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Author Blokland, A. openurl 
  Title Reaction time responding in rats Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Abbreviated Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev  
  Volume 22 Issue 6 Pages 847-864  
  Keywords Amphetamine/pharmacology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/drug effects/*physiology; Conditioning, Operant/drug effects/*physiology; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors/pharmacology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Male; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Reaction Time/drug effects/*physiology  
  Abstract The use of reaction time has a great tradition in the field of human information processing research. In animal research the use of reaction time test paradigms is mainly limited to two research fields: the role of the striatum in movement initiation; and aging. It was discussed that reaction time responding can be regarded as “single behavior”, this term was used to indicate that only one behavioral category is measured, allowing a better analysis of brain-behavior relationships. Reaction time studies investigating the role of the striatum in motor functions revealed that the initiation of a behavioral response is dependent on the interaction of different neurotransmitters (viz. dopamine, glutamate, GABA). Studies in which lesions were made in different brain structures suggested that motor initiation is dependent on defined brain structures (e.g. medialldorsal striatum, prefrontal cortex). It was concluded that the use of reaction time measures can indeed be a powerful tool in studying brain-behavior relationships. However, there are some methodological constraints with respect to the assessment of reaction time in rats, as was tried to exemplify by the experiments described in the present paper. On the one hand one should try to control for behavioral characteristics of rats that may affect the validity of the parameter reaction time. On the other hand, the mean value of reaction time should be in the range of what has been reported in man. Although these criteria were not always met in several studies, it was concluded that reaction time can be validly assessed in rats. Finally, it was discussed that the use of reaction time may go beyond studies that investigate the role of the basal ganglia in motor output. Since response latency is a direct measure of information processing this parameter may provide insight into basic elements of cognition. Based on the significance of reaction times in human studies the use of this dependent variable in rats may provide a fruitful approach in studying brain-behavior relationships in cognitive functions.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands  
  Corporate Author Thesis (up)  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0149-7634 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:9809315 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2807  
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Author McKinley, S.; Young, R.J. url  openurl
  Title The efficacy of the model-rival method when compared with operant conditioning for training domestic dogs to perform a retrieval-selection task Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 81 Issue 4 Pages 357-365  
  Keywords Dogs; Learning; Operant conditioning; Model-rival; Cognition  
  Abstract Traditionally, dogs have been trained by operant conditioning techniques; that is, dogs make a desired behavioural response and this response is reinforced by a reward such as food. This type of training is very effective in training dogs to perform basic obedience behaviours (e.g. `stay'). However, dogs are social animals and should be predisposed to learn from social stimuli. In the present study, we used a modified version of the model-rival technique that has been extensively used in experiments investigating the cognitive ability of parrots. In this technique, social stimuli are used to create in the animal an interest in the object without the use of food or other rewards. Therefore, the animal learns the name of the object (intrinsic reward) and not that the object's name means food. In this experiment we compared the learning ability of nine pet dogs to solve the same retrieval-selection task having been previously trained using operant conditioning or model-rival techniques. The retrieval-selection task was the dogs had to correctly select the commanded object to bring to the experimenter from a group of three similar objects. The results show no difference in the speeds with which the dogs solved the test--demonstrating the efficacy of the model-rival method. This is the first time that the effectiveness of the model-rival technique has been experimentally demonstrated with dogs. Furthermore, we believe that the methodology reported in this paper has applications in dog training and in experiments into dog cognition.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2900  
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Author Williams, J.L.; Friend, T.H.; Nevill, C.H.; Archer, G. url  openurl
  Title The efficacy of a secondary reinforcer (clicker) during acquisition and extinction of an operant task in horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 88 Issue 3-4 Pages 331-341  
  Keywords Equine; Horse; Clicker training; Operant conditioning; Secondary reinforcers  
  Abstract “Clicker training” is a popularly promoted training method based on operant conditioning with the use of a secondary reinforcer (the clicker). While this method draws from theories of learning and is used widely, there has been little scientific investigation of its efficacy. We used 60 horses, Equus callabus, and assigned each horse to one of six reinforcement protocols. The reinforcement protocols involved combinations of reinforcers administered (primary versus secondary plus primary), schedule of reinforcement (continuous versus variable ratio), and reinforcers applied during extinction (none or secondary). There were no differences (P>=0.11) between horses which received a secondary reinforcer (click) followed by the primary reinforcer (food) and those which received only the primary reinforcer (food) in the number of trials required to train the horses to touch their noses to a plastic cone (operant response). There also were no differences (P>=0.12) between horses which received the secondary reinforcer plus primary reinforcer and those which received only the primary reinforcer in regards to the number of trials to extinction. We conclude that there is no difference in the amount of training required to learn the operant task or in the task's resistance to extinction between horses that received a secondary reinforcer followed by a primary reinforcer versus horses which received only a primary reinforcer.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3581  
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Author Langbein, J.; Siebert, K.; Nuernberg, G.; Manteuffel, G. url  doi
openurl 
  Title The impact of acoustical secondary reinforcement during shape discrimination learning of dwarf goats (Capra hircus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 103 Issue 1-2 Pages 35-44  
  Keywords Dwarf goats; Operant conditioning; Visual discrimination learning; Secondary reinforcement  
  Abstract The use of secondary reinforcement is widely accepted to support operant learning in animals. In farm animals, however, the efficacy of secondary reinforcement has up to now been studied systematically only in horses (“clicker training”), and the results are controversial. We investigated the impact of acoustical secondary reinforcement on voluntary, self-controlled visual discrimination learning of two-dimensional shapes in group-housed dwarf goats (Capra hircus). Learning tests were conducted applying a computer-controlled learning device that was integrated in the animals' home pen. Shapes were presented on a TFT-screen using a four-choice design. Drinking water was used as primary reinforcement. In the control group (Gcontrol, n = 5) animals received only primary reinforcement, whereas in the sound group (Gsound, n = 6) animals got additional acoustical secondary reinforcement. Testing recall of shapes which had been successfully learned by the goats 6 weeks earlier (T1), we found a weak impact of secondary reinforcement on daily learning success (P = 0.07), but not on the number of trials the animals needed to reach the learning criterion (trials to criterion, n.s.). Results in T1 indicated that dwarf goats did not instantly recall previously learned shapes, but, re-learned within 250-450 trials. When learning a set of new shapes (T2), there was a strong influence of secondary reinforcement on daily learning success and on trials to criterion. Animals in Gsound reached the learning criterion earlier (P < 0.05) and needed fewer trials (1320 versus 3700; P < 0.01), compared to animals in Gcontrol. Results suggest that acoustical secondary reinforcement supports visual discrimination learning of dwarf goats, especially when the task is new and the salience of S+ is low.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3583  
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Author Grandin, T. openurl 
  Title Safe handling of large animals Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Occupational Medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.) Abbreviated Journal Occup Med  
  Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 195-212  
  Keywords Accidents, Occupational/*prevention & control/statistics & numerical data; Aggression/physiology/psychology; Animal Husbandry/*methods; Animals; *Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cattle; Conditioning, Operant/physiology; Crowding/psychology; Fear/physiology/psychology; Female; *Horses/physiology/psychology; Humans; Male; Movement/physiology; *Occupational Health; Risk Factors; *Ruminants/physiology/psychology  
  Abstract The major causes of accidents with cattle, horses, and other grazing animals are: panic due to fear, male dominance aggression, or the maternal aggression of a mother protecting her newborn. Danger is inherent when handling large animals. Understanding their behavior patterns improves safety, but working with animals will never be completely safe. Calm, quiet handling and non-slip flooring are beneficial. Rough handling and excessive use of electric prods increase chances of injury to both people and animals, because fearful animals may jump, kick, or rear. Training animals to voluntarily cooperate with veterinary procedures reduces stress and improves safety. Grazing animals have a herd instinct, and a lone, isolated animal can become agitated. Providing a companion animal helps keep an animal calm.  
  Address Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80526, USA  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0885-114X ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:10329901 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3793  
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Author Matzke, S.M.; Oubre, J.L.; Caranto, G.R.; Gentry, M.K.; Galbicka, G. openurl 
  Title Behavioral and immunological effects of exogenous butyrylcholinesterase in rhesus monkeys Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior Abbreviated Journal Pharmacol Biochem Behav  
  Volume 62 Issue 3 Pages 523-530  
  Keywords Animals; Antibody Formation/drug effects; Behavior, Animal/*drug effects; Butyrylcholinesterase/*immunology/pharmacokinetics/*pharmacology; Cognition/drug effects; Color Perception/drug effects; Conditioning, Operant/drug effects; Discrimination Learning/drug effects; Half-Life; Horses; Humans; Macaca mulatta; Male  
  Abstract Although conventional therapies prevent organophosphate (OP) lethality, laboratory animals exposed to such treatments typically display behavioral incapacitation. Pretreatment with purified exogenous human or equine serum butyrylcholinesterase (Eq-BuChE), conversely, has effectively prevented OP lethality in rats and rhesus monkeys, without producing the adverse side effects associated with conventional treatments. In monkeys, however, using a commercial preparation of Eq-BuChE has been reported to incapacitate responding. In the present study, repeated administration of commercially prepared Eq-BuChE had no systematic effect on behavior in rhesus monkeys as measured by a six-item serial probe recognition task, despite 7- to 18-fold increases in baseline BuChE levels in blood. Antibody production induced by the enzyme was slight after the first injection and more pronounced following the second injection. The lack of behavioral effects, the relatively long in vivo half-life, and the previously demonstrated efficacy of BuChE as a biological scavenger for highly toxic OPs make BuChE potentially more effective than current treatment regimens for OP toxicity.  
  Address Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100, USA  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0091-3057 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:10080246 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4064  
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Author Neuringer, A. doi  openurl
  Title Reinforced variability in animals and people: implications for adaptive action Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication The American Psychologist Abbreviated Journal Am Psychol  
  Volume 59 Issue 9 Pages 891-906  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Conditioning, Operant; Creativeness; Discrimination (Psychology); Humans; Memory; Problem Solving; *Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract Although reinforcement often leads to repetitive, even stereotyped responding, that is not a necessary outcome. When it depends on variations, reinforcement results in responding that is diverse, novel, indeed unpredictable, with distributions sometimes approaching those of a random process. This article reviews evidence for the powerful and precise control by reinforcement over behavioral variability, evidence obtained from human and animal-model studies, and implications of such control. For example, reinforcement of variability facilitates learning of complex new responses, aids problem solving, and may contribute to creativity. Depression and autism are characterized by abnormally repetitive behaviors, but individuals afflicted with such psychopathologies can learn to vary their behaviors when reinforced for so doing. And reinforced variability may help to solve a basic puzzle concerning the nature of voluntary action.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Reed College, Portland, OR 97202, USA. allen.neuringer@reed.edu  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0003-066X ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15584823 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4106  
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Author Dreier, S.; van Zweden, J.S.; D'Ettorre, P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Long-term memory of individual identity in ant queens Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Biology Letters Abbreviated Journal Biol Lett  
  Volume 3 Issue 5 Pages 459-462  
  Keywords Aggression; Animals; Ants/*physiology; Conditioning, Operant; Evolution; Female; *Memory; *Recognition (Psychology); Social Dominance  
  Abstract Remembering individual identities is part of our own everyday social life. Surprisingly, this ability has recently been shown in two social insects. While paper wasps recognize each other individually through their facial markings, the ant, Pachycondyla villosa, uses chemical cues. In both species, individual recognition is adaptive since it facilitates the maintenance of stable dominance hierarchies among individuals, and thus reduces the cost of conflict within these small societies. Here, we investigated individual recognition in Pachycondyla ants by quantifying the level of aggression between pairs of familiar or unfamiliar queens over time. We show that unrelated founding queens of P. villosa and Pachycondyla inversa store information on the individual identity of other queens and can retrieve it from memory after 24h of separation. Thus, we have documented for the first time that long-term memory of individual identity is present and functional in ants. This novel finding represents an advance in our understanding of the mechanism determining the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals.  
  Address Institute of Biology, Department of Population Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. sdreier@bi.ku.dk  
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  ISSN 1744-9561 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17594958 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4649  
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Author Shapiro, A.D.; Janik, V.M.; Slater, P.J.B. url  doi
openurl 
  Title A gray seal's (Halichoerus grypus) responses to experimenter-given pointing and directional cues Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 117 Issue 4 Pages 355-362  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; Conditioning, Operant/physiology; *Cues; Eye Movements/physiology; Female; Seals, Earless  
  Abstract A gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) was trained to touch a target on its left or right by responding to pointing signals. The authors then tested whether the seal would be able to generalize spontaneously to altered signals. It responded correctly to center pointing and head turning, center upper body turning, and off-center pointing but not to head turning and eye movements alone. The seal also responded correctly to brief ipsilateral and contralateral points from center and lateral positions. Pointing gestures did not cause the seal to select an object placed centrally behind it. Like many animals in similar studies, this gray seal probably did not understand the referential character of these gestures but rather used signal generalization and experience from initial operant conditioning to solve these tasks.  
  Address School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom  
  Corporate Author Thesis (up)  
  Publisher Place of Publication Washington, D.C. : 1983 Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14717636 Approved yes  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4977  
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Author Lee, J.; Floyd, T.; Erb, H.; Houpt, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Preference and demand for exercise in stabled horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2011 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 130 Issue 3-4 Pages 91-100  
  Keywords Horse; Welfare; Exercise; Operant conditioning; Two choice preference; Treadmill  
  Abstract Operant conditioning and two choice preference tests were used to assess the motivation of horses to be released from straight and from box stalls. The motivations for food, a companion, and release into a paddock were compared when the horses had to work for each commodity at increasing fixed ratios of responses (panel presses) to reward in an equine operant conditioning stall. The motivation for food (mean ± SEM = 258 ± 143) responses was much greater than that for either release (38 ± 32) from a straight stall into a large paddock alone or into a small paddock with another horse (95 ± 41) (P = 0.04). When given a two choice preference test between exercise on a treadmill for 20 min or returning to their box stalls, eight of nine horses chose to return to their stalls. In a two choice preference test six of eight horses in box stalls chose to be released into a paddock alone. Horses were given a series of two choice preference tests to determine how long they preferred to be in a paddock. After 15 min in the paddock the horses were re-tested, but all chose the paddock when released into a paddock with three other horses. They were retested every 15 min until they chose to return to their stalls. They chose to stay out for 35 ± 6 min when other horses were in the paddock but for only 17 ± 2 min when they would be alone. When deprived of stall release for 48 h the horses chose to remain in the paddock with other horses for 54 ± 6 min, but showed no compensatory behavior when they were alone (duration chosen = 16 ± 4 min). These findings indicate that horses are not strongly motivated to exercise alone and will choose not to endure forced exercise on a treadmill. The social context of voluntary exercise is important; horses are willing to stay out of their stalls longer if other horses are present and will show compensatory behavior only if other horses are present. These finding have implications for optimizing turnout time for stalled horses.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5330  
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