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Author Agrillo, C.; Dadda, M.; Bisazza, A.
Title Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 63-70
Keywords Animals; Cognition; *Cyprinodontiformes; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Mathematics; *Pattern Recognition, Visual
Abstract The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates.
Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. christian.agrillo@unipd.it
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16868736 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 339
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Author Clotfelter, E.D.; Paolino, A.D.
Title Bystanders to contests between conspecifics are primed for increased aggression in male fighting fish Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 66 Issue 2 Pages 343-347
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Abstract We performed two experiments in which we allowed a male fighting fish, Betta splendens, designated a bystander, to observe aggressive contests between pairs of male conspecifics. Another male (naive male) observed an empty tank or two nonaggressive males, depending on the experiment. Immediately after these observation periods, we allowed the bystander and naive male to interact in a neutral area. In both experiments, bystander males were dominant over naive males in a significant number of the encounters. Bystander males performed significantly more aggressive behaviours (displays, chases and bites) than did naive males. Differences in dominance were not due to chance differences in body size. These findings demonstrate that exposure to aggression between conspecifics increases aggressive motivation in bystander male fighting fish. We discuss briefly the implications of such social experience on the formation of dominance hierarchies. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 338
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Author Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title Recognition of other individuals' social relationships by female baboons Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 67-75
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Abstract We describe a series of playback experiments designed to test whether free-ranging baboons, Papio cynocephalus ursinus, recognize the calls of other group members and also associate signallers with their close genetic relatives. Pairs of unrelated females were played sequences of calls that mimicked a fight between their relatives. As controls, the same females heard sequences that involved either (1) only the more dominant female's relative or (2) neither of the females' relatives. When call sequences involved their relatives, subjects looked towards the speaker for a longer duration than when the sequences involved nonkin. When the sequences involved the other female's relative, they also looked towards that female. Subjects did not look towards one another when call sequences involved nonkin. Dominant subjects were more likely to supplant their subordinate partners following playbacks of sequences that mimicked a dispute between their relatives than following the two control trials. In contrast, both subjects were more likely to approach one another and to interact in a friendly manner following the two control trials than following the test trial. Results indicate that female baboons recognize the screams and threat grunts not only of their own close relatives but also of unrelated individuals. They also replicate previous studies in suggesting that female monkeys recognize the close associates of other individuals and adjust their interactions with others according to recent events involving individuals other than themselves. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Address Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:10413542 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 346
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Author Cheney, D.L.; Seyfarth, R.M.
Title Reconciliatory grunts by dominant female baboons influence victims' behaviour Type Journal Article
Year 1997 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 54 Issue 2 Pages 409-418
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Abstract Following aggressive interactions, dominant female baboons, Papio cynocephalus ursinusoccasionally grunt to their victims. To examine the effect of these apparently reconciliatory grunts on victims' subsequent behaviour, a series of playback experiments was designed to mimic reconciliation. Victims were played their opponents' grunts in the minutes immediately following a fight and then observed for half an hour. After hearing these grunts, victims approached their former opponents and also tolerated their opponents' approaches at significantly higher rates than they did under control conditions. They were also supplanted by their opponents at significantly lower rates. By contrast, playbacks of control females' grunts did not influence victims' behaviour. Playbacks of reconciliatory grunts did not increase the rate at which opponents approached or initiated friendly interactions with their former victims. Playbacks of reconciliatory grunts, therefore, appeared to influence victims', but not opponents', perception of recent events.
Address Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
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Notes PMID:9268473 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 347
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Author Ottoni, E.B.; de Resende, B.D.; Izar, P.
Title Watching the best nutcrackers: what capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) know about others' tool-using skills Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 215-219
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Cebus/*psychology; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Nuts; *Problem Solving
Abstract The present work is part of a decade-long study on the spontaneous use of stones for cracking hard-shelled nuts by a semi-free-ranging group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Nutcracking events are frequently watched by other individuals--usually younger, less proficient, and that are well tolerated to the point of some scrounging being allowed by the nutcracker. Here we report findings showing that the choice of observational targets is an active, non-random process, and that observers seem to have some understanding of the relative proficiency of their group mates, preferentially watching the more skilled nutcrackers, which enhances not only scrounging payoffs, but also social learning opportunities.
Address Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. ebottoni@usp.br
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15719240 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 355
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Author Skov-Rackette, S.I.; Miller, N.Y.; Shettleworth, S.J.
Title What-where-when memory in pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 345-358
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant/physiology; Memory/*physiology; Reinforcement (Psychology); Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/physiology; Teaching; Visual Perception/physiology
Abstract The authors report a novel approach to testing episodic-like memory for single events. Pigeons were trained in separate sessions to match the identity of a sample on a touch screen, to match its location, and to report on the length of the retention interval. When these 3 tasks were mixed randomly within sessions, birds were more than 80% correct on each task. However, performance on 2 different tests in succession after each sample was not consistent with an integrated memory for sample location, time, and identity. Experiment 2 tested binding of location and identity memories in 2 different ways. The results were again consistent with independent feature memories. Implications for tests of episodic-like memory are discussed.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17044738 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 357
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Author Skov-Rackette, S.I.; Shettleworth, S.J.
Title What do rats learn about the geometry of object arrays? Tests with exploratory behavior 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 142-154
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Discrimination Learning; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; *Form Perception; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans
Abstract Six experiments using habituation of exploratory behavior tested whether disoriented rats foraging in a large arena encode the shapes of arrays of objects. Rats did not respond to changes in position of a single object, but they responded to a change in object color and to a change in position of 1 object in a square array, as in previous research (e.g., C. Thinus-Blanc et al., 1987). Rats also responded to an expansion of a square array, suggesting that they encoded sets of interobject distances rather than overall shape. In Experiments 4-6, rats did not respond to changes in sense of a triangular array that maintained interobject distances and angles. Shapes of object arrays are encoded differently from shapes of enclosures.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shannon.skov.rackette@utoronto.ca
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Notes PMID:15839772 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 363
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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
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Notes PMID:15839771 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 364
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.; Westwood, R.P.
Title Divided attention, memory, and spatial discrimination in food-storing and nonstoring birds, black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) and dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume 28 Issue 3 Pages 227-241
Keywords Animals; Attention/*physiology; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Birds; *Discrimination (Psychology); *Food Habits; Memory/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/*physiology
Abstract Food-storing birds, black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla), and nonstoring birds, dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), matched color or location on a touch screen. Both species showed a divided attention effect for color but not for location (Experiment 1). Chickadees performed better on location than on color with retention intervals up to 40 s, but juncos did not (Experiment 2). Increasing sample-distractor distance improved performance similarly in both species. Multidimensional scaling revealed that both use a Euclidean metric of spatial similarity (Experiment 3). When choosing between the location and color of a remembered item, food storers choose location more than do nonstorers. These results explain this effect by differences in memory for location relative to color, not division of attention or spatial discrimination ability.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca
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Notes PMID:12136700 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 370
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Author Sara J. Shettleworth
Title Female mate choice in swordtails and mollies: symmetry assessment or Weber's law? Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 58 Issue 5 Pages 1139-1142
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Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:10564618 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 374
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