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Author Kis, A.; Huber, L.; Wilkinson, A.
Title Social learning by imitation in a reptile (Pogona vitticeps) Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim.Cogn.
Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 325-331
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Abstract The ability to learn through imitation is thought to be the basis of cultural transmission and was long considered a distinctive characteristic of humans. There is now evidence that both mammals and birds are capable of imitation. However, nothing is known about these abilities in the third amniotic class--reptiles. Here, we use a bidirectional control procedure to show that a reptile species, the bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), is capable of social learning that cannot be explained by simple mechanisms such as local enhancement or goal emulation. Subjects in the experimental group opened a trap door to the side that had been demonstrated, while subjects in the ghost control group, who observed the door move without the intervention of a conspecific, were unsuccessful. This, together with differences in behaviour between experimental and control groups, provides compelling evidence that reptiles possess cognitive abilities that are comparable to those observed in mammals and birds and suggests that learning by imitation is likely to be based on ancient mechanisms.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Kis2015 Serial 6193
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Author Brust, V.; Guenther, A.
Title Domestication effects on behavioural traits and learning performance: comparing wild cavies to guinea pigs Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 99-109
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Abstract The domestication process leads to a change in behavioural traits, usually towards individuals that are less attentive to changes in their environment and less aggressive. Empirical evidence for a difference in cognitive performance, however, is scarce. Recently, a functional linkage between an individual's behaviour and cognitive performance has been proposed in the framework of animal personalities via a shared risk-reward trade-off. Following this assumption, bolder and more aggressive animals (usually the wild form) should learn faster. Differences in behaviour may arise during ontogeny due to individual experiences or represent adaptations that occurred over the course of evolution. Both might singly or taken together account for differences in cognitive performance between wild and domestic lineages. To test for such possible linkages, we compared wild cavies and domestic guinea pigs, both kept in a university stock for more than 30 years under highly comparable conditions. Animals were tested in three behavioural tests as well as for initial and reversal learning performance. Guinea pigs were less bold and aggressive than their wild congeners, but learnt an association faster. Additionally, the personality structure was altered during the domestication process. The most likely explanation for these findings is that a shift in behavioural traits and their connectivity led to an altered cognitive performance. A functional linkage between behavioural and cognitive traits seems to exist in the proposed way only under natural selection, but not in animals that have been selected artificially over centuries.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Brust2015 Serial 6194
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Author Gabor, V.; Gerken, M.
Title Shetland ponies (Equus caballus) show quantity discrimination in a matching-to-sample design Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 17 Issue 6 Pages 1233-1243
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Abstract Numerical competence is one of the aspects of animal cognition with a long history of research interest, but few results are available for the horse. In the present study, we investigated the ability of three Shetland ponies to discriminate between different quantities of geometric symbols presented on a computer screen in a matching-to-sample arrangement. In Experiment 1, the ponies had to relate two similar quantities to another, paired in contrasts (1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4 and 4 vs. 5) of the same stimulus (dot). Specific pairs of quantities (all differing by one) of up to five different geometrical symbols were displayed in Experiment 2. In each session, both quantities (more and less) were used as sample in such a way that each of the two quantities presented in one test served as positive and as negative stimulus, respectively. The three Shetland ponies were able to discriminate between the given quantities of dots by showing more than 80 % correct responses in two consecutive sessions. Only one of the ponies distinguished different shapes of geometric symbols at a level of 4 versus 5 items. The results show that all ponies were capable of visual quantity discrimination in the present matching-to-sample design, but task solving seemed more difficult when quantities were composed of heterogeneous stimuli. The present results confirm our hypothesis that the ponies based their decision on the matching concept of sameness and were not biased by a spontaneous preference for higher quantities.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Gabor2014 Serial 6174
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Author Miyata, H.; Gajdon, G.K.; Huber, L.; Fujita, K.
Title How do keas (Nestor notabilis) solve artificial-fruit problems with multiple locks? Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 45-58
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Abstract Keas, a species of parrots from New Zealand, are an interesting species for comparative studies of problem solving and cognition because they are known not only for efficient capacities for object manipulation but also for explorative and playful behaviors. To what extent are they efficient or explorative, and what cognitive abilities do they use? We examined how keas would solve several versions of artificial-fruit box problems having multiple locks. After training keas to remove a metal rod from over a Plexiglas lid that had to be opened, we exposed the birds to a variety of tasks having two or more locks. We also introduced a preview phase during which the keas had extended opportunity to look at the tasks before the experimenter allowed the birds to solve them, to examine whether the preview phase would facilitate the birds' performance on the tasks. In a large number of tests, the keas showed a strong trend to solve the tasks with no positive effect of previewing the tasks. When the tasks became complex, however, the keas corrected inappropriate responses more quickly when they had had chance to preview the problems than when they had not. The results suggest that the keas primarily used explorative strategies in solving the lock problems but might have obtained some information about the tasks before starting to solve them. This may reflect a good compromise of keas' trial-and-error tendency and their good cognitive ability that result from a selection pressure they have faced in their natural habitat.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Miyata2011 Serial 6549
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Author Beer, C.G.
Title Varying Views of Animal and Human Cognition Type Book Chapter
Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition in Nature Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 435-456
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Abstract Summary In this chapter I want to stand back from the splendid empirical work on animal cognitive capacities that is the focus of this book, and look at the broader context of cognitive concerns within which the work can be viewed. Indeed even the term `cognitive ethology' currently connotes and denotes more than is represented here, as other collections of articles, such as and , exemplify. I include the current descendants of behavioristic learning theory, evolutionary epistemology, evolutionary psychology and the recent comparative turn that has been taken in cognitive science. These several approaches, despite their considerable overlap, often appear independent and even ignorant of one another. Like the proverbial blind men feeling the hide of an elephant, they touch hands from time to time, yet collectively have only a piecemeal and distributed understanding of the shape of the whole. Although each approach may indeed need the space to work out its own conceptual and methodological preoccupations without confounding interference from other views, a utopian spirit envisages an ultimate coming together, a more comprehensive realization of the synthetic approach to animal cognition that is this book's theme.
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Publisher Academic Press Place of Publication London Editor Russell P. Balda; Irene M. Pepperberg; Alan C. Kamil
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ISSN ISBN 9780120770304 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2915
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Author Dyer, F.C.
Title Spatial Cognition: Lessons from Central-place Foraging Insects Type Book Chapter
Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition in Nature Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 119-154
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Abstract Summary Spatial orientation has played an extremely important role in the development of ideas about the behavioral capacities of animals. Indeed, as the modern scientific study of animal behavior emerged from its roots in zoology and experimental psychology, studies of spatial orientation figured in the work of many of the pioneering researchers, including Tinbergen (), von ), Watson () and .
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Publisher Academic Press Place of Publication London Editor Russell P. Balda; Irene M. Pepperberg; Alan C. Kamil
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ISSN ISBN 9780120770304 Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2913
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Author Kamil, A.C.
Title On the Proper Definition of Cognitive Ethology Type Book Chapter
Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition in Nature Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-28
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Abstract Summary The last 20-30 years have seen two `scientific revolutions' in the study of animal behavior: the cognitive revolution that originated in psychology, and the Darwinian, behavioral ecology revolution that originated in biology. Among psychologists, the cognitive revolution has had enormous impact. Similarly, among biologists, the Darwinian revolution has had enormous impact. The major theme of this chapter is that these two scientific research programs need to be combined into a single approach, simultaneously cognitive and Darwinian, and that this single approach is most appropriately called cognitive ethology.
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Publisher Academic Press Place of Publication London Editor Russell P. Balda; Irene M. Pepperberg; Alan C. Kamil
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ISSN ISBN 9780120770304 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4202
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Author Smith, W.J.
Title Cognitive Implications of an Information-sharing Model of Animal Communication Type Book Chapter
Year 1998 Publication Animal Cognition in Nature Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 227-243
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Abstract Summary In social communication, one animal signals and another responds. Several cognitive steps are involved as the second animal selects its responses; these steps can be described as follows in terms of an informational model. First, the responding individual must evaluate the information made available by the signaling on the basis of other information, available from sources contextual to the signal. Second, the respondent must fit all of the relevant information into patterns generated from recall of past events (conscious recall is not generally required; pattern fitting is a fundamental skill). Third, conditional predictions must be made; and fourth, the individual must test and modify any of these predictions for which significant consequences exist. Many vertebrate animals appear to respond to signaling with considerable flexibility. Communicative events are thus complex but are by no means intractable. Indeed, communication provides us with excellent opportunities to investigate animal cognition.
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Publisher Academic Press Place of Publication London Editor Russell P. Balda; Irene M. Pepperberg; Alan C. Kamil
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN ISBN 9780120770304 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2914
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Author Basile, M.; Boivin, S.; Boutin, A.; Blois-Heulin, C.; Hausberger, M.; Lemasson, A.
Title Socially dependent auditory laterality in domestic horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 12 Issue Pages 611-619
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Abstract Laterality is now known to be an ubiquitous phenomenon among the vertebrates. Particularly, laterality of auditory processing has been demonstrated in a variety of species, especially songbirds and primates. Such a hemispheric specialization has been shown to depend on factors such as sound structure, species specificity and types of stimuli. Much less is known on the possible influence of social familiarity although a few studies suggest such an influence. Here we tested the influence of the degree of familiarity on the laterality of the auditory response in the domestic horse. This species is known for its social system and shows visible reactions to sounds, with one or two ears moving towards a sound source. By comparing such responses to the playback of different conspecific whinnies (group member, neighbor and stranger), we could demonstrate a clear left hemisphere (LH) preference for familiar neighbor calls while no preference was found for group member and stranger calls. Yet, we found an opposite pattern of ear side preference for neighbor versus stranger calls. These results are, to our knowledge, the first to demonstrate auditory laterality in an ungulate species. They open further lines of thought on the influence of the social “value” of calls and the listener's arousal on auditory processing and laterality.
Address Universite de Rennes I, EthoS, Ethologie animale et humaine-UMR 6552-CNRS Station Biologique de Paimpont, 35380, Paimpont, France, basilemuriel@hotmail.com
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Notes PMID:19283416 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4761
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Author Hanggi, E.B.; Ingersoll, J.F.
Title Long-term memory for categories and concepts in horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 451-462
Keywords Horse – Long-term memory – Concept – Categorization – Discrimination – LCD display – Equine
Abstract Three horses (Equus caballus) with a history of performing cognitive tasks including discrimination learning, categorization, and concept use were tested to evaluate their long-term memory (LTM) in three experiments. In addition, use of LCD multi-displays for stimulus presentation was incorporated into cognition testing protocol for the first time with horses. Experiment 1 tested LTM for discrimination learning that originally occurred 6 years earlier. Five sets of stimuli were used and the two horses tested showed no decrement in performance on four of the sets; however, both horses did score below chance on one set. Experiment 2 examined long-term categorization recall 10 years after horses had demonstrated the ability to make stimulus selections based on shared characteristics within a given category. The horse tested for LTM after the decade-long interval immediately and consistently applied the previously learned categorization rule to not only familiar but also novel sets of stimuli. Experiment 3 tested another horse for LTM for a relative size concept. This horse had originally demonstrated concept rule use in order to select stimuli based on their relative size to one another. More than 7 years later and without further training, this horse reliably applied the previously established size concept to both familiar and novel sets of stimuli. These findings are the first reports of long-term categorical and conceptual memory in horses and are consistent with observations of domestic and wild horses, which indicate that behavioral and ecological events may be remembered for long periods of time. These studies also demonstrate the adaptive nature of horses with regard to their ability to generalize over several different testing conditions.
Address Equine Research Foundation, P.O. Box 1900, Aptos, CA, 95001, USA, EquiResF@aol.com
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Notes PMID:19148689 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4760
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