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Author Paz-y-Miño C. G.; Bond, A.B.; Kamil, A.C.; Balda, R.P.
Title Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume (down) 430 Issue 7001 Pages 778-781
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Group Structure; Male; *Social Dominance; Songbirds/*physiology
Abstract Living in large, stable social groups is often considered to favour the evolution of enhanced cognitive abilities, such as recognizing group members, tracking their social status and inferring relationships among them. An individual's place in the social order can be learned through direct interactions with others, but conflicts can be time-consuming and even injurious. Because the number of possible pairwise interactions increases rapidly with group size, members of large social groups will benefit if they can make judgments about relationships on the basis of indirect evidence. Transitive reasoning should therefore be particularly important for social individuals, allowing assessment of relationships from observations of interactions among others. Although a variety of studies have suggested that transitive inference may be used in social settings, the phenomenon has not been demonstrated under controlled conditions in animals. Here we show that highly social pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) draw sophisticated inferences about their own dominance status relative to that of strangers that they have observed interacting with known individuals. These results directly demonstrate that animals use transitive inference in social settings and imply that such cognitive capabilities are widespread among social species.
Address Center for Avian Cognition, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15306809 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @; Equine Behaviour @ team @ room B 3.029 Serial 352
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.
Title Cognitive science: rank inferred by reason Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume (down) 430 Issue 7001 Pages 732-733
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Group Structure; Male; *Social Dominance; Songbirds/*physiology
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15306792 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 365
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Author Brosnan, S.F.; De Waal, F.B.M.
Title Monkeys reject unequal pay Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume (down) 425 Issue 6955 Pages 297-299
Keywords Aging; Animals; Cebus/*psychology; Choice Behavior; *Cooperative Behavior; Female; Male; *Reward; Social Justice
Abstract During the evolution of cooperation it may have become critical for individuals to compare their own efforts and pay-offs with those of others. Negative reactions may occur when expectations are violated. One theory proposes that aversion to inequity can explain human cooperation within the bounds of the rational choice model, and may in fact be more inclusive than previous explanations. Although there exists substantial cultural variation in its particulars, this 'sense of fairness' is probably a human universal that has been shown to prevail in a wide variety of circumstances. However, we are not the only cooperative animals, hence inequity aversion may not be uniquely human. Many highly cooperative nonhuman species seem guided by a set of expectations about the outcome of cooperation and the division of resources. Here we demonstrate that a nonhuman primate, the brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella), responds negatively to unequal reward distribution in exchanges with a human experimenter. Monkeys refused to participate if they witnessed a conspecific obtain a more attractive reward for equal effort, an effect amplified if the partner received such a reward without any effort at all. These reactions support an early evolutionary origin of inequity aversion.
Address Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA. sbrosna@emory.edu
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ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:13679918 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 179
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Author Rands, S.A.; Cowlishaw, G.; Pettifor, R.A.; Rowcliffe, J.M.; Johnstone, R.A.
Title Spontaneous emergence of leaders and followers in foraging pairs Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume (down) 423 Issue 6938 Pages 432-434
Keywords Animals; *Energy Metabolism; Food; *Food Chain; *Models, Biological; Motor Activity; *Social Behavior; Time Factors
Abstract Animals that forage socially often stand to gain from coordination of their behaviour. Yet it is not known how group members reach a consensus on the timing of foraging bouts. Here we demonstrate a simple process by which this may occur. We develop a state-dependent, dynamic game model of foraging by a pair of animals, in which each individual chooses between resting or foraging during a series of consecutive periods, so as to maximize its own individual chances of survival. We find that, if there is an advantage to foraging together, the equilibrium behaviour of both individuals becomes highly synchronized. As a result of this synchronization, differences in the energetic reserves of the two players spontaneously develop, leading them to adopt different behavioural roles. The individual with lower reserves emerges as the 'pace-maker' who determines when the pair should forage, providing a straightforward resolution to the problem of group coordination. Moreover, the strategy that gives rise to this behaviour can be implemented by a simple 'rule of thumb' that requires no detailed knowledge of the state of other individuals.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. s.rands@zoo.cam.ac.uk
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12761547 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5138
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Author Conradt, L.; Roper, T.J.
Title Group decision-making in animals Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume (down) 421 Issue 6919 Pages 155-158
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Decision Making; Democracy; Group Processes; *Models, Biological; Population Density; Social Behavior
Abstract Groups of animals often need to make communal decisions, for example about which activities to perform, when to perform them and which direction to travel in; however, little is known about how they do so. Here, we model the fitness consequences of two possible decision-making mechanisms: 'despotism' and 'democracy'. We show that under most conditions, the costs to subordinate group members, and to the group as a whole, are considerably higher for despotic than for democratic decisions. Even when the despot is the most experienced group member, it only pays other members to accept its decision when group size is small and the difference in information is large. Democratic decisions are more beneficial primarily because they tend to produce less extreme decisions, rather than because each individual has an influence on the decision per se. Our model suggests that democracy should be widespread and makes quantitative, testable predictions about group decision-making in non-humans.
Address School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. l.conradt@sussex.ac.uk
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ISSN 0028-0836 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12520299 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5136
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Author Holekamp, K.E.; Sakai, S.T.; Lundrigan, B.L.
Title Social intelligence in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
Volume (down) 362 Issue 1480 Pages 523-538
Keywords Anatomy, Comparative; Animals; Brain/*anatomy & histology; Cercopithecinae/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Decision Making/physiology; Hyaenidae/anatomy & histology/*physiology; *Intelligence; *Recognition (Psychology); *Social Behavior; Species Specificity
Abstract If the large brains and great intelligence characteristic of primates were favoured by selection pressures associated with life in complex societies, then cognitive abilities and nervous systems with primate-like attributes should have evolved convergently in non-primate mammals living in large, elaborate societies in which social dexterity enhances individual fitness. The societies of spotted hyenas are remarkably like those of cercopithecine primates with respect to size, structure and patterns of competition and cooperation. These similarities set an ideal stage for comparative analysis of social intelligence and nervous system organization. As in cercopithecine primates, spotted hyenas use multiple sensory modalities to recognize their kin and other conspecifics as individuals, they recognize third-party kin and rank relationships among their clan mates, and they use this knowledge adaptively during social decision making. However, hyenas appear to rely more intensively than primates on social facilitation and simple rules of thumb in social decision making. No evidence to date suggests that hyenas are capable of true imitation. Finally, it appears that the gross anatomy of the brain in spotted hyenas might resemble that in primates with respect to expansion of frontal cortex, presumed to be involved in the mediation of social behaviour.
Address Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. holekamp@msu.edu
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ISSN 0962-8436 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17289649 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4719
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Author Brennan, P.A.; Kendrick, K.M.
Title Mammalian social odours: attraction and individual recognition Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.
Volume (down) 361 Issue 1476 Pages 2061-2078
Keywords amygdala, maternal bonding, olfactory bulb, pregnancy block, social recognition, vomeronasal
Abstract Mammalian social systems rely on signals passed between individuals conveying information including sex, reproductive status, individual identity, ownership, competitive ability and health status. Many of these signals take the form of complex mixtures of molecules sensed by chemosensory systems and have important influences on a variety of behaviours that are vital for reproductive success, such as parent-offspring attachment, mate choice and territorial marking. This article aims to review the nature of these chemosensory cues and the neural pathways mediating their physiological and behavioural effects. Despite the complexities of mammalian societies, there are instances where single molecules can act as classical pheromones attracting interest and approach behaviour. Chemosignals with relatively high volatility can be used to signal at a distance and are sensed by the main olfactory system. Most mammals also possess a vomeronasal system, which is specialized to detect relatively non-volatile chemosensory cues following direct contact. Single attractant molecules are sensed by highly specific receptors using a labelled line pathway. These act alongside more complex mixtures of signals that are required to signal individual identity. There are multiple sources of such individuality chemosignals, based on the highly polymorphic genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) or lipocalins such as the mouse major urinary proteins. The individual profile of volatile components that make up an individual odour signature can be sensed by the main olfactory system, as the pattern of activity across an array of broadly tuned receptor types. In addition, the vomeronasal system can respond highly selectively to non-volatile peptide ligands associated with the MHC, acting at the V2r class of vomeronasal receptor.The ability to recognize individuals or their genetic relatedness plays an important role in mammalian social behaviour. Thus robust systems for olfactory learning and recognition of chemosensory individuality have evolved, often associated with major life events, such as mating, parturition or neonatal development. These forms of learning share common features, such as increased noradrenaline evoked by somatosensory stimulation, which results in neural changes at the level of the olfactory bulb. In the main olfactory bulb, these changes are likely to refine the pattern of activity in response to the learned odour, enhancing its discrimination from those of similar odours. In the accessory olfactory bulb, memory formation is hypothesized to involve a selective inhibition, which disrupts the transmission of the learned chemosignal from the mating male. Information from the main olfactory and vomeronasal systems is integrated at the level of the corticomedial amygdala, which forms the most important pathway by which social odours mediate their behavioural and physiological effects. Recent evidence suggests that this region may also play an important role in the learning and recognition of social chemosignals.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4334
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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 (down) 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 Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Valone, Thomas, J.; Templeton, Jennifer, J.
Title Potential disadvantages of using socially acquired information Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.
Volume (down) 357 Issue 1427 Pages 1559-1566
Keywords Public Information Informational Cascades Social Learning Sampling
Abstract The acquisition and use of socially acquired information is commonly assumed to be profitable. We challenge this assumption by exploring hypothetical scenarios where the use of such information either provides no benefit or can actually be costly. First, we show that the level of incompatibility between the acquisition of personal and socially acquired information will directly affect the extent to which the use of socially acquired information can be profitable. When these two sources of information cannot be acquired simultaneously, there may be no benefit to socially acquired information. Second, we assume that a solitary individual's behavioural decisions will be based on cues revealed by its own interactions with the environment. However, in many cases, for social animals the only socially acquired information available to individuals is the behavioural actions of others that expose their decisions, rather than the cues on which these decisions were based. We argue that in such a situation the use of socially acquired information can lead to informational cascades that sometimes result in sub-optimal behaviour. From this theory of informational cascades, we predict that when erroneous cascades are costly, individuals should pay attention only to socially generated cues and not behavioural decisions. We suggest three scenarios that might be examples of informational cascades in nature.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4197
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Author Valone; Thomas J.; Templeton, Jennifer J.
Title Public information for the assessment of quality: a widespread social phenomenon Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.
Volume (down) 357 Issue 1427 Pages 1549-1557
Keywords Breeding Patch Assessment Eavesdropping Fighting Mate Choice Copying Sociality Vicarious Sampling
Abstract We propose that the use of public information about the quality of environmental resources, obtained by monitoring the sampling behaviour of others, may be a widespread social phenomenon allowing individuals to make faster, more accurate assessments of their environment. To demonstrate this (i) we define public information and distinguish it from other kinds of social information; (ii) we review empirical work demonstrating the benefits and costs of using public information to estimate food patch quality; (iii) we examine recent work showing that individuals may also be using public information to improve their estimates of the quality of such disparate environmental parameters as breeding patches, opponents and mates; and finally (iv) we suggest avenues of future work to better understand the nature of public information use and when it might be used or ignored. Such work should lead to a more complete understanding of the behaviour of individuals in social aggregations.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4273
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