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Author Esch, L.; Wöhr, C.; Erhard, M.; Krueger, K.
Title Horses� (Equus Caballus) Laterality, Stress Hormones, and Task Related Behavior in Innovative Problem-Solving Type Journal Article
Year 2019 Publication Animals Abbreviated Journal Animals
Volume 9 Issue 5 Pages 265
Keywords innovative behavior; brain lateralization; glucocorticoid metabolites; behavioral traits; equine cognition
Abstract Domesticated horses are constantly confronted with novel tasks. A recent study on anecdotal data indicates that some are innovative in dealing with such tasks. However, innovative behavior in horses has not previously been investigated under experimental conditions. In this study, we investigated whether 16 horses found an innovative solution when confronted with a novel feeder. Moreover, we investigated whether innovative behavior in horses may be affected by individual aspects such as: age, sex, size, motor and sensory laterality, fecal stress hormone concentrations (GCMs), and task-related behavior. Our study revealed evidence for 25% of the horses being capable of innovative problem solving for operating a novel feeder. Innovative horses of the present study were active, tenacious, and may be considered to have a higher inhibitory control, which was revealed by their task related behavior. Furthermore, they appeared to be emotional, reflected by high baseline GCM concentrations and a left sensory and motor laterality. These findings may contribute to the understanding of horses� cognitive capacities to deal with their environment and calls for enriched environments in sports and leisure horse management.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Esch2019 Serial 6570
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Author Bachmann, I.; Audige, L.; Stauffacher, M.
Title Risk factors associated with behavioural disorders of crib-biting, weaving and box-walking in Swiss horses Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Equine Veterinary Journal Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J
Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 158-163
Keywords Animal Husbandry/*methods; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Data Collection; Female; Horse Diseases/epidemiology/*etiology/prevention & control; Horses; *Housing, Animal; Male; Mental Disorders/epidemiology/etiology/prevention & control/*veterinary; Prevalence; Regression Analysis; Risk Factors; *Stereotyped Behavior; Switzerland/epidemiology
Abstract REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Studies on the prevalence of behavioural disorders in horses and on associated risk factors have revealed inconsistent results. There are many studies on the neuropharmacological, surgical or mechanical therapy of stereotypies, but little is known about their causation. OBJECTIVES: To explore risk factors associated with the occurrence of behavioural disorders in horses. METHODS: A sample of horse owners, selected randomly and representative for Switzerland, was contacted in a postal survey. Answers were provided for 622 stables (response rate 35.2%). Individual data of 2,341 horses were examined with path analysis (multivariable linear and logistic regression), and adjustment made for possible confounding effects due to age and breed. RESULTS: Out of 60 possible risk factors, 11 were associated with the outcome at the univariable level (null-hypothesis path model) and 3 factors remained after the backward logistic regression procedure. Mature Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds, assessed by the owners to be reactive, fed 4 times a day and without daily pasture, had increased odds of displaying crib-biting, weaving and box-walking. Furthermore, indirect associations of 5 factors with the outcome were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The final logistic regression model of risk factors leads to the hypotheses that causal prevention of stereotypic behaviours should be based upon housing and management conditions which allow tactile contact with other horses (e.g. mutual grooming), daily free movement (paddock or pasture), as well as the provision of high amounts of roughage but of little or no concentrates. POTENTIAL CLINICAL RELEVANCE: It is one of the aims of population medicine to prevent the development of behavioural disorders. Further research is needed to test the concluding hypotheses in experimental studies or to verify them in the context of similar observational studies.
Address Institute of Animal Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), LFW B55. 1, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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ISSN 0425-1644 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12638792 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1907
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Author Dougherty, D.M.; Lewis, P.
Title Generalization of a tactile stimulus in horses Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Abbreviated Journal J Exp Anal Behav
Volume 59 Issue 3 Pages 521-528
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; Female; *Horses; Male; Reinforcement (Psychology); *Touch
Abstract Using horses, we investigated the control of operant behavior by a tactile stimulus (the training stimulus) and the generalization of behavior to six other similar test stimuli. In a stall, the experimenters mounted a response panel in the doorway. Located on this panel were a response lever and a grain dispenser. The experimenters secured a tactile-stimulus belt to the horse's back. The stimulus belt was constructed by mounting seven solenoids along a piece of burlap in a manner that allowed each to provide the delivery of a tactile stimulus, a repetitive light tapping, at different locations (spaced 10.0 cm apart) along the horse's back. Two preliminary steps were necessary before generalization testing: training a measurable response (lip pressing) and training on several reinforcement schedules in the presence of a training stimulus (tapping by one of the solenoids). We then gave each horse two generalization test sessions. Results indicated that the horses' behavior was effectively controlled by the training stimulus. Horses made the greatest number of responses to the training stimulus, and the tendency to respond to the other test stimuli diminished as the stimuli became farther away from the training stimulus. These findings are discussed in the context of behavioral principles and their relevance to the training of horses.
Address Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston 77030
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Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 0022-5002 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:8315368 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3571
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Author Dougherty, D.M.; Lewis, P.
Title Stimulus generalization, discrimination learning, and peak shift in horses Type Journal Article
Year 1991 Publication Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior Abbreviated Journal J Exp Anal Behav
Volume 56 Issue 1 Pages 97-104
Keywords Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Attention; *Conditioning, Operant; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Generalization, Stimulus; Horses/*psychology; Male; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Size Perception
Abstract Using horses, we investigated three aspects of the stimulus control of lever-pressing behavior: stimulus generalization, discrimination learning, and peak shift. Nine solid black circles, ranging in size from 0.5 in. to 4.5 in. (1.3 cm to 11.4 cm) served as stimuli. Each horse was shaped, using successive approximations, to press a rat lever with its lip in the presence of a positive stimulus, the 2.5-in. (6.4-cm) circle. Shaping proceeded quickly and was comparable to that of other laboratory organisms. After responding was maintained on a variable-interval 30-s schedule, stimulus generalization gradients were collected from 2 horses prior to discrimination training. During discrimination training, grain followed lever presses in the presence of a positive stimulus (a 2.5-in circle) and never followed lever presses in the presence of a negative stimulus (a 1.5-in. [3.8-cm] circle). Three horses met a criterion of zero responses to the negative stimulus in fewer than 15 sessions. Horses given stimulus generalization testing prior to discrimination training produced symmetrical gradients; horses given discrimination training prior to generalization testing produced asymmetrical gradients. The peak of these gradients shifted away from the negative stimulus. These results are consistent with discrimination, stimulus generalization, and peak-shift phenomena observed in other organisms.
Address Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens 45701
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ISSN 0022-5002 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:1940765 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1764
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Author Biederman, G.B.; Robertson, H.A.; Vanayan, M.
Title Observational learning of two visual discriminations by pigeons: a within-subjects design Type Journal Article
Year 1986 Publication Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior Abbreviated Journal J Exp Anal Behav
Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 45-49
Keywords Animals; Attention; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Cues; *Discrimination Learning; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Visual Perception
Abstract Pigeon's observational learning of successive visual discrimination was studied using within-subject comparisons of data from three experimental conditions. Two pairs of discriminative stimuli were used; each bird was exposed to two of the three experimental conditions, with different pairs of stimuli used in a given bird's two conditions. In one condition, observers were exposed to visual discriminative stimuli only. In a second condition, subjects were exposed to a randomly alternating sequence of two stimuli where the one that would subsequently be used as S+ was paired with the operation of the grain magazine. In a third experimental condition, subjects were exposed to the performance of a conspecific in the operant discrimination procedure. After exposures to conspecific performances, there was facilitation of discriminative learning, relative to that which followed exposures to stimulus and reinforcement sequences or exposures to stimulus sequences alone. Exposure to stimulus and food-delivery sequences enhanced performance relative to exposure to stimulus sequences alone. The differential effects of these three types of exposure were not attributable to order effects or to task difficulty; rather, they clearly were due to the type of exposure.
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ISSN 0022-5002 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:3746187 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 853
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Author de Waal, F.B.M.
Title Peace lessons from an unlikely source Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication PLoS biology Abbreviated Journal PLoS. Biol.
Volume 2 Issue 4 Pages E101
Keywords Animals; Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Culture; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Research; Social Conditions; Social Environment; United States; *Violence
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Address Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. dewaal@emory.edu
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ISSN 1545-7885 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15094805 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 174
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Author Barette, C.; Vandal, D.
Title Social rank, dominance, antler size, and access to food in snow-bound wild woodland caribou Type Journal Article
Year 1986 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour
Volume 97 Issue 1-2 Pages 118-146
Keywords Canada; Quebec; Artiodactyla; Social dominance; Feeding behavior; Morphology; Antler; Rangifer tarandus; North America; America; Ungulata; Mammalia; Vertebrata
Abstract We spent two winters studying the social behaviour of wild woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) at a time when their main food (ground lichens; Cladina sp.) is available only at snow craters dug by the animals. The competition for access to such craters was severe, the animals constantly trying to take over the craters of others. During a two-month period when a group maintained a constant size (20) and composition (all age-sex classes represented), we could rank the animals in a rather linear dominance hierarchy (Landau's index = 0.87). Rank was correlated with access to resources, percent of time spent active, and percent of time feeding in craters. It was also correlated with age and antler size. However, rank is not an attribute of individuals, but of a relationship between individuals. As such it is only an intervening variable between physical attributes and access to resources, a variable whose value has meaning only within a given group. Among the three attributes studied (age, sex, antler size), the latter was by far the best predictor of the occurrence and outcome of interactions. Between two individuals within any of the three age-sex classes studied (adult and yearling males and adult females), the one with larger antlers initiated significantly more often, escalated its aggression (to the point of hitting the target) less often, and enjoyed a higher success rate in obtaining resources. When their antlers were larger than those of an adult male target (i.e. males that had shed their antlers), adult females won almost all their interactions with adult males even though they escalated only one fourth of them. This clarifies the long-standing speculation that female caribou have antlers and shed them later than males, in order to overcome their sexual handicap in competition for food in the winter. We conclude that the link between rank and dominance of an individual on one hand, and some of its attributes on the other (e.g. sex, age, weight, antler size) is fundamentally realized by the animal itself through its active preference for targets it is likely to beat, i.e. targets with smaller antlers.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4269
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Author Ratcliffe, J.M.; Fenton, M.B.; Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Behavioral flexibility positively correlated with relative brain volume in predatory bats Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol
Volume 67 Issue 3 Pages 165-176
Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Brain/*anatomy & histology/physiology; Chiroptera/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; Organ Size; Predatory Behavior/*physiology
Abstract We investigated the potential relationships between foraging strategies and relative brain and brain region volumes in predatory (animal-eating) echolocating bats. The species we considered represent the ancestral state for the order and approximately 70% of living bat species. The two dominant foraging strategies used by echolocating predatory bats are substrate-gleaning (taking prey from surfaces) and aerial hawking (taking airborne prey). We used species-specific behavioral, morphological, and ecological data to classify each of 59 predatory species as one of the following: (1) ground gleaning, (2) behaviorally flexible (i.e., known to both glean and hawk prey), (3) clutter tolerant aerial hawking, or (4) open-space aerial hawking. In analyses using both species level data and phylogenetically independent contrasts, relative brain size was larger in behaviorally flexible species. Further, relative neocortex volume was significantly reduced in bats that aerially hawk prey primarily in open spaces. Conversely, our foraging behavior index did not account for variability in hippocampus and inferior colliculus volume and we discuss these results in the context of past research.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. jmr247@cornell.edu
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ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16415571 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 358
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Memory and hippocampal specialization in food-storing birds: challenges for research on comparative cognition Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol
Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 108-116
Keywords Animals; Birds/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Color Perception/physiology; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Hippocampus/*physiology; Memory/*physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract The three-way association among food-storing behavior, spatial memory, and hippocampal enlargement in some species of birds is widely cited as an example of a new 'cognitive ecology' or 'neuroecology.' Whether this relationship is as strong as it first appears and whether it might be evidence for an adaptive specialization of memory and hippocampus in food-storers have recently been the subject of some controversy [Bolhuis and Macphail, 2001; Macphail and Bolhuis, 2001]. These critiques are based on misconceptions about the nature of adaptive specializations in cognition, misconceptions about the uniformity of results to be expected from applying the comparative method to data from a wide range of species, and a narrow view of what kinds of cognitive adaptations are theoretically interesting. New analyses of why food-storers (black-capped chickadees, Poecile Atricapilla) respond preferentially to spatial over color cues when both are relevant in a memory task show that this reflects a relative superiority of spatial memory as compared to memory for color rather than exceptional spatial attention or spatial discrimination ability. New studies of chickadees from more or less harsh winter climates also support the adaptive specialization hypothesis and suggest that within-species comparisons may be especially valuable for unraveling details of the relationships among ecology, memory, and brain in food-storing species.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca
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ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12937349 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 367
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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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