|   | 
Details
   web
Records
Author Dunbar, R.I.M.
Title Male and female brain evolution is subject to contrasting selection pressures in primates Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication BMC Biology Abbreviated Journal BMC Biol
Volume (down) 5 Issue Pages 21
Keywords Animals; *Brain/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Humans; Male; *Selection (Genetics); *Sex Characteristics
Abstract The claim that differences in brain size across primate species has mainly been driven by the demands of sociality (the “social brain” hypothesis) is now widely accepted. Some of the evidence to support this comes from the fact that species that live in large social groups have larger brains, and in particular larger neocortices. Lindenfors and colleagues (BMC Biology 5:20) add significantly to our appreciation of this process by showing that there are striking differences between the two sexes in the social mechanisms and brain units involved. Female sociality (which is more affiliative) is related most closely to neocortex volume, but male sociality (which is more competitive and combative) is more closely related to subcortical units (notably those associated with emotional responses). Thus different brain units have responded to different selection pressures.
Address British Academy Centenary Research Project, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. rimd@liv.ac.uk
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 1741-7007 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17493267 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2100
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A.
Title Evolutionary perspectives on imitation: is a comparative psychology of social learning possible? Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 5 Issue 4 Pages 193-208
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Evolution; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Learning; Models, Animal
Abstract Studies of imitation in animals have become numerous in recent times, but do they contribute to a comparative psychology of social learning? We review this burgeoning field to identify the problems and prospects for such a goal. Difficulties of two main kinds are identified. First, researchers have tackled questions about social learning from at least three very different theoretical perspectives, the “phylogenetic”, “animal model”, and “adaptational”. We examine the conflicts between them and consider the scope for integration. A second difficulty arises in the methodological approaches used in the discipline. In relation to one of these – survey reviews of published studies – we tabulate and compare the contrasting conclusions of nine articles that together review 36 studies. The basis for authors' disagreements, including the matters of perceptual opacity, novelty, sequential structure, and goal representation, are examined. In relation to the other key method, comparative experimentation, we identify 12 studies that have explicitly compared species' imitative ability on similar tasks. We examine the principal problems of comparing like with like in these studies and consider solutions, the most powerful of which we propose to be the use of a systematic range of task designs, rather than any single “gold standard” task.
Address School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.ac.uk
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:12461597 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2593
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Tebbich, S.; Bshary, R.; Grutter, A.S.
Title Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus recognise familiar clients Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 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
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:12357286 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2599
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Cheng, K.
Title Generalisation: mechanistic and functional explanations Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 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
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:11957400 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2612
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Bshary, R.; Wickler, W.; Fricke, H.
Title Fish cognition: a primate's eye view Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (down) 5 Issue 1 Pages 1-13
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Evolution; Fishes/*physiology; Intelligence; Learning; Primates/*physiology; Social Behavior
Abstract We provide selected examples from the fish literature of phenomena found in fish that are currently being examined in discussions of cognitive abilities and evolution of neocortex size in primates. In the context of social intelligence, we looked at living in individualized groups and corresponding social strategies, social learning and tradition, and co-operative hunting. Regarding environmental intelligence, we searched for examples concerning special foraging skills, tool use, cognitive maps, memory, anti-predator behaviour, and the manipulation of the environment. Most phenomena of interest for primatologists are found in fish as well. We therefore conclude that more detailed studies on decision rules and mechanisms are necessary to test for differences between the cognitive abilities of primates and other taxa. Cognitive research can benefit from future fish studies in three ways: first, as fish are highly variable in their ecology, they can be used to determine the specific ecological factors that select for the evolution of specific cognitive abilities. Second, for the same reason they can be used to investigate the link between cognitive abilities and the enlargement of specific brain areas. Third, decision rules used by fish could be used as 'null-hypotheses' for primatologists looking at how monkeys might make their decisions. Finally, we propose a variety of fish species that we think are most promising as study objects.
Address University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. rb286@cam.ac.uk
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:11957395 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2617
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Macphail, E.M.
Title Cognitive function in mammals: the evolutionary perspective Type Journal Article
Year 1996 Publication Brain research. Cognitive brain research Abbreviated Journal Brain Res Cogn Brain Res
Volume (down) 3 Issue 3-4 Pages 279-290
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Conditioning (Psychology)/*physiology; Evolution; Humans; Learning/*physiology; Task Performance and Analysis
Abstract The work of behavioural pharmacologists has concentrated on small animals, such as rodents and pigeons. The validity of extrapolation of their findings to humans depends upon the existence of parallels in both physiology and psychology between these animals and humans. This paper considers the question whether there are in fact substantial cognitive parallels between, first, different non-human groups of vertebrates and, second, non-humans and humans. Behavioural data from 'simple' tasks, such as habituation and conditioning, do not point to species differences among vertebrates. Using examples that concentrate on the performance of rodents and birds, it is argued that, similarly, data from more complex tasks (learning-set formation, transitive inference, and spatial memory serve as examples) reveal few if any cognitive differences amongst non-human vertebrates. This conclusion supports the notion that association formation may be the critical problem-solving process available to non-human animals; associative mechanisms are assumed to have evolved to detect causal links between events, and would therefore be relevant in all ecological niches. In agreement with this view, recent advances in comparative neurology show striking parallels in functional organisation of mammalian and avian telencephalon. Finally, it is argued that although the peculiarly human capacity for language marks a large cognitive contrast between humans and non-humans, there is good evidence-in particular, from work on implicit learning--that the learning mechanisms available to non--humans are present and do play an important role in human cognition.
Address Department of Psychology, University of York at Heslington, UK
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 0926-6410 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:8806029 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 603
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Dreier, S.; van Zweden, J.S.; D'Ettorre, P.
Title Long-term memory of individual identity in ant queens Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Biology Letters Abbreviated Journal Biol Lett
Volume (down) 3 Issue 5 Pages 459-462
Keywords Aggression; Animals; Ants/*physiology; Conditioning, Operant; Evolution; Female; *Memory; *Recognition (Psychology); Social Dominance
Abstract Remembering individual identities is part of our own everyday social life. Surprisingly, this ability has recently been shown in two social insects. While paper wasps recognize each other individually through their facial markings, the ant, Pachycondyla villosa, uses chemical cues. In both species, individual recognition is adaptive since it facilitates the maintenance of stable dominance hierarchies among individuals, and thus reduces the cost of conflict within these small societies. Here, we investigated individual recognition in Pachycondyla ants by quantifying the level of aggression between pairs of familiar or unfamiliar queens over time. We show that unrelated founding queens of P. villosa and Pachycondyla inversa store information on the individual identity of other queens and can retrieve it from memory after 24h of separation. Thus, we have documented for the first time that long-term memory of individual identity is present and functional in ants. This novel finding represents an advance in our understanding of the mechanism determining the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals.
Address Institute of Biology, Department of Population Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. sdreier@bi.ku.dk
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 1744-9561 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17594958 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4649
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Goodwin, D.
Title The importance of ethology in understanding the behaviour of the horse Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Equine Veterinary Journal. Supplement Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J Suppl
Volume (down) Issue 28 Pages 15-19
Keywords *Animal Husbandry; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Bonding, Human-Pet; Evolution; *Horses; Social Behavior
Abstract Domestication has provided the horse with food, shelter, veterinary care and protection, allowing individuals an increased chance of survival. However, the restriction of movement, limited breeding opportunities and a requirement to expend energy, for the benefit of another species, conflict with the evolutionary processes which shaped the behaviour of its predecessors. The behaviour of the horse is defined by its niche as a social prey species but many of the traits which ensured the survival of its ancestors are difficult to accommodate in the domestic environment. There has been a long association between horses and man and many features of equine behaviour suggest a predisposition to interspecific cooperation. However, the importance of dominance in human understanding of social systems has tended to overemphasize its importance in the human-horse relationship. The evolving horse-human relationship from predation to companionship, has resulted in serial conflicts of interest for equine and human participants. Only by understanding the nature and origin of these conflicts can ethologists encourage equine management practices which minimise deleterious effects on the behaviour of the horse.
Address Anthrozoology Institute, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton S016 7PX, UK
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11314229 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 1920
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Kozarovitskii, L.B.
Title [Further comment on the distinction between humans and animals] Type Journal Article
Year 1988 Publication Nauchnye Doklady Vysshei Shkoly. Biologicheskie Nauki Abbreviated Journal Nauchnye Doki Vyss Shkoly Biol Nauki
Volume (down) Issue 3 Pages 42-45
Keywords Animals; Consciousness; Evolution; Humans; Mental Processes; *Philosophy; Thinking
Abstract The problem of mind is considered in the aspect of natural scientific and philosophical problem of distinction between human and animal. The widespread confusion of the terms “rudiments”, “elements” of specifically human properties in animals and “biological prerequisites” of these properties are critically analysed. The idea is formulated according to which only in the process of anthropogenesis the rudiments of new social property--mind, conscience--could appear in the developing human beings.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Russian Summary Language Original Title Eshche raz o grani mezhdu chelovecheskim i zhivotnym
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0470-4606 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:3382706 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2800
Permanent link to this record