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Author Terrace, H.S.
Title (up) Chunking by a pigeon in a serial learning task Type Journal Article
Year 1987 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 325 Issue 7000 Pages 149-151
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; Feedback; Learning/*physiology; Male
Abstract A basic principle of human memory is that lists that can be organized into memorable 'chunks' are easier to remember. Memory span is limited to a roughly constant number of chunks and is to a large extent independent of the amount of informaton contained in each chunk. Depending on the ingenuity of the code used to integrate discrete items into chunks, one can substantially increase the number of items that can be recalled correctly. Newly developed paradigms for studying memory in non-verbal organisms allow comparison of the abilities of human and non-human subjects to memorize lists. Here I present two types of evidence that pigeons 'chunk' 5-element lists whose components (colours and achromatic geometric forms) are clustered into distinct groups. Those lists were learned twice as rapidly as a homogeneous list of colours or heterogeneous lists in which the elements are not clustered. The pigeons were also tested for knowledge of the order of two elements drawn from the 5-element lists. They responded in the correct order only to those subsets that contained a chunk boundary. Thus chunking can be studied profitably in animal subjects; the cognitive processes that allow an organism to form chunks do no presuppose linguistic competence.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:3808071 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2792
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Author Chittka, L.; Dyer, A.
Title (up) Cognition: Your face looks familiar Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 481 Issue 7380 Pages 154-155
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Publisher Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. Place of Publication Editor
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
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Notes 10.1038/481154a Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5494
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.
Title (up) Cognitive science: rank inferred by reason Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 430 Issue 7001 Pages 732-733
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Group Structure; Male; *Social Dominance; Songbirds/*physiology
Abstract
Address
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15306792 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 365
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Author Watts, D.J.; Strogatz, S.H.
Title (up) Collective dynamics of /`small-world/' networks Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 393 Issue 6684 Pages 440-442
Keywords
Abstract Networks of coupled dynamical systems have been used to model biological oscillators Josephson junction arrays excitable media, neural networks spatial games11, genetic control networks12 and many other self-organizing systems. Ordinarily, the connection topology is assumed to be either completely regular or completely random. But many biological, technological and social networks lie somewhere between these two extremes. Here we explore simple models of networks that can be tuned through this middle ground: regular networks 'rewired' to introduce increasing amounts of disorder. We find that these systems can be highly clustered, like regular lattices, yet have small characteristic path lengths, like random graphs. We call them 'small-world' networks, by analogy with the small-world phenomenon (popularly known as six degrees of separation). The neural network of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, the power grid of the western United States, and the collaboration graph of film actors are shown to be small-world networks. Models of dynamical systems with small-world coupling display enhanced signal-propagation speed, computational power, and synchronizability. In particular, infectious diseases spread more easily in small-world networks than in regular lattices.
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Notes 10.1038/30918 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4989
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Author Amdam, G.V.; Csondes, A.; Fondrk, M.K.; Page, R.E.J.
Title (up) Complex social behaviour derived from maternal reproductive traits Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 439 Issue 7072 Pages 76-78
Keywords Aging/physiology; Animals; Bees/*physiology; *Evolution; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Female; Infertility, Female; Maternal Behavior/*physiology; Ovary/physiology; Pollen/metabolism; Reproduction/*physiology; *Social Behavior
Abstract A fundamental goal of sociobiology is to explain how complex social behaviour evolves, especially in social insects, the exemplars of social living. Although still the subject of much controversy, recent theoretical explanations have focused on the evolutionary origins of worker behaviour (assistance from daughters that remain in the nest and help their mother to reproduce) through expression of maternal care behaviour towards siblings. A key prediction of this evolutionary model is that traits involved in maternal care have been co-opted through heterochronous expression of maternal genes to result in sib-care, the hallmark of highly evolved social life in insects. A coupling of maternal behaviour to reproductive status evolved in solitary insects, and was a ready substrate for the evolution of worker-containing societies. Here we show that division of foraging labour among worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) is linked to the reproductive status of facultatively sterile females. We thereby identify the evolutionary origin of a widely expressed social-insect behavioural syndrome, and provide a direct demonstration of how variation in maternal reproductive traits gives rise to complex social behaviour in non-reproductive helpers.
Address Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Gro.Amdam@asu.edu
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16397498 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 531
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Author Whiten, A.; Horner, V.; de Waal, F.B.M.
Title (up) Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 437 Issue 7059 Pages 737-740
Keywords Aging/physiology; Animals; Culture; Feeding Behavior/physiology; Female; Pan troglodytes/*physiology/*psychology; *Social Conformity; Technology; Time Factors
Abstract Rich circumstantial evidence suggests that the extensive behavioural diversity recorded in wild great apes reflects a complexity of cultural variation unmatched by species other than our own. However, the capacity for cultural transmission assumed by this interpretation has remained difficult to test rigorously in the field, where the scope for controlled experimentation is limited. Here we show that experimentally introduced technologies will spread within different ape communities. Unobserved by group mates, we first trained a high-ranking female from each of two groups of captive chimpanzees to adopt one of two different tool-use techniques for obtaining food from the same 'Pan-pipe' apparatus, then re-introduced each female to her respective group. All but two of 32 chimpanzees mastered the new technique under the influence of their local expert, whereas none did so in a third population lacking an expert. Most chimpanzees adopted the method seeded in their group, and these traditions continued to diverge over time. A subset of chimpanzees that discovered the alternative method nevertheless went on to match the predominant approach of their companions, showing a conformity bias that is regarded as a hallmark of human culture.
Address Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JP, UK. a.whiten@st-and.ac.uk
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16113685 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 163
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Author Clutton-Brock, T.
Title (up) Cooperation between non-kin in animal societies Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 462 Issue 7269 Pages 51-57
Keywords
Abstract Explanations of cooperation between non-kin in animal societies often suggest that individuals exchange resources or services and that cooperation is maintained by reciprocity. But do cooperative interactions between unrelated individuals in non-human animals really resemble exchanges or are they a consequence of simpler mechanisms? Firm evidence of reciprocity in animal societies is rare and many examples of cooperation between non-kin probably represent cases of intra-specific mutualism or manipulation.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes 10.1038/nature08366 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5270
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Author de Waal, F.B.
Title (up) Cultural primatology comes of age Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 399 Issue 6737 Pages 635-636
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Culture; Humans; Pan troglodytes/*physiology
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Notes PMID:10385107 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 196
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Author Whiten, A.; Goodall, J.; McGrew, W.C.; Nishida, T.; Reynolds, V.; Sugiyama, Y.; Tutin, C.E.; Wrangham, R.W.; Boesch, C.
Title (up) Cultures in chimpanzees Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 399 Issue 6737 Pages 682-685
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; *Culture; Humans; Pan troglodytes/*physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures but previously unrecognised in non-human species.
Address Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, UK
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:10385119 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 742
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Author Harrison, S.A.; Tong, F.
Title (up) Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 458 Issue 7238 Pages 632-635
Keywords
Abstract Visual working memory provides an essential link between perception and higher cognitive functions, allowing for the active maintenance of information about stimuli no longer in view1, 2. Research suggests that sustained activity in higher-order prefrontal, parietal, inferotemporal and lateral occipital areas supports visual maintenance3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and may account for the limited capacity of working memory to hold up to 3–4 items9, 10, 11. Because higher-order areas lack the visual selectivity of early sensory areas, it has remained unclear how observers can remember specific visual features, such as the precise orientation of a grating, with minimal decay in performance over delays of many seconds12. One proposal is that sensory areas serve to maintain fine-tuned feature information13, but early visual areas show little to no sustained activity over prolonged delays14, 15, 16. Here we show that orientations held in working memory can be decoded from activity patterns in the human visual cortex, even when overall levels of activity are low. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and pattern classification methods, we found that activity patterns in visual areas V1–V4 could predict which of two oriented gratings was held in memory with mean accuracy levels upwards of 80%, even in participants whose activity fell to baseline levels after a prolonged delay. These orientation-selective activity patterns were sustained throughout the delay period, evident in individual visual areas, and similar to the responses evoked by unattended, task-irrelevant gratings. Our results demonstrate that early visual areas can retain specific information about visual features held in working memory, over periods of many seconds when no physical stimulus is present.
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Publisher Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes 10.1038/nature07832 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4944
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