| Records |
| Author |
Martin, T.I.; Zentall, T.R.; Lawrence, L. |
| Title |
Simple discrimination reversals in the domestic horse (Equus caballus): Effect of discriminative stimulus modality on learning to learn |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume |
101 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
328-338 |
| Keywords |
Horse; Learning-to-learn; Discrimination Reversal |
| Abstract |
The cognitive capacity of an organism, relative to that of other species, can be assessed by using a relative measure of learning. One such measure is the ability of an organism to learn about the reversal of a discrimination. The present study compared the performance of two groups of horses on a simple discrimination reversal task when the only difference between the groups was the modality of the relevant cue. For the visual group (absence or presence of a light), the spatial position was irrelevant. For the spatial group, a spatial cue (left/right) was available and the visual cue was irrelevant. Horses in the spatial group learned the original discrimination and six reversals; they also showed evidence of learning to learn. Horses in the visual group did not reach criterion during the study. As a result, there was no evidence of learning to learn. |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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289 |
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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. |
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Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. christian.agrillo@unipd.it |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16868736 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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339 |
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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. |
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Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.edu |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16641998 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
353 |
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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. |
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Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. ebottoni@usp.br |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15719240 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
355 |
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| Author |
Sutton, J.E.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Internal sense of direction and landmark use in pigeons (Columba livia) |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
| Volume |
119 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
273-284 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Columbidae; Conflict (Psychology); *Cues; Discrimination Learning; Homing Behavior; *Intuition; *Orientation; *Space Perception; Transfer (Psychology); *Visual Perception |
| Abstract |
The relative importance of an internal sense of direction based on inertial cues and landmark piloting for small-scale navigation by White King pigeons (Columba livia) was investigated in an arena search task. Two groups of pigeons differed in whether they had access to visual cues outside the arena. In Experiment 1, pigeons were given experience with 2 different entrances and all pigeons transferred accurate searching to novel entrances. Explicit disorientation before entering did not affect accuracy. In Experiments 2-4, landmarks and inertial cues were put in conflict or tested 1 at a time. Pigeons tended to follow the landmarks in a conflict situation but could use an internal sense of direction to search when landmarks were unavailable. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada. jsutton7@uwo.ca |
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English |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:16131256 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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360 |
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| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Taking the best for learning |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
69 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
147-9; author reply 159-63 |
| Keywords |
*Algorithms; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Decision Making; Evolution; *Learning; *Models, Theoretical |
| Abstract |
Examples of how animals learn when multiple, sometimes redundant, cues are present provide further examples not considered by Hutchinson and Gigerenzer that seem to fit the principle of taking the best. “The best” may the most valid cue in the present circumstances; evolution may also produce species-specific biases to use the most functionally relevant cues. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 3G3. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
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English |
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0376-6357 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15845301 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
361 |
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| Author |
Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Place versus response learning revisited: tests of blocking on the radial maze |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioral neuroscience |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav Neurosci |
| Volume |
119 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
567-586 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Male; *Maze Learning; Memory; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reproducibility of Results |
| Abstract |
Neurobiological and behavioral research indicates that place learning and response learning occur simultaneously, in parallel. Such findings seem to conflict with theories of associative learning in which different cues compete for learning. The authors conducted place+response training on a radial maze and then tested place learning and response learning separately by reconfiguring the maze in various ways. Consistent with the effects of manipulating place and response systems in the brain (M. G. Packard & J. L. McGaugh, 1996), well-trained rats showed strong place learning and strong response learning. Three experiments using associative blocking paradigms indicated that prior response learning interferes with place learning. Blocking and related tests can be used to better understand how memory systems interact during learning. |
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Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567, USA. bgibson@cisunix.unh.edu |
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English |
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0735-7044 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839803 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
362 |
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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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English |
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0097-7403 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839772 |
Approved |
no |
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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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English |
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0097-7403 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839771 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
364 |
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| Author |
Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Competition among spatial cues in a naturalistic food-carrying task |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Learning & behavior : a Psychonomic Society publication |
Abbreviated Journal |
Learn Behav |
| Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
143-159 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Appetitive Behavior; *Association Learning; *Attention; Choice Behavior; *Cues; *Discrimination Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Space Perception; *Spatial Behavior |
| Abstract |
Rats collected nuts from a container in a large arena in four experiments testing how learning about a beacon or cue at a goal interacts with learning about other spatial cues (place learning). Place learning was quick, with little evidence of competition from the beacon (Experiments 1 and 2). Rats trained to approach a beacon regardless of its location were subsequently impaired when the well-learned beacon was removed and other spatial cues identified the location of the goal (Experiment 3). The competition between beacon and place cues reflected learned irrelevance for place cues (Experiment 4). The findings differ from those of some studies of associative interactions between cue and place learning in other paradigms. |
| Address |
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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English |
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Edition |
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1543-4494 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12882373 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
368 |
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