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Author |
Bryson, J.; Leong, J. |
Title |
Primate errors in transitive inference: a two-tier learning model |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
10 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-15 |
Keywords |
Transitive inference, choice or performance – Task learning – Hippocampal learning – Modelling |
Abstract |
Abstract Transitive performance (TP) is a learning-based behaviour exhibited by a wide range of species, where if a subject has been taught to prefer A when presented with the pair AB but to prefer B when presented with the pair BC, then the subject will also prefer A when presented with the novel pair AC. Most explanations of TP assume that subjects recognize and learn an underlying sequence from observing the training pairs. However, data from squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and young children contradict this, showing that when three different items (a triad) are drawn from the sequence, subjects`` performance degrades systematically (McGonigle and Chalmers, Nature 267:694-696, 1977; Chalmers and McGonigle, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 37:355-377, 1984; Harris and McGonigle, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 47B:319-348, 1994). We present here the two-tier model, the first learning model of TP which accounts for this systematic performance degradation. Our model assumes primate TP is based on a general-purpose task learning system rather than a special-purpose sequence-learning system. It supports the hypothesis of Heckers et al. (Hippocampus 14:153-162, 2004) that TP is an expression of two separate general learning elements: one for associating actions and contexts, another for prioritising associations when more than one context is present. The two-tier model also provides explanations for why phased training is important for helping subjects learn the initial training pairs and why some subjects fail to do so. It also supports the Harris and McGonigle (The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 47B:319-348, 1994) explanation of why, once the training pairs have been acquired, subjects perform transitive choice automatically on two-item diads, but not when exposed to triads from the same sequence. |
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Admin @ knut @ |
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4221 |
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Author |
Treichler, F.R.; Van Tilburg, D. |
Title |
Premise-pair training for valid tests of serial list organization in macaques |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
97-105 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Macaca/*psychology; *Memory |
Abstract |
This study evaluated the role of several different training procedures on (1) efficiency of acquisition and (2) organizational characteristics of memory for lists that could be serially ordered. Five macaque monkeys were trained via two-choice object discriminations in a formboard apparatus on several five-item-series tasks that provided different levels of intrasession conditionality. Although ease of acquisition differed for subsets of the constituent pairs, concurrent inclusion of the four premise pairs that defined a list required equivalent amounts of training on every task. All training procedures yielded similar retention-test performances and showed common organizational properties (on both error and latency measures) consistent with the view that lists were retained as internally represented ordered series. Test outcomes emphasized the need for integrated exposition of all concurrent conditional relationships to allow appropriate tests of serial organization. However, if given such training, the monkeys revealed integrated serial memory even though they had never seen many of the possible novel combinations of list items. In overview, their performances offered further definition of the procedures required for valid assessment of inferential properties in comparative cognition. |
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Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA. rtreichl@kent.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12150042 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2602 |
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Author |
Borsari, A.; Ottoni, E.B. |
Title |
Preliminary observations of tool use in captive hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
48-52 |
Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; *Feeding Behavior; Female; *Intelligence; Male; *Motor Skills; *Nuts; *Parrots |
Abstract |
Many animals use tools (detached objects applied to another object to produce an alteration in shape, position, or structure) in foraging, for instance, to access encapsulated food. Descriptions of tool use by hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) are scarce and brief. In order to describe one case of such behavior, six captive birds were observed while feeding. Differences in nut manipulation and opening proficiency between adults and juveniles were recorded. The tools may be serving as a wedge, preventing the nut from slipping and/or rotating, reducing the impact of opening, or providing mechanical aid in its positioning and/or use of force. Data suggest that birds of this species have an innate tendency to use objects (tools) as aids during nut manipulation and opening. |
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Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. borsari@hotmail.com |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15248094 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2518 |
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Author |
Hodgson, Z.G.; Healy, S.D. |
Title |
Preference for spatial cues in a non-storing songbird species |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
211-214 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning/*physiology; *Cues; Feeding Behavior/physiology; Female; Male; Memory/*physiology; Sex Factors; Songbirds/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/*physiology |
Abstract |
Male mammals typically outperform their conspecific females on spatial tasks. A sex difference in cues used to solve the task could underlie this performance difference as spatial ability is reliant on appropriate cue use. Although comparative studies of memory in food-storing and non-storing birds have examined species differences in cue preference, few studies have investigated differences in cue use within a species. In this study, we used a one-trial associative food-finding task to test for sex differences in cue use in the great tit, Parus major. Birds were trained to locate a food reward hidden in a well covered by a coloured cloth. To determine whether the colour of the cloth or the location of the well was learned during training, the birds were presented with three wells in the test phase: one in the original location, but covered by a cloth of a novel colour, a second in a new location covered with the original cloth and a third in a new location covered by a differently coloured cloth. Both sexes preferentially visited the well in the training location rather than either alternative. As great tits prefer colour cues over spatial cues in one-trial associative conditioning tasks, cue preference appears to be related to the task type rather than being species dependent. |
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Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK. s.healy@ed.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15611879 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2499 |
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Author |
Slobodchikoff, C.; Paseka, A.; Verdolin, J. |
Title |
Prairie dog alarm calls encode labels about predator colors |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
12 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
435-439 |
Keywords |
Biomedical and Life Sciences |
Abstract |
Some animals have the cognitive capacity to differentiate between different species of predators and generate different alarm calls in response. However, the presence of any addition information that might be encoded into alarm calls has been largely unexplored. In the present study, three similar-sized human females walked through a Gunnison’s prairie dog ( Cynomys gunnisoni ) colony wearing each of three different-colored shirts: blue, green, and yellow. We recorded the alarm calls and used discriminant function analysis to assess whether the calls for the different-colored shirts were significantly different. The results showed that the alarm calls for the blue and the yellow shirts were significantly different, but the green shirt calls were not significantly different from the calls for the yellow shirt. The colors that were detected, with corresponding encoding into alarm calls, reflect the visual perceptual abilities of the prairie dogs. This study suggests that prairie dogs are able to incorporate labels about the individual characteristics of predators into their alarm calls, and that the complexity of information contained in animal alarm calls may be greater than has been previously believed. |
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Springer Berlin / Heidelberg |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5467 |
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Author |
Martin, T.I.; Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Post-choice information processing by pigeons |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
273-278 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; *Columbidae; Discrimination Learning |
Abstract |
In a conditional discrimination (matching-to-sample), a sample is followed by two comparison stimuli, one of which is correct, depending on the sample. Evidence from previous research suggests that if the stimulus display is maintained following an incorrect response (the so-called penalty-time procedure), acquisition by pigeons is facilitated. The present research tested the hypothesis that the penalty-time procedure allows the pigeons to review and learn from the maintained stimulus display following an incorrect choice. It did so by including a penalty-time group for which, following an incorrect choice, the sample changed to match the incorrect comparison, thus providing the pigeons with post-choice 'misinformation.' This misinformation group acquired the matching task significantly slower than the standard penalty-time group (that had no change in the sample following an error). Furthermore, acquisition of matching by a control group that received no penalty time fell midway between the other two groups, suggesting that the pigeons did not merely take more care in making choices because of the aversiveness of penalty-time. Thus, it appears that in the acquisition of matching-to-sample, when the stimulus display is maintained following an incorrect choice, the pigeons can review or acquire information from the display. This is the first time that such an effect has been reported for a nonhuman species. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15744507 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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225 |
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Author |
Gould, J.L.; Zabka, T.S.; Malizia, R.W.; Park, A.; Mukerji, J. |
Title |
Possible decision-making preadaptations in the molly Poecilia sphenops |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1999 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
2 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
91-95 |
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Abstract |
In many species females choose a mate from among several available males; in other species, the social system provides no apparent opportunity for making a decision among alternative suitors, and decision-making capacity is assumed to be minimal. The origins, bases, and logic of female mate choices are contentious questions with important cognitive implications. Female short-finned mollies, Poecilia sphenops, have never been observed to choose mates in the wild, where instead a male-contest social system prevails. Nevertheless they readily choose between models of males in the laboratory. Some of their decisions anticipate features found in males in more recently evolved species where the social system permits female choice. The willingness of females to choose traits in a species without such traits or evident need or opportunity for female choice in the wild is remarkable. These observations suggest that choice behavior can be latent in a species, and may direct or bias the development of behavioral preferences. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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3254 |
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Author |
Benhamou, S. |
Title |
Place navigation in mammals: a configuration-based model |
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Journal Article |
Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
1 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
55-63 |
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Abstract |
Recent water maze experiments suggest that rats performing place navigation primarily use the geometric information provided by a set of landmarks, and neglect the featural information provided by the identities of the landmarks. Here, I develop a model that explains how an animal may perform place navigation by relying only on geometric information. The core of the model is the representation of places as panoramas defined by circular bar-codes embodying the relative bearings and apparent sizes of the landmarks, irrespective of their identities. There are two stages in the model. During the first stage, the animal freely explores its environment in order to acquire spatial information at the local level. During the second stage, the animal uses the information previously memorized to perform place navigation towards the goal it intends to reach. The possible role of two brain areas in place navigation is discussed within this framework. Beyond their primary role in landmark-based representations of places, hippocampal place cells may be involved in computing the current distances to the landmarks. Beyond their primary role in landmark-based representations of headings, post-subicular head-direction cells may be involved in computing the “compass bearings” of the landmarks. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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3344 |
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Author |
Bugnyar, T.; Heinrich, B. |
Title |
Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
369-376 |
Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Competitive Behavior; Crows/*physiology; *Deception; Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Social Behavior; *Social Environment |
Abstract |
Like other corvids, food-storing ravens protect their caches from being pilfered by conspecifics by means of aggression and by re-caching. In the wild and in captivity, potential pilferers rarely approach caches until the storers have left the cache vicinity. When storers are experimentally prevented from leaving, pilferers first search at places other than the cache sites. These behaviours raise the possibility that ravens are capable of withholding intentions and providing false information to avoid provoking the storers' aggression for cache protection. Alternatively, birds may refrain from pilfering to avoid conflicts with dominants. Here we examined whether ravens adjust their pilfer tactics according to social context and type of competitors. We allowed birds that had witnessed a conspecific making caches to pilfer those caches either in private, together with the storer, or together with a conspecific bystander that had not created the caches (non-storer) but had seen them being made. Compared to in-private trials, ravens delayed approaching the caches only in the presence of storers. Furthermore, they quickly engaged in searching away from the caches when together with dominant storers but directly approached the caches when together with dominant non-storers. These findings demonstrate that ravens selectively alter their pilfer behaviour with those individuals that are likely to defend the caches (storers) and support the interpretation that they are deceptively manipulating the others' behaviour. |
Address |
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. thomas.bugnyar@univie.ac.at |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16909235 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2449 |
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Author |
Zucca, P.; Milos, N.; Vallortigara, G. |
Title |
Piagetian object permanence and its development in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
10 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
243-258 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Birds/*physiology; *Cognition; *Cues |
Abstract |
Object permanence in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) was investigated using a complete version of the Uzgiris and Hunt scale 1. Nine hand-raised jays were studied, divided into two groups according to their different developmental stages (experiment 1, older jays: 2-3 months old, n = 4; experiment 2, younger jays: 15 days old, n = 5). In the first experiment, we investigated whether older jays could achieve piagetian stage 6 of object permanence. Tasks were administered in a fixed sequence (1-15) according to the protocols used in other avian species. The aim of the second experiment was to check whether testing very young jays before their development of “neophobia” could influence the achievement times of piagetian stages. Furthermore, in this experiment tasks were administered randomly to investigate whether the jays' achievement of stage 6 follows a fixed sequence related to the development of specific cognitive abilities. All jays tested in experiments 1 and 2 fully achieved piagetian stage 6 and no “A not B” errors were observed. Performance on visible displacement tasks was better than performance on invisible ones. The results of experiment 2 show that “neophobia” affected the response of jays in terms of achievement times; the older jays in experiment 1 took longer to pass all the tasks when compared with the younger, less neophobic, jays in experiment 2. With regard to the achieving order, jays followed a fixed sequence of acquisition in experiment 2, even if tasks were administered randomly, with the exception of one subject. The results of these experiments support the idea that piagetian stages of cognitive development exist in avian species and that they progress through relatively fixed sequences. |
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Department of Psychology, Laboratory of Animal Cognition and Comparative Neuroscience, Via S. Anastasio 12, 34100, Trieste, Italy. zucca@units.it |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:17242935 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2423 |
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