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Author Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.
Title Signalers and receivers in animal communication Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Annual review of psychology Abbreviated Journal Annu Rev Psychol
Volume (down) 54 Issue Pages 145-173
Keywords Affect; *Animal Communication; Animals; Arousal; Auditory Perception; Motivation; *Social Behavior; Social Environment; Species Specificity; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract In animal communication natural selection favors callers who vocalize to affect the behavior of listeners and listeners who acquire information from vocalizations, using this information to represent their environment. The acquisition of information in the wild is similar to the learning that occurs in laboratory conditioning experiments. It also has some parallels with language. The dichotomous view that animal signals must be either referential or emotional is false, because they can easily be both: The mechanisms that cause a signaler to vocalize do not limit a listener's ability to extract information from the call. The inability of most animals to recognize the mental states of others distinguishes animal communication most clearly from human language. Whereas signalers may vocalize to change a listener's behavior, they do not call to inform others. Listeners acquire information from signalers who do not, in the human sense, intend to provide it.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0066-4308 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12359915 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 690
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Author Clement, T.S.; Weaver, J.E.; Sherburne, L.M.; Zentall, T.R.
Title Simultaneous discrimination learning in pigeons: value of S- affects the relative value of its associated S+ Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology Abbreviated Journal Q J Exp Psychol B
Volume (down) 51 Issue 4 Pages 363-378
Keywords Animals; *Attention; Color Perception; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Motivation; Orientation; Transfer (Psychology)
Abstract In a simple simultaneous discrimination involving a positive stimulus (S+) and a negative stimulus (S-), it has been hypothesized that positive value can transfer from the S+ to the S- (thus increasing the relative value of the S-) and also that negative value can transfer from the S- to the S+ (thus diminishing the relative value of the S+; Fersen, Wynne, Delius, & Staddon, 1991). Evidence for positive value transfer has been reported in pigeons (e.g. Zentall & Sherburne, 1994). The purpose of the present experiments was to determine, in a simultaneous discrimination, whether the S- diminishes the value of the S+ or the S- is contrasted with the S+ (thus enhancing the value of the S+). In two experiments, we found evidence for contrast, rather than value transfer, attributable to simultaneous discrimination training. Thus, not only does the S+ appear to enhance the value of the S-, but the S- appears to enhance rather than reduce the value of the S+.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0044, USA
Corporate Author Thesis
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0272-4995 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:9854439 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 252
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Author Harlow, H.F.
Title Learning and satiation of response in intrinsically motivated complex puzzle performance by monkeys Type Journal Article
Year 1950 Publication Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology Abbreviated Journal J Comp Physiol Psychol
Volume (down) 43 Issue 4 Pages 289-294
Keywords Animals; *Haplorhini; *Learning; *Motivation; *Psychology; *Satiation; *Learning; *Motivation; *Psychology
Abstract Two rhesus monkeys, given 60 two-hour sessions with a six-device mechanical puzzle showed clear evidence of learning, the curve showing ratio of incorrect to correct responses appearing quite comparable to similar curves obtained during externally rewarded situations. When, on the thirteenth day of tests, the subjects were presented with the puzzle 100 times at 6-minute intervals, the number of devices manipulated decreased regularly throughout the day, although there was no significant change in the number of times the problem assembly was attacked.
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0021-9940 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15436888 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6550
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Author de Waal, F.B.M.; Davis, J.M.
Title Capuchin cognitive ecology: cooperation based on projected returns Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Neuropsychologia Abbreviated Journal Neuropsychologia
Volume (down) 41 Issue 2 Pages 221-228
Keywords Animals; Attention; Cebus/*psychology; *Cooperative Behavior; Decision Making; Dominance-Subordination; Female; Male; *Motivation; Reaction Time; Reinforcement Schedule; *Social Behavior
Abstract Stable cooperation requires that each party's pay-offs exceed those available through individual action. The present experimental study on brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) investigated if decisions about cooperation are (a) guided by the amount of competition expected to follow the cooperation, and (b) made instantaneously or only after a period of familiarization. Pairs of adult monkeys were presented with a mutualistic cooperative task with variable opportunities for resource monopolization (clumped versus dispersed rewards), and partner relationships (kin versus nonkin). After pre-training, each pair of monkeys (N=11) was subjected to six tests, consisting of 15 2 min trials each, with rewards available to both parties. Clumped reward distribution had an immediate negative effect on cooperation: this effect was visible right from the start, and remained visible even if clumped trials alternated with dispersed trials. The drop in cooperation was far more dramatic for nonkin than kin, which was explained by the tendency of dominant nonkin to claim more than half of the rewards under the clumped condition. The immediacy of responses suggests a decision-making process based on predicted outcome of cooperation. Decisions about cooperation thus take into account both the opportunity for and the likelihood of subsequent competition over the spoils.
Address Living Links, Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, 954 N. Gatewood Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. dewaal@emory.edu
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0028-3932 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12459220 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 182
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Author Zentall, T.R.
Title Action imitation in birds Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Learning & behavior : a Psychonomic Society publication Abbreviated Journal Learn Behav
Volume (down) 32 Issue 1 Pages 15-23
Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Birds; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; Motivation; Psychological Theory; *Social Environment; *Social Facilitation; Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Action imitation, once thought to be a behavior almost exclusively limited to humans and the great apes, surprisingly also has been found in a number of bird species. Because imitation has been viewed by some psychologists as a form of intelligent behavior, there has been interest in how it is distributed among animal species. Although the mechanisms responsible for action imitation are not clear, we are now at least beginning to understand the conditions under which it occurs. In this article, I try to identify and differentiate the various forms of socially influenced behavior (species-typical social reactions, social effects on motivation, social effects on perception, socially influenced learning, and action imitation) and explain why it is important to differentiate imitation from other forms of social influence. I also examine some of the variables that appear to be involved in the occurrence of imitation. Finally, I speculate about why a number of bird species, but few mammal species, appear to imitate.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA. zentall@uky.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1543-4494 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15161137 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 230
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Author Petherick, J.C.; Seawright, E.; Waddington, D.
Title Influence of motivational state on choice of food or a dustbathing/foraging substrate by domestic hens Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume (down) 28 Issue 3 Pages 209-220
Keywords Food; Learning; Litter; Motivation; Poultry; Preference
Abstract Domestic hens were trained to run a Y-maze and make an association between differently coloured doorways and access to food pellets or sand. The hens were tested for their choice of doorway when the goals were not visible from the choice point and when they were food or sand deprived. Hens made the choice appropriate to their deprivation state (correct choice) significantly more often for food than sand and were faster at choosing and entering the goal box when food deprived. In a follow up experiment, the goals were visible from the choice point. Again the hens chose correctly significantly more often when food than sand deprived and made the choice and entered the goal box faster when food deprived. Thus, failure to choose sand in the first experiment was not due to an inability to learn the association, but appears to result from a strong motivation to feed in the Y-maze, even when not food deprived, and a weak motivation to dustbathe or forage, even when sand deprived.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3608
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Author Zentall, T.R.; Sherburne, L.M.
Title Transfer of value from S+ to S- in a simultaneous discrimination Type Journal Article
Year 1994 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume (down) 20 Issue 2 Pages 176-183
Keywords Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Attention; Color Perception; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Motivation; Orientation; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; *Reinforcement Schedule; *Transfer (Psychology)
Abstract Value transfer theory has been proposed to account for transitive inference effects (L. V. Fersen, C. D. L. Wynne, J. D. Delius, & J. E. R. Staddon, 1991), in which following training on 4 simultaneous discriminations (A+B-, B+C-, C+D-, D+E-) pigeons show a preference for B over D. According to this theory, some of the value of reinforcement acquired by each S+ transfers to the S-. In the transitive inference experiment, C (associated with both reward and nonreward) can transfer less value to D than A (associated only with reward) can transfer to B. Support for value transfer theory was demonstrated in 2 experiments in which an S- presented in the context of a stimulus to which responses were always reinforced (S+) was preferred over an S- presented in the context of a stimulus to which responses were sometimes reinforced (S +/-).
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:8189186 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 258
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Author Shettleworth, S.J.; Plowright, C.M.
Title How pigeons estimate rates of prey encounter Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume (down) 18 Issue 3 Pages 219-235
Keywords Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Food Preferences/*psychology; Motivation; *Predatory Behavior; *Probability Learning; *Reinforcement Schedule; Social Environment
Abstract Pigeons were trained on operant schedules simulating successive encounters with prey items. When items were encountered on variable-interval schedules, birds were more likely to accept a poor item (long delay to food) the longer they had just searched, as if they were averaging prey density over a short memory window (Experiment 1). Responding as if the immediate future would be like the immediate past was reversed when a short search predicted a long search next time (Experiment 2). Experience with different degrees of environmental predictability appeared to change the length of the memory window (Experiment 3). The results may reflect linear waiting (Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991), but they differ in some respects. The findings have implications for possible mechanisms of adjusting behavior to current reinforcement conditions.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:1619391 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 382
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Author Zentall, T.R.
Title Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 9 Issue 4 Pages 335-353
Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Motivation; *Social Environment; Transfer (Psychology)
Abstract Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. Zentall@uky.edu
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17024510 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 217
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Author Weatherly, J.N.; Arthur, E.I.L.; Tischart, L.M.
Title Altering “motivational” variables alters induction produced by upcoming food-pellet reinforcement Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 6 Issue 1 Pages 17-26
Keywords Animals; *Conditioning, Operant; Food Deprivation; Male; *Motivation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that rats will increase their rates of lever pressing for sucrose rewards in the first half of an experimental session when food pellets, rather than the same sucrose, continually serve as the reward in the second half of the session. This effect has been coined induction, and the present study investigated whether it could be altered by altering “motivational” variables. Experiment 1 manipulated subjects' motivation by altering, across conditions, their level of food deprivation. Predictably, the size of induction varied directly with level of deprivation. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated subjects' motivation by feeding them food pellets and sucrose, respectively, prior to their responding in the experimental session. These pre-session feedings decreased the size of the observed induction in both experiments. The results from the present study indicate that the size of induction is correlated with subjects' motivation to respond for the available reinforcers. They are also consistent with the idea that operant processes underlie the effect. The notion that induction might encompass the concept of “anticipation” is also discussed.
Address Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, ND 58202-8380, Grand Forks, USA. jeffrey_weatherly@und.nodak.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12658532 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2584
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