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Author Huber, L.; Gajdon, G.K. doi  openurl
  Title Technical intelligence in animals: the kea model Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 295-305  
  Keywords Animals; *Comprehension; *Intelligence; Models, Psychological; Observation; *Parrots; *Problem Solving; Psychological Theory; Social Environment; *Tool Use Behavior  
  Abstract The ability to act on information flexibly is one of the cornerstones of intelligent behavior. As particularly informative example, tool-oriented behavior has been investigated to determine to which extent nonhuman animals understand means-end relations, object affordances, and have specific motor skills. Even planning with foresight, goal-directed problem solving and immediate causal inference have been a focus of research. However, these cognitive abilities may not be restricted to tool-using animals but may be found also in animals that show high levels of curiosity, object exploration and manipulation, and extractive foraging behavior. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, is a particularly good example. We here review findings from laboratory experiments and field observations of keas revealing surprising cognitive capacities in the physical domain. In an experiment with captive keas, the success rate of individuals that were allowed to observe a trained conspecific was significantly higher than that of naive control subjects due to their acquisition of some functional understanding of the task through observation. In a further experiment using the string-pulling task, a well-probed test for means-end comprehension, we found the keas finding an immediate solution that could not be improved upon in nine further trials. We interpreted their performance as insightful in the sense of being sensitive of the relevant functional properties of the task and thereby producing a new adaptive response without trial-and-error learning. Together, these findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the distribution of higher cognitive skills in the animal kingdom by showing high levels of sensorimotor intelligence in animals that do not use tools. In conclusion, we suggest that the 'Technical intelligence hypothesis' (Byrne, Machiavellian intelligence II: extensions and evaluations, pp 289-211, 1997), which has been proposed to explain the origin of the ape/monkey grade-shift in intelligence by a selection pressure upon an increased efficiency in foraging behavior, should be extended, that is, applied to some birds as well.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria. ludwig.huber@univie.ac.at  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16909237 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2085  
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Author Pepperberg, I.M. doi  openurl
  Title The value of the Piagetian framework for comparative cognitive studies Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 177-182  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; Discrimination Learning; *Intelligence; *Models, Psychological; *Models, Theoretical  
  Abstract Although the Piagetian framework has been used by numerous researchers to compare cognitive abilities of diverse species, the system is often criticized as implemented. I examine the various criticisms, suggest ways in which the system can be improved, and argue for the need for descriptive systems such as the Piagetian framework to complement programs that look for cellular and molecular bases or mathematical models to explain behavior.  
  Address School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357290 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2595  
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Author Waite, T.A. doi  openurl
  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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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12461598 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2592  
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Author Tebbich, S.; Bshary, R.; Grutter, A.S. doi  openurl
  Title Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus recognise familiar clients Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 139-145  
  Keywords Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; *Evolution; *Fishes; Motivation; *Recognition (Psychology); Social Behavior; Visual Perception  
  Abstract Individual recognition has been attributed a crucial role in the evolution of complex social systems such as helping behaviour and cooperation. A classical example for interspecific cooperation is the mutualism between the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus and its client reef fish species. For stable cooperation to evolve, it is generally assumed that partners interact repeatedly and remember each other's past behaviour. Repeated interactions may be achieved by site fidelity or individual recognition. However, as some cleaner fish have more than 2,300 interactions per day with various individuals per species and various species of clients, basic assumptions of cooperation theory might be violated in this mutualism. We tested the cleaner L. dimidiatus and its herbivorous client, the surgeon fish Ctenochaetus striatus, for their ability to distinguish between a familiar and an unfamiliar partner in a choice experiment. Under natural conditions, cleaners and clients have to build up their relationship, which is probably costly for both. We therefore predicted that both clients and cleaners should prefer the familiar partner in our choice experiment. We found that cleaners spent significantly more time near the familiar than the unfamiliar clients in the first 2 minutes of the experiment. This indicates the ability for individual recognition in cleaners. In contrast, the client C. striatus showed no significant preference. This could be due to a sampling artefact, possibly due to a lack of sufficient motivation. Alternatively, clients may not need to recognise their cleaners but instead remember the defined territories of L. dimidiatus to achieve repeated interactions with the same individual.  
  Address Max Planck Institute for Behaviour and Physiology, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany. tebbich@ss20.mpi-seewiesen.mpg.de  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357286 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2599  
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Author Chappell, J.; Kacelnik, A. doi  openurl
  Title Tool selectivity in a non-primate, the New Caledonian crow (Corvus moneduloides) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 71-78  
  Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Cognition; Female; *Learning; Male; Perception; *Songbirds  
  Abstract We present an experiment showing that New Caledonian crows are able to choose tools of the appropriate size for a novel task, without trial-and-error learning. This species is almost unique amongst all animal species (together with a few primates) in the degree of use and manufacture of polymorphic tools in the wild. However, until now, the flexibility of their tool use has not been tested. Flexibility, including the ability to select an appropriate tool for a task, is considered to be a hallmark of complex cognitive adaptations for tool use. In experiment 1, we tested the ability of two captive birds (one male, one female), to select a stick (from a range of lengths provided) matching the distance to food placed in a horizontal transparent pipe. Both birds chose tools matching the distance to their target significantly more often than would be expected by chance. In experiment 2, we used a similar task, but with the tools placed out of sight of the food pipe, such that the birds had to remember the distance of the food before selecting a tool. The task was completed only by the male, who chose a tool of sufficient length significantly more often than chance but did not show a preference for a matching length.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OXI 3PS, UK. jackie.chappell@zoo.ox.ac.uk  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12150038 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2606  
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Author Kuroshima, H.; Fujita, K.; Fuyuki, A.; Masuda, T. doi  openurl
  Title Understanding of the relationship between seeing and knowing by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 41-48  
  Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Cebus/*psychology; *Discrimination (Psychology); Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; Male  
  Abstract The ability of four tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) to recognize the causal connection between seeing and knowing was investigated. The subjects were trained to follow a suggestion about the location of hidden food provided by a trainer who knew where the food was (the knower) in preference to a trainer who did not (the guesser). The experimenter baited one of three opaque containers behind a cardboard screen so that the subjects could not see which of the containers hid the reward. In experiment 1, the knower appeared first in front of the apparatus and looked into each container; next, the guesser appeared but did not look into any containers. Then the knower touched the correct cup while the guesser touched one of the three randomly. The capuchin monkeys gradually learned to reach toward the cup that the knower suggested. In experiment 2, the subjects adapted to a novel variant of the task, in which the guesser touched but did not look into any of the containers. In experiment 3, the monkeys adapted again when the knower and the guesser appeared in a random order. These results suggest that capuchin monkeys can learn to recognize the relationship between seeing and knowing.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan. kuroshi@psy.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp  
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  Notes PMID:11957401 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2611  
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Author Cheng, K. doi  openurl
  Title Generalisation: mechanistic and functional explanations Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 33-40  
  Keywords Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Bees/*physiology; Cognition; Evolution; Models, Psychological  
  Abstract An overview of mechanistic and functional accounts of stimulus generalisation is given. Mechanistic accounts rely on the process of spreading activation across units representing stimuli. Different models implement the spread in different ways, ranging from diffusion to connectionist networks. A functional account proposed by Shepard analyses the probabilistic structure of the world for invariants. A universal law based on one such invariant claims that under a suitable scaling of the stimulus dimension, generalisation gradients should be approximately exponential in shape. Data from both vertebrates and invertebrates so far uphold Shepard's law. Some data on spatial generalisation in honeybees are presented to illustrate how Shepard's law can be used to determine the metric for combining discrepancies in different stimulus dimensions. The phenomenon of peak shift is discussed. Comments on mechanistic and functional approaches to generalisation are given.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. kcheng@axon.bhs.mq.edu.au  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11957400 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2612  
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Author Viscido, S.V.; Miller, M.; Wethey, D.S. doi  openurl
  Title The response of a selfish herd to an attack from outside the group perimeter Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Journal of theoretical biology Abbreviated Journal J. Theor. Biol.  
  Volume 208 Issue 3 Pages 315-328  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Computer Simulation; Models, Biological; *Movement; Predatory Behavior  
  Abstract According to the selfish herd hypothesis, animals can decrease predation risk by moving toward one another if the predator can appear anywhere and will attack the nearest target. Previous studies have shown that aggregations can form using simple movement rules designed to decrease each animal's Domain of Danger. However, if the predator attacks from outside the group's perimeter, these simple movement rules might not lead to aggregation. To test whether simple selfish movement rules would decrease predation risk for those situations when the predator attacks from outside the flock perimeter, we constructed a computer model that allowed flocks of 75 simulated fiddler crabs to react to one another, and to a predator attacking from 7 m away. We attacked simulated crab flocks with predators of different sizes and attack speeds, and computed relative predation risk after 120 time steps. Final trajectories showed flight toward the center of the flock, but curving away from the predator. Path curvature depended on the predator's size and approach speed. The average crab experienced a greater decrease in predation risk when the predator was small or slow moving. Regardless of the predator's size and speed, however, predation risk always decreased as long as crabs took their flock-mates into account. We conclude that, even when flight away from an external predator occurs, the selfish avoidance of danger can lead to aggregation.  
  Address Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, U.S.A. viscido@u.washington.edu  
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  ISSN 0022-5193 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11207093 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 555  
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Author Izar, P.; Ferreira, R.G.; Sato, T. doi  openurl
  Title Describing the organization of dominance relationships by dominance-directed tree method Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication American journal of primatology Abbreviated Journal Am. J. Primatol.  
  Volume 68 Issue 2 Pages 189-207  
  Keywords Animals; Cebus/physiology; *Models, Biological; *Social Dominance  
  Abstract Methods to describe dominance hierarchies are a key tool in primatology studies. Most current methods are appropriate for analyzing linear and near-linear hierarchies; however, more complex structures are common in primate groups. We propose a method termed “dominance-directed tree.” This method is based on graph theory and set theory to analyze dominance relationships in social groups. The method constructs a transitive matrix by imposing transitivity to the dominance matrix and produces a graphical representation of the dominance relationships, which allows an easy visualization of the hierarchical position of the individuals, or subsets of individuals. The method is also able to detect partial and complete hierarchies, and to describe situations in which hierarchical and nonhierarchical principles operate. To illustrate the method, we apply a dominance tree analysis to artificial data and empirical data from a group of Cebus apella.  
  Address Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. patrizar@usp.br  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0275-2565 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16429416 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 723  
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Author Aureli, F.; de Waal, F.B. doi  openurl
  Title Inhibition of social behavior in chimpanzees under high-density conditions Type Journal Article
  Year 1997 Publication American journal of primatology Abbreviated Journal Am. J. Primatol.  
  Volume 41 Issue 3 Pages 213-228  
  Keywords Aggression/*psychology; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Crowding; Female; Male; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Population Density; *Social Environment; Stress, Psychological  
  Abstract This is the first study to investigate the short-term effects of high population density on captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Subjects of the study were 45 chimpanzees living in five different groups at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. The groups were observed under two conditions: 1) when they had access to both the indoor and outdoor sections of their enclosures; 2) during cold days when they were locked into the indoor runs, which reduced the available space by more than half. Under the high-density condition, allogrooming and submissive greetings decreased, but juvenile play increased. Remarkably, the rate of various forms of agonistic behavior, such as aggression, bluff charge, bluff display, and hooting, occurred less frequently under the high-density condition. This general decrease in adult social activity, including agonistic behavior, can be interpreted as an inhibition strategy to reduce opportunities for conflict when interindividual distances are reduced. This strategy is probably effective only in the short run, however. Behavioral indicators of anxiety, such as rough scratching and yawning, showed elevated rates, suggesting increased social tension under the high-density condition.  
  Address Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA  
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  ISSN 0275-2565 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:9057966 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 203  
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