (e.g. felids). The behavior is most often thought to be part of the sexual behavioral repertoire of males. One reigning hypothesis suggests that this behavior allows the male to determine the estrous state of a female through the chemosensory functions of the vomeronasal organ. However, females and young of both sexes also exhibit this behavior. Horse foals most frequently show the flehmen response during their first month of life with colts showing the behavior more often than fillies. This study tested the flehmen response on male and female foals throughout their pre-pubertal period. Foals were separately presented estrous and non-estrous urine weekly during the first month of life and then monthly until they were approximately 7 months of age. No significant differences were found between male and female foals for the following variables: latency to flehmen, duration of flehmen, frequency of flehmen and sniffs.
|
Keay, J. M., Singh, J., Gaunt, M. C., & Kaur, T. (2006). Fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites as indicators of stress in various mammalian species: a literature review. J Zoo Wildl Med, 37(3), 234–244.
Abstract: Conservation medicine is a discipline in which researchers and conservationists study and respond to the dynamic interplay between animals, humans, and the environment. From a wildlife perspective, animal species are encountering stressors from numerous sources. With the rapidly increasing human population, a corresponding increased demand for food, fuel, and shelter; habitat destruction; and increased competition for natural resources, the health and well-being of wild animal populations is increasingly at risk of disease and endangerment. Scientific data are needed to measure the impact that human encroachment is having on wildlife. Nonbiased biometric data provide a means to measure the amount of stress being imposed on animals from humans, the environment, and other animals. The stress response in animals functions via glucocorticoid metabolism and is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Fecal glucocorticoids, in particular, may be an extremely useful biometric test, since sample collection is noninvasive to subjects and, therefore, does not introduce other variables that may alter assay results. For this reason, many researchers and conservationists have begun to use fecal glucocorticoids as a means to measure stress in various animal species. This review article summarizes the literature on many studies in which fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites have been used to assess stress levels in various mammalian species. Variations between studies are the main focus of this review. Collection methods, storage conditions, shipping procedures, and laboratory techniques utilized by different researchers are discussed.
|
Morton, D. B. (2000). Self-consciousness and animal suffering. Biologist (London), 47(2), 77–80.
Abstract: Animals with relatively highly developed brains are likely to experience some degree of self-awareness and the ability to think. As well as being interesting in its own right, self-consciousness matters from an ethical point of view, since it can give rise to forms of suffering above and beyond the immediate physical sensations of pain or distress. This article surveys the evidence for animal self-consciousness and its implications for animal welfare.
|
|
Hall, C. (2007). The impact of visual perception on equine learning. Behav. Process., 76, 29–33.
|
|
Ninomiya, S. (2007). Social leaning and stereotypy in horses. Behav. Process., 76, 22–23.
|
|
Leblanc, M. - A., & Duncan, P. (2007). Can studies of cognitive abilities and of life in the wild really help us to understand equine learning? Behav. Process., 76, 49–52.
|
|
McCall, C. A. (2007). Making equine learning research applicable to training procedures. Behav. Process., 76(1), 27–28.
|
