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Author Kis, A.; Huber, L.; Wilkinson, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social learning by imitation in a reptile (Pogona vitticeps) Type Journal Article
  Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim.Cogn.  
  Volume (up) 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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  ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Kis2015 Serial 6193  
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Author Malavasi, R.; Huber, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Evidence of heterospecific referential communication from domestic horses (Equus caballus) to humans Type Journal Article
  Year 2016 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (up) 19 Issue 5 Pages 899-909  
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  Abstract Referential communication occurs when a sender elaborates its gestures to direct the attention of a recipient to its role in pursuit of the desired goal, e.g. by pointing or showing an object, thereby informing the recipient what it wants. If the gesture is successful, the sender and the recipient focus their attention simultaneously on a third entity, the target. Here we investigated the ability of domestic horses (Equus caballus) to communicate referentially with a human observer about the location of a desired target, a bucket of food out of reach. In order to test six operational criteria of referential communication, we manipulated the recipient’s (experimenter) attentional state in four experimental conditions: frontally oriented, backward oriented, walking away from the arena and frontally oriented with other helpers present in the arena. The rate of gaze alternation was higher in the frontally oriented condition than in all the others. The horses appeared to use both indicative (pointing) and non-indicative (nods and shakes) head gestures in the relevant test conditions. Horses also elaborated their communication by switching from a visual to a tactile signal and demonstrated perseverance in their communication. The results of the tests revealed that horses used referential gestures to manipulate the attention of a human recipient so to obtain an unreachable resource. These are the first such findings in an ungulate species.  
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  ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Malavasi2016 Serial 6029  
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Author Aust, U.; Huber, L. doi  openurl
  Title Picture-object recognition in pigeons: evidence of representational insight in a visual categorization task using a complementary information procedure Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume (up) 32 Issue 2 Pages 190-195  
  Keywords Animals; Classification; *Cognition; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; *Form Perception; *Generalization (Psychology); Humans; Perceptual Closure; Photic Stimulation; Photography; *Recognition (Psychology)  
  Abstract Success in tasks requiring categorization of pictorial stimuli does not prove that a subject understands what the pictures stand for. The ability to achieve representational insight is by no means a trivial one because it exceeds mere detection of 2-D features present in both the pictorial images and their referents. So far, evidence for such an ability in nonhuman species is weak and inconclusive. Here, the authors report evidence of representational insight in pigeons. After being trained on pictures of incomplete human figures, the birds responded significantly more to pictures of the previously missing parts than to nonrepresentative stimuli, which demonstrates that they actually recognized the pictures' representational content.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Austria. ulrike.aust@univie.ac.at  
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  ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16634663 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2759  
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Author Range, F.; Huber, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Attention in common marmosets: implications for social-learning experiments Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume (up) 73 Issue 6 Pages 1033-1041  
  Keywords attention; Callithrix jacchus; common marmoset; imitation; social learning  
  Abstract The question whether a certain species is or is not able to imitate has received much recent attention. However, the ability to copy a demonstrated action might depend not only on the imitative ability of the observer but also on its attention, a factor widely neglected in discussions and experiments. Since attention differs between species as well as between individuals, it is likely to influence the amount and type of information different species and/or observers may extract from a given demonstration. We studied attention in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. In a series of experimental sessions, individual marmosets watched different conspecific models that were searching, manipulating an object and feeding. The observers could see the demonstration through two observation holes, which allowed us to measure exactly how often and for how long they watched the model. Marmosets were more attentive towards conspecifics engaged in a problem-solving task than an exploring model. Individual variation in attention was large, ranging from less than 10% to over 49%. Attention also depended on the identity of the model with an increase in attention if it was of the opposite sex. Overall, attention of marmosets was short with a median duration of 6 s while the model manipulated an object. This study measured the real interest of the observer towards a model, which could be an important variable in social-learning experiments.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4208  
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Author Schwab, C.; Huber, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Obey or not obey? Dogs (Canis familiaris) behave differently in response to attentional states of their owners Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume (up) 120 Issue 3 Pages 169-175  
  Keywords Animals; *Attention; Awareness; *Bonding, Human-Pet; *Cooperative Behavior; Cues; Dogs/*psychology; Humans; Motivation; *Nonverbal Communication; Social Perception; *Speech Perception; *Verbal Behavior  
  Abstract Sixteen domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) were tested in a familiar context in a series of 1-min trials on how well they obeyed after being told by their owner to lie down. Food was used in 1/3 of all trials, and during the trial the owner engaged in 1 of 5 activities. The dogs behaved differently depending on the owner's attention to them. When being watched by the owner, the dogs stayed lying down most often and/or for the longest time compared with when the owner read a book, watched TV, turned his or her back on them, or left the room. These results indicate that the dogs sensed the attentional state of their owners by judging observable behavioral cues such as eye contact and eye, head, and body orientation.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. cpriberskyschwab@yahoo.de  
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  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16893253 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4961  
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