Records |
Author |
Søndergaard, E.; Jensen, M.B.; Nicol, C.J. |
Title |
Motivation for social contact in horses measured by operant conditioning |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
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Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
Volume |
In Press, Corrected Proof |
Issue |
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Pages |
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Keywords |
Horse; Housing; Social behaviour; Operant conditioning; Motivation |
Abstract |
Although horses are social animals they are often housed individually with limited social contact to other horses and this may compromise their welfare. The present study included eight young female horses and investigated the strength of motivation for access to full social contact, head contact and muzzle contact, respectively, to a familiar companion horse. Horses were housed individually next to their companion horse and separations between pens prevented physical contact. During daily test sessions horses were brought to a test area where they could access an arena allowing social contact. Arena access during 3 min was given after completion of a predetermined number of responses on a panel. Fixed ratios (FR) of 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40 responses per arena access were applied in a random order, one per daily test session, within each test week (Monday to Friday), and the number of rewards per daily test session was recorded. All horses could access all three types of social contact in a cross-over design, and an empty arena was used as control. Motivational strength was assessed using elasticity of demand functions, which were estimated based on the number of rewards earned and FR. Elasticities of demand for the three types of social contact were low (-0.20), and not significantly different, although increasing FR still resulted in a decrease in rewards obtained for all three types of social contact (P < 0.001). Across FR-levels horses earned more rewards for social contact than for an empty arena, as shown by much higher intercept values (2.51 vs. 0.99; P < 0.001). However, the elasticity of demand for infrequent access to an empty arena (-0.08) was lower than for social contact (P < 0.01) and not significantly different from zero (P = 0.07). Horses performed more social behaviour the lesser the restriction on social contact (full > head > muzzle). However, the finding that horses showed a similar and high motivation for all three types of social contact suggests that they are valued equally highly in a situation where the alternative is no social contact. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5388 |
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Author |
Søndergaard, E.; Jensen, M.B.; Nicol, C.J. |
Title |
Motivation for social contact in horses measured by operant conditioning |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
Volume |
132 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
131-137 |
Keywords |
Horse; Housing; Social behaviour; Operant conditioning; Motivation |
Abstract |
Although horses are social animals they are often housed individually with limited social contact to other horses and this may compromise their welfare. The present study included eight young female horses and investigated the strength of motivation for access to full social contact, head contact and muzzle contact, respectively, to a familiar companion horse. Horses were housed individually next to their companion horse and separations between pens prevented physical contact. During daily test sessions horses were brought to a test area where they could access an arena allowing social contact. Arena access during 3 min was given after completion of a predetermined number of responses on a panel. Fixed ratios (FR) of 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40 responses per arena access were applied in a random order, one per daily test session, within each test week (Monday to Friday), and the number of rewards per daily test session was recorded. All horses could access all three types of social contact in a cross-over design, and an empty arena was used as control. Motivational strength was assessed using elasticity of demand functions, which were estimated based on the number of rewards earned and FR. Elasticities of demand for the three types of social contact were low (-0.20), and not significantly different, although increasing FR still resulted in a decrease in rewards obtained for all three types of social contact (P < 0.001). Across FR-levels horses earned more rewards for social contact than for an empty arena, as shown by much higher intercept values (2.51 vs. 0.99; P < 0.001). However, the elasticity of demand for infrequent access to an empty arena (-0.08) was lower than for social contact (P < 0.01) and not significantly different from zero (P = 0.07). Horses performed more social behaviour the lesser the restriction on social contact (full > head > muzzle). However, the finding that horses showed a similar and high motivation for all three types of social contact suggests that they are valued equally highly in a situation where the alternative is no social contact. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5410 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R.; Roper, K.L.; Sherburne, L.M. |
Title |
Most directed forgetting in pigeons can be attributed to the absence of reinforcement on forget trials during training or to other procedural artifacts |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1995 |
Publication |
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Anal Behav |
Volume |
63 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
127-137 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Attention; Color Perception; Columbidae; Cues; *Discrimination Learning; *Mental Recall; Motivation; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Reinforcement Schedule; Retention (Psychology) |
Abstract |
In research on directed forgetting in pigeons using delayed matching procedures, remember cues, presented in the delay interval between sample and comparisons, have been followed by comparisons (i.e., a memory test), whereas forget cues have been followed by one of a number of different sample-independent events. The source of directed forgetting in delayed matching to sample in pigeons was examined in a 2 x 2 design by independently manipulating whether or not forget-cue trials in training ended with reinforcement and whether or not forget-cue trials in training included a simultaneous discrimination (involving stimuli other than those used in the matching task). Results were consistent with the hypothesis that reinforced responding following forget cues is sufficient to eliminate performance deficits on forget-cue probe trials. Only when reinforcement was omitted on forget-cue trials in training (whether a discrimination was required or not) was there a decrement in accuracy on forget-cue probe trials. When reinforcement is present, however, the pattern of responding established during and following a forget cue in training may also play a role in the directed forgetting effect. These findings support the view that much of the evidence for directed forgetting using matching procedures may result from motivational and behavioral artifacts rather than the loss of memory. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506 |
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English |
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ISSN |
0022-5002 |
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Notes |
PMID:7714447 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
256 |
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Author |
Harlow, H.F. |
Title |
Learning and satiation of response in intrinsically motivated complex puzzle performance by monkeys |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1950 |
Publication |
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Physiol Psychol |
Volume |
43 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
289-294 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Haplorhini; *Learning; *Motivation; *Psychology; *Satiation; *Learning; *Motivation; *Psychology |
Abstract |
Two rhesus monkeys, given 60 two-hour sessions with a six-device mechanical puzzle showed clear evidence of learning, the curve showing ratio of incorrect to correct responses appearing quite comparable to similar curves obtained during externally rewarded situations. When, on the thirteenth day of tests, the subjects were presented with the puzzle 100 times at 6-minute intervals, the number of devices manipulated decreased regularly throughout the day, although there was no significant change in the number of times the problem assembly was attacked. |
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0021-9940 |
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Notes |
PMID:15436888 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6550 |
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Author |
Waite, T.A. |
Title |
Interruptions improve choice performance in gray jays: prolonged information processing versus minimization of costly errors |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
209-214 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Female; Learning; Male; Models, Biological; Motivation; Reinforcement Schedule; Songbirds/*physiology; Time Factors |
Abstract |
Under the assumption that selection favors minimization of costly errors, erroneous choice may be common when its fitness cost is low. According to an adaptive-choice model, this cost depends on the rate at which an animal encounters the choice: the higher this rate, the smaller the cost of choosing a less valuable option. Errors should thus be more common when interruptions to foraging are shorter. A previous experiment supported this prediction: gray jays, Perisoreus canadensis, were more error prone when subjected to shorter delays to access to food rewards. This pattern, though, is also predicted by an attentional-constraints model. Because the subjects were able to inspect the rewards during delays, their improved performance when subjected to longer delays could have been a byproduct of the experimentally prolonged opportunity for information processing. To evaluate this possibility, a follow-up experiment manipulated both delay to access and whether rewards could be inspected during delays. Depriving jays of the opportunity to inspect rewards (using opaque lids) induced only a small, nonsignificant increase in error rate. This effect was independent of length of delay and so the jays' improved performance when subjected to longer delays was not simply a byproduct of prolonged information processing. More definitively, even when the jays were prevented from inspecting rewards during delays, their performance improved when subjected to longer delays. The findings are thus consistent with the adaptive-choice model. |
Address |
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1293, USA. waite.1@osu.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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Notes |
PMID:12461598 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2592 |
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Author |
Petherick, J.C.; Seawright, E.; Waddington, D. |
Title |
Influence of motivational state on choice of food or a dustbathing/foraging substrate by domestic hens |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1993 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
Volume |
28 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
209-220 |
Keywords |
Food; Learning; Litter; Motivation; Poultry; Preference |
Abstract |
Domestic hens were trained to run a Y-maze and make an association between differently coloured doorways and access to food pellets or sand. The hens were tested for their choice of doorway when the goals were not visible from the choice point and when they were food or sand deprived. Hens made the choice appropriate to their deprivation state (correct choice) significantly more often for food than sand and were faster at choosing and entering the goal box when food deprived. In a follow up experiment, the goals were visible from the choice point. Again the hens chose correctly significantly more often when food than sand deprived and made the choice and entered the goal box faster when food deprived. Thus, failure to choose sand in the first experiment was not due to an inability to learn the association, but appears to result from a strong motivation to feed in the Y-maze, even when not food deprived, and a weak motivation to dustbathe or forage, even when sand deprived. |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
3608 |
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Author |
Akins, C.K.; Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitative learning in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) using the two-action method |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1996 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
110 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
316-320 |
Keywords |
Animals; Appetitive Behavior; *Attention; *Coturnix; *Imitative Behavior; Male; *Motivation; Transfer (Psychology) |
Abstract |
The study of imitative learning in animals has suffered from the presence of a number of confounding motivational and attentional factors (e.g., social facilitation and stimulus enhancement). The two-action method avoids these problems by exposing observers to demonstrators performing a response (e.g., operating a treadle) using 1 of 2 distinctive topographies (e.g., by pecking or by stepping). Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) observers exposed to conspecific demonstrators showed a high correlation between the topography of the response they observed and the response they performed. These data provide strong evidence for the existence of true imitative learning in an active, precocious bird under conditions that control for alternative accounts. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0044, USA |
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ISSN |
0735-7036 |
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Notes |
PMID:8858851 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
254 |
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Author |
Dorrance, B.R.; Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
115 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
62-67 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Coturnix; Female; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; *Motivation; Reinforcement (Psychology); Time Factors |
Abstract |
The 2-action method was used to examine whether imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation of the demonstrated behavior. Two groups of observers were fed before observation (satiated groups), whereas 2 other groups of observers were deprived of food before observation (hungry groups). Quail were tested either immediately following observation or after a 30-min delay. Results indicated that quail in the hungry groups imitated, whereas those in the satiated groups did not, regardless of whether their test was immediate or delayed. The results suggest that observer quail may not learn (through observation) behavior that leads to a reinforcer for which they are unmotivated at the time of test. In addition, the results show that quail are able to delay the performance of a response acquired through observation (i.e., they show deferred imitation). |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0044, USA |
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ISSN |
0735-7036 |
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Notes |
PMID:11334220 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
245 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
335-353 |
Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Motivation; *Social Environment; Transfer (Psychology) |
Abstract |
Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. Zentall@uky.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:17024510 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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217 |
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Author |
Shettleworth, S.J.; Plowright, C.M. |
Title |
How pigeons estimate rates of prey encounter |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1992 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
Volume |
18 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
219-235 |
Keywords |
Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Food Preferences/*psychology; Motivation; *Predatory Behavior; *Probability Learning; *Reinforcement Schedule; Social Environment |
Abstract |
Pigeons were trained on operant schedules simulating successive encounters with prey items. When items were encountered on variable-interval schedules, birds were more likely to accept a poor item (long delay to food) the longer they had just searched, as if they were averaging prey density over a short memory window (Experiment 1). Responding as if the immediate future would be like the immediate past was reversed when a short search predicted a long search next time (Experiment 2). Experience with different degrees of environmental predictability appeared to change the length of the memory window (Experiment 3). The results may reflect linear waiting (Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991), but they differ in some respects. The findings have implications for possible mechanisms of adjusting behavior to current reinforcement conditions. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:1619391 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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382 |
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