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Author Pepperberg, I.M.
Title In search of king Solomon's ring: cognitive and communicative studies of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol
Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 54-67
Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; Attention/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Cues; Form Perception/physiology; Humans; Intelligence; Learning/physiology; Male; Models, Psychological; Parrots/*physiology; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Reward; Social Behavior
Abstract During the past 24 years, I have used a modeling technique (M/R procedure) to train Grey parrots to use an allospecific code (English speech) referentially; I then use the code to test their cognitive abilities. The oldest bird, Alex, labels more than 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities to 6, 3 categories (color, shape, material) and uses 'no', 'come here', wanna go X' and 'want Y' (X and Y are appropriate location or item labels). He combines labels to identify, request, comment upon or refuse more than 100 items and to alter his environment. He processes queries to judge category, relative size, quantity, presence or absence of similarity/difference in attributes, and show label comprehension. He semantically separates labeling from requesting. He thus exhibits capacities once presumed limited to humans or nonhuman primates. Studies on this and other Greys show that parrots given training that lacks some aspect of input present in M/R protocols (reference, functionality, social interaction) fail to acquire referential English speech. Examining how input affects the extent to which parrots acquire an allospecific code may elucidate mechanisms of other forms of exceptional learning: learning unlikely in the normal course of development but that can occur under certain conditions.
Address The MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu
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ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12097860 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 579
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Author Thornton, A.; McAuliffe, K.
Title Teaching in wild meerkats Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 313 Issue 5784 Pages 227-229
Keywords Animals; *Animals, Wild/psychology; Behavior, Animal; *Herpestidae/psychology; *Learning; *Predatory Behavior; South Africa; *Teaching; Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Despite the obvious benefits of directed mechanisms that facilitate the efficient transfer of skills, there is little critical evidence for teaching in nonhuman animals. Using observational and experimental data, we show that wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with opportunities to interact with live prey. In response to changing pup begging calls, helpers alter their prey-provisioning methods as pups grow older, thus accelerating learning without the use of complex cognition. The lack of evidence for teaching in species other than humans may reflect problems in producing unequivocal support for the occurrence of teaching, rather than the absence of teaching.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. jant2@cam.ac.uk
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Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16840701 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2834
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Author Mulcahy, N.J.; Call, J.
Title Apes save tools for future use Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 312 Issue 5776 Pages 1038-1040
Keywords Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Evolution; *Mental Processes; *Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; *Pongo pygmaeus
Abstract Planning for future needs, not just current ones, is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements. Whether this skill is a uniquely human adaptation is a controversial issue. In a study we conducted, bonobos and orangutans selected, transported, and saved appropriate tools above baseline levels to use them 1 hour later (experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these results to a 14-hour delay between collecting and using the tools. Experiment 3 showed that seeing the apparatus during tool selection was not necessary to succeed. These findings suggest that the precursor skills for planning for the future evolved in great apes before 14 million years ago, when all extant great ape species shared a common ancestor.
Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
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ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16709782 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 466
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Author Blaisdell, A.P.; Sawa, K.; Leising, K.J.; Waldmann, M.R.
Title Causal reasoning in rats Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 311 Issue 5763 Pages 1020-1022
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Bayes Theorem; *Cognition; Comprehension; Forecasting; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans
Abstract Empirical research with nonhuman primates appears to support the view that causal reasoning is a key cognitive faculty that divides humans from animals. The claim is that animals approximate causal learning using associative processes. The present results cast doubt on that conclusion. Rats made causal inferences in a basic task that taps into core features of causal reasoning without requiring complex physical knowledge. They derived predictions of the outcomes of interventions after passive observational learning of different kinds of causal models. These competencies cannot be explained by current associative theories but are consistent with causal Bayes net theories.
Address Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. blaisdell@psych.ucla.edu
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ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16484500 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 154
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Author Bloom, P.
Title Behavior. Can a dog learn a word? Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 304 Issue 5677 Pages 1605-1606
Keywords Animals; Child; Child, Preschool; *Dogs; Humans; *Learning; *Memory; *Vocabulary
Abstract
Address Department of Psychology, Yale University, Post Office Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. paul.bloom@yale.edu
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ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15192205 Approved no
Call Number Serial 28
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Author Heyes, C.M.
Title Social learning in animals: categories and mechanisms Type Journal Article
Year 1994 Publication Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Abbreviated Journal Biol. Rev.
Volume 69 Issue 2 Pages 207-231
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Conditioning (Psychology); *Learning; Reinforcement (Psychology); *Social Behavior
Abstract There has been relatively little research on the psychological mechanisms of social learning. This may be due, in part, to the practice of distinguishing categories of social learning in relation to ill-defined mechanisms (Davis, 1973; Galef, 1988). This practice both makes it difficult to identify empirically examples of different types of social learning, and gives the false impression that the mechanisms responsible for social learning are clearly understood. It has been proposed that social learning phenomena be subsumed within the categorization scheme currently used by investigators of asocial learning. This scheme distinguishes categories of learning according to observable conditions, namely, the type of experience that gives rise to a change in an animal (single stimulus vs. stimulus-stimulus relationship vs. response-reinforcer relationship), and the type of behaviour in which this change is detected (response evocation vs. learnability) (Rescorla, 1988). Specifically, three alignments have been proposed: (i) stimulus enhancement with single stimulus learning, (ii) observational conditioning with stimulus-stimulus learning, or Pavlovian conditioning, and (iii) observational learning with response-reinforcer learning, or instrumental conditioning. If, as the proposed alignments suggest, the conditions of social and asocial learning are the same, there is some reason to believe that the mechanisms underlying the two sets of phenomena are also the same. This is so if one makes the relatively uncontroversial assumption that phenomena which occur under similar conditions tend to be controlled by similar mechanisms. However, the proposed alignments are intended to be a set of hypotheses, rather than conclusions, about the mechanisms of social learning; as a basis for further research in which animal learning theory is applied to social learning. A concerted attempt to apply animal learning theory to social learning, to find out whether the same mechanisms are responsible for social and asocial learning, could lead both to refinements of the general theory, and to a better understanding of the mechanisms of social learning. There are precedents for these positive developments in research applying animal learning theory to food aversion learning (e.g. Domjan, 1983; Rozin & Schull, 1988) and imprinting (e.g. Bolhuis, de Vox & Kruit, 1990; Hollis, ten Cate & Bateson, 1991). Like social learning, these phenomena almost certainly play distinctive roles in the antogeny of adaptive behaviour, and they are customarily regarded as 'special kinds' of learning (Shettleworth, 1993).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Address Department of Psychology, University College London
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ISSN 1464-7931 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:8054445 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 708
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Author Broad, K.D.; Curley, J.P.; Keverne, E.B.
Title Mother-infant bonding and the evolution of mammalian social relationships Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.
Volume 361 Issue 1476 Pages 2199-2214
Keywords Endorphin; Maternal behaviour; Olfactory memory; Opioids; Oxytocin; Pair bonding; Prefrontal cortex; Social learning
Abstract A wide variety of maternal, social and sexual bonding strategies have been described across mammalian species, including humans. Many of the neural and hormonal mechanisms that underpin the formation and maintenance of these bonds demonstrate a considerable degree of evolutionary conservation across a representative range of these species. However, there is also a considerable degree of diversity in both the way these mechanisms are activated and in the behavioural responses that result. In the majority of small-brained mammals (including rodents), the formation of a maternal or partner preference bond requires individual recognition by olfactory cues, activation of neural mechanisms concerned with social reward by these cues and gender-specific hormonal priming for behavioural output. With the evolutionary increase of neocortex seen in monkeys and apes, there has been a corresponding increase in the complexity of social relationships and bonding strategies together with a significant redundancy in hormonal priming for motivated behaviour. Olfactory recognition and olfactory inputs to areas of the brain concerned with social reward are downregulated and recognition is based on integration of multimodal sensory cues requiring an expanded neocortex, particularly the association cortex. This emancipation from olfactory and hormonal determinants of bonding has been succeeded by the increased importance of social learning that is necessitated by living in a complex social world and, especially in humans, a world that is dominated by cultural inheritance. © 2006 The Royal Society.
Address Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, United Kingdom
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Notes Cited By (since 1996): 6; Export Date: 23 October 2008; Source: Scopus Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4558
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Author Tibbetts, E.A.
Title Visual signals of individual identity in the wasp Polistes fuscatus Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci.
Volume 269 Issue 1423 Pages 1423-1428
Keywords hymenoptera; individual-recognition; learning-insect
Abstract Individual recognition is an essential component of interactions in many social systems, but insects are often thought incapable of the sophistication necessary to recognize individuals. If this were true, it would impose limits on the societies that insects could form. For example, queens and workers of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus form a linear dominance hierarchy that determines how food, work and reproduction are divided within the colony. Such a stable hierarchy would be facilitated if individuals of different ranks have some degree of recognition. P. fuscatus wasps have, to our knowledge, previously undocumented variability in their yellow facial and abdominal markings that are intriguing candidates for signals of individual identity. Here, I describe these highly variable markings and experimentally test whether P. fuscatus queens and workers use these markings to identify individual nest-mates visually. I demonstrate that individuals whose yellow markings are experimentally altered with paint receive more aggression than control wasps who are painted in a way that does not alter their markings. Further, aggression declines towards wasps with experimentally altered markings as these novel markings become familiar to their nestmates. This evidence for individual recognition in P. fuscatus indicates that interactions between insects may be even more complex than previously anticipated.

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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ 929 Serial 4732
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Author Reader, S.M.; Laland, K.N.
Title Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 99 Issue 7 Pages 4436-4441
Keywords Animals; Brain/*anatomy & histology; Evolution; *Intelligence; Learning; Primates/*anatomy & histology/*psychology; Social Behavior
Abstract Despite considerable current interest in the evolution of intelligence, the intuitively appealing notion that brain volume and “intelligence” are linked remains untested. Here, we use ecologically relevant measures of cognitive ability, the reported incidence of behavioral innovation, social learning, and tool use, to show that brain size and cognitive capacity are indeed correlated. A comparative analysis of 533 instances of innovation, 445 observations of social learning, and 607 episodes of tool use established that social learning, innovation, and tool use frequencies are positively correlated with species' relative and absolute “executive” brain volumes, after controlling for phylogeny and research effort. Moreover, innovation and social learning frequencies covary across species, in conflict with the view that there is an evolutionary tradeoff between reliance on individual experience and social cues. These findings provide an empirical link between behavioral innovation, social learning capacities, and brain size in mammals. The ability to learn from others, invent new behaviors, and use tools may have played pivotal roles in primate brain evolution.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, High Street, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, United Kingdom
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Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0027-8424 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:11891325 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2149
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Author Grosenick, L.; Clement, T.S.; Fernald, R.D.
Title Fish can infer social rank by observation alone Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 445 Issue 7126 Pages 429-432
Keywords Aggression/physiology; Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Fishes/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Dominance; Territoriality
Abstract Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as 'bystanders'), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives.
Address Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA. logang@stanford.edu
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17251980 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 600
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