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Quesada, J., Kintsch, W., & Gomez, E. (2005). Complex problem-solving: a field in search of a definition? Theor Issues Ergon Sci, 6(1), 5–33.
Abstract: Complex problem-solving (CPS) is as an area of cognitive science that has received a good amount of attention, but theories in the field have not progressed accordingly. The reasons could be the lack of good definitions and classifications of the tasks (taxonomies). Although complexity is a term used pervasively in psychology and is operationalized in different ways, there are no psychological theories of complexity. The definition of problem-solving has been changed in the past to reflect the varied interests of the researchers and has lost its initial concreteness. These two facts together make it difficult to define CPS or make clear if CPS should reuse the theory and methods of classical problem-solving or on the contrary should build a theoretical structure starting from scratch. A taxonomy is offered of tasks using both formal features and psychological features that are theory-independent that could help compare the CPS tasks used in the literature. The adequateness is also reviewed of the most extended definitions of CPS and conclude that they are in serious need of review, since they cover tasks that are not considered problem-solving by their own authors or are not complex, but ignore others that should clearly be included.
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Brannon, E. M., & Terrace, H. S. (1998). Ordering of the numerosities 1 to 9 by monkeys. Science, 282(5389), 746–749.
Abstract: A fundamental question in cognitive science is whether animals can represent numerosity (a property of a stimulus that is defined by the number of discriminable elements it contains) and use numerical representations computationally. Here, it was shown that rhesus monkeys represent the numerosity of visual stimuli and detect their ordinal disparity. Two monkeys were first trained to respond to exemplars of the numerosities 1 to 4 in an ascending numerical order (1 --> 2 --> 3 --> 4). As a control for non-numerical cues, exemplars were varied with respect to size, shape, and color. The monkeys were later tested, without reward, on their ability to order stimulus pairs composed of the novel numerosities 5 to 9. Both monkeys responded in an ascending order to the novel numerosities. These results show that rhesus monkeys represent the numerosities 1 to 9 on an ordinal scale.
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Dusek, J. A., & Eichenbaum, H. (1997). The hippocampus and memory for orderly stimulus relations. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 94(13), 7109–7114.
Abstract: Human declarative memory involves a systematic organization of information that supports generalizations and inferences from acquired knowledge. This kind of memory depends on the hippocampal region in humans, but the extent to which animals also have declarative memory, and whether inferential expression of memory depends on the hippocampus in animals, remains a major challenge in cognitive neuroscience. To examine these issues, we used a test of transitive inference pioneered by Piaget to assess capacities for systematic organization of knowledge and logical inference in children. In our adaptation of the test, rats were trained on a set of four overlapping odor discrimination problems that could be encoded either separately or as a single representation of orderly relations among the odor stimuli. Normal rats learned the problems and demonstrated the relational memory organization through appropriate transitive inferences about items not presented together during training. By contrast, after disconnection of the hippocampus from either its cortical or subcortical pathway, rats succeeded in acquiring the separate discrimination problems but did not demonstrate transitive inference, indicating that they had failed to develop or could not inferentially express the orderly organization of the stimulus elements. These findings strongly support the view that the hippocampus mediates a general declarative memory capacity in animals, as it does in humans.
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Orbell, J., Morikawa, T., & Allen, N. (2002). The Evolution of Political Intelligence: Simulation Results. Br. J. Polit. Sci., 32, 613–639.
Abstract: Several bodies of theory develop the idea that the intelligence of highly social animals – most interestingly, humans is significantly organized around the adaptive problems posed by their sociality. By this “political intelligence” hypothesis, sociality selects for, among other attributes, capacities for “manipulating” information others can gather about one's own future behaviour, and for “mindreading” such manipulations by others. Yet we have little theory about how diverse parameters of the games that social animals play select for political intelligence. We begin to address that with an evolutionary simulation in which agents choose between playing Prisoner's Dilemma and Hawk-Dove games on the basis of the information they can retrieve about each other given four broad information processing capacities. We show that political intelligence – operationally, the aggregate of those four capacities evolves to its highest levels when co-operative games are generally more attractive than conflictual ones, but when conflictual games are at least sometimes also attractive.
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Schnall, S., & Gattis, M. (1998). Transitive Inference by Visual Reasoning. Retrieved May 23, 2024, from http://faculty.virginia.edu/schnall/Schnall%20&%20Gattis.pdf
Abstract: Two experiments are reported that investigated the influence
of linear spatial organization on transitive inference
performance. Reward/no-reward relations between
overlapping pairs of elements were presented in a context of
linear spatial order or random spatial order. Participants in
the linear arrangement condition showed evidence for visual
reasoning: They systematically mapped spatial relations to
conceptual relation and used the spatial relations to make
inferences on a reasoning task in a new spatial context. We
suggest that linear ordering may be a “good figure”, by
constituting a parsimonious representation for the integration
of premises, as well as for the inferencing process. The late
emergence of transitive inference in children may be the
result of limited cognitive capacity, which --unless an
external spatial array is available --constrains the
construction of an internal spatial array.
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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.
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Ellard, M. - E., & Crowell-Davis, S. L. (1989). Evaluating equine dominance in draft mares. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 24(1), 55–75.
Abstract: The social hierarchy of a herd of 12 draft mares was assessed using agonism in the field, paired-feeding tests and a group-feeding test. Results from the paired-feeding test correlated significantly, but imperfectly, with those from the field. Differential motivation among subjects for the feed and disruption of ambiguous relationships among mares reduced the reliability of the paired-feeding test as a measure of social dominance. Results from the group-feeding test did not correlate significantly with the field hierarchy and only a few mares ever ate from the bucket. Height, weight and age each correlated significantly with rank; a mare's tendency to remain alone did not. Total aggressive scores during the paired-feeding test correlated with rank. However, a high-ranking mare was no more aggressive to each of her subordinates than was a low-ranking mare. Rather, all mares aggressed more against individuals close in rank to themselves and with preferred field associates. In the field, mares associated most with other mares of similar rank.
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Houpt, K. A. (1991). Investigating equine ingestive, maternal, and sexual behavior in the field and in the laboratory. J. Anim Sci., 69(10), 4161–4166.
Abstract: Some of the techniques that may be used to study social, reproductive, and ingestive behavior in horses are described in this paper. One of the aspects of equine social behavior is the dominance hierarchy or patterns of agonistic behavior. Paired or group feeding from a single food source may be used to determine dominance hierarchies quickly. Focal animal studies of undisturbed groups of horses may also be used; this method takes longer, but may reveal affiliative as well as agonistic relationships among the horses. Reproductive behavior includes flehmen, the functional significance of which can be determined using combinations of field observations of harem groups and laboratory studies of stallions exposed to female urine or feces in the absence of the donor mare. Ingestive behavior may include food, salt, or water intake. Direct and indirect measurements of intake can be made and used to answer questions regarding the ability of horses to control their energy intake when the diet is diluted, the effect of feral equids on the ecology of an area, and the abilities of horses to compensate for dehydration and hypovolemia.
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Houpt, K. A., & Keiper, R. (1982). The position of the stallion in the equine dominance hierarchy of feral and domestic ponies. J. Anim Sci, 54(5), 945–950.
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Mader, D. R., & Price, E. O. (1980). Discrimination learning in horses: effects of breed, age and social dominance. J. Anim Sci., 50(5), 962–965.
Abstract: The discrimination learning ability of Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds was compared by means of visual cues in a three-choice test with food as a reward. Quarter Horses learned significantly faster than Thoroughbreds, and learning progressed more rapidly for both breeds in a second discrimination task. Significant negative correlations were observed between age and rate of learning. Quarter Horses tended to be less reactive than Thoroughbreds, but individual emotional reactivity ratings and learning scores were not correlated. No correlation was found between social dominance and learning scores. Learning studies with horses may provide a better understanding of the behavioral traits that influence trainability in this species.
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