Records |
Author |
Fiset, S.; Beaulieu, C.; Landry, F. |
Title |
Duration of dogs' (Canis familiaris) working memory in search for disappearing objects |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
6 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-10 |
Keywords |
Animals; Dogs/*psychology; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; Male; *Memory; Visual Perception |
Abstract |
Two experiments explored the duration of dogs' working memory in an object permanence task: a delay was introduced between the disappearance of a moving object behind a box and the beginning of the search by the animal. In experiment 1, the dogs were tested with retention intervals of 0, 10, 30, and 60 s. Results revealed that the dogs' accuracy declined as a function of the length of the retention interval but remained above chance for each retention interval. In experiment 2, with new subjects, longer retention intervals (0, 30, 60, 120, and 240 s) were presented to the dogs. Results replicated findings from experiment 1 and revealed that the dogs' accuracy remained higher than chance level with delays up to 240 s. In both experiments, the analysis of errors also showed that the dogs searched as a function of the proximity of the target box and were not subject to intertrial proactive interference. In the discussion, we explore different alternatives to explain why dogs' search behaviour for hidden objects decreased as a function of the retention intervals. |
Address |
Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, E3V 2S8, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. sfiset@umce.ca |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12658530 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2586 |
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Author |
Bloom, P. |
Title |
Behavior. Can a dog learn a word? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
304 |
Issue |
5677 |
Pages |
1605-1606 |
Keywords |
Animals; Child; Child, Preschool; *Dogs; Humans; *Learning; *Memory; *Vocabulary |
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Address |
Department of Psychology, Yale University, Post Office Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. paul.bloom@yale.edu |
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1095-9203 |
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PMID:15192205 |
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no |
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28 |
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Author |
Hampton, R.R.; Zivin, A.; Murray, E.A. |
Title |
Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) discriminate between knowing and not knowing and collect information as needed before acting |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
7 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
239-246 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; *Awareness; Choice Behavior; *Concept Formation; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Macaca mulatta/*psychology; Male; *Memory, Short-Term; Observation |
Abstract |
Humans use memory awareness to determine whether relevant knowledge is available before acting, as when we determine whether we know a phone number before dialing. Such metacognition, or thinking about thinking, can improve selection of appropriate behavior. We investigated whether rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta) are capable of a simple form of metacognitive access to the contents of short-term memory. Monkeys chose among four opaque tubes, one of which concealed food. The tube containing the reward varied randomly from trial to trial. On half the trials the monkeys observed the experimenter baiting the tube, whereas on the remaining trials their view of the baiting was blocked. On each trial, monkeys were allowed a single chance to select the tube containing the reward. During the choice period the monkeys had the opportunity to look down the length of each tube, to determine if it contained food. When they knew the location of the reward, most monkeys chose without looking. In contrast, when ignorant, monkeys often made the effort required to look, thereby learning the location of the reward before choosing. Looking improved accuracy on trials on which monkeys had not observed the baiting. The difference in looking behavior between trials on which the monkeys knew, and trials on which they were ignorant, suggests that rhesus monkeys discriminate between knowing and not knowing. This result extends similar observations made of children and apes to a species of Old World monkey, suggesting that the underlying cognitive capacities may be widely distributed among primates. |
Address |
Section on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-4415, USA. robert@ln.nimh.nih.gov |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15105996 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2525 |
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Author |
Emery, N.J.; Dally, J.M.; Clayton, N.S. |
Title |
Western scrub-jays ( Aphelocoma californica) use cognitive strategies to protect their caches from thieving conspecifics |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
7 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
37-43 |
Keywords |
Animals; Birds/*physiology; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Female; *Food; Male; *Memory |
Abstract |
Food caching birds hide food and recover the caches when supplies are less abundant. There is, however, a risk to this strategy because the caches are susceptible to pilfering by others. Corvids use a number of different strategies to reduce possible cache theft. Scrub-jays with previous experience of pilfering other's caches cached worms in two visuospatially distinct caching trays either in private or in the presence of a conspecific. When these storers had cached in private, they subsequently observed both trays out of reach of a conspecific. When these storers had cached in the presence of a conspecific, they subsequently watched the observer pilfering from one of the trays while the other tray was placed in full view, but out of reach. The storers were then allowed to recover the remaining caches 3 h later. Jays cached more worms when they were observed during caching. At the time of recovery, they re-cached more than if they had cached in private, selectively re-caching outside of the trays in sites unbeknown to potential thieves. In addition, after a single pilfering trial, the jays switched their recovery strategy from predominantly checking their caches (i.e. returning to a cache site to see whether the food remained there) to predominantly eating them. Re-caching remained constant across the three trials. These results suggest that scrub-jays use flexible, cognitive caching and recovery strategies to aid in reducing potential future pilfering of caches by conspecifics. |
Address |
Sub-department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, High Street, CB3 8AA Madingley, Cambs, UK. nje23@cam.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12827547 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2566 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Timing, memory for intervals, and memory for untimed stimuli: the role of instructional ambiguity |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
Volume |
70 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
209-222 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Attention; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; *Memory, Short-Term; Practice (Psychology); Reinforcement Schedule; *Retention (Psychology); *Time Perception |
Abstract |
Theories of animal timing have had to account for findings that the memory for the duration of a timed interval appears to be dramatically shorted within a short time of its termination. This finding has led to the subjective shortening hypothesis and it has been proposed to account for the poor memory that animals appear to have for the initial portion of a timed interval when a gap is inserted in the to-be-timed signal. It has also been proposed to account for the poor memory for a relatively long interval that has been discriminated from a shorter interval. I suggest here a simpler account in which ambiguity between the gap or retention interval and the intertrial interval results in resetting the clock, rather than forgetting the interval. The ambiguity hypothesis, together with a signal salience mechanism that determines how quickly the clock is reset at the start of the intertrial interval can account for the results of the reported timing experiments that have used the peak procedure. Furthermore, instructional ambiguity rather than memory loss may account for the results of many animal memory experiments that do not involve memory for time. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 202B Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
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0376-6357 |
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Notes |
PMID:16095851 |
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no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
222 |
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Author |
Devenport, J.A.; Patterson, M.R.; Devenport, L.D. |
Title |
Dynamic averaging and foraging decisions in horses (Equus callabus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of Comparative psychology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Comp. Psychol. |
Volume |
119 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
352-358 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Decision Making; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Horses/*psychology; Male; *Memory, Short-Term; Motivation; Orientation; *Social Environment |
Abstract |
The variability of most environments taxes foraging decisions by increasing the uncertainty of the information available. One solution to the problem is to use dynamic averaging, as do some granivores and carnivores. Arguably, the same strategy could be useful for grazing herbivores, even though their food renews and is more homogeneously distributed. Horses (Equus callabus) were given choices between variable patches after short or long delays. When patch information was current, horses returned to the patch that was recently best, whereas those without current information matched choices to the long-term average values of the patches. These results demonstrate that a grazing species uses dynamic averaging and indicate that, like granivores and carnivores, they can use temporal weighting to optimize foraging decisions. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma, 73034, USA. jdevenport@ucok.edu |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:16131264 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
752 |
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Author |
Treichler, F.R. |
Title |
Successive reversal of concurrent discriminations by macaques (Macaca mulatta): proactive interference effects |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
75-83 |
Keywords |
Animals; Choice Behavior; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Macaca mulatta/*psychology; *Memory; *Proactive Inhibition; Random Allocation; *Reversal Learning |
Abstract |
Rhesus monkeys received concurrent within-session training on eight, two-choice object pairs and then underwent successive reversals of these problems. Initially, reversals required about six times more training than acquisition with no improvement over seven successive reversals. Surprisingly, performance on these eight problems was unimpaired if they were embedded in different eight-problem tasks, thereby indicating a release from proactive interference. When the original eight problems again underwent successive reversal, no improvement was seen over seven reversals, although there was significantly less error-per-reversal than in the initial test. Subsequently, monkeys appeared to be developing a learning set for successive reversal because performance on successive reversal of eight novel problems was not different from that seen with the old familiar task. Set acquisition was confirmed when proficient reversal was eventually achieved on both old and new concurrent tasks. Thus, “concurrent reversal set” did develop, but it required arduous training to overcome proactive interference effects on memory. The ubiquitous influence of measurement context on organization of monkey memory was noted. |
Address |
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA. rtreichl@kent.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:15365875 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2512 |
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Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Mental time travel in animals: a challenging question |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
Volume |
72 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
173-183 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Concept Formation; Conditioning, Operant; *Imagination; *Memory; Mental Recall; Planning Techniques; Rats; *Time Perception; Transfer (Psychology) |
Abstract |
Humans have the ability to mentally recreate past events (using episodic memory) and imagine future events (by planning). The best evidence for such mental time travel is personal and thus subjective. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to study such behavior in animals. There is some indirect evidence, however, that animals have both episodic memory and the ability to plan for the future. When unexpectedly asked to do so, animals can report about their recent past experiences (episodic memory) and they also appear to be able to use the anticipation of a future event as the basis for a present action (planning). Thus, the ability to imagine past and future events may not be uniquely human. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
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0376-6357 |
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PMID:16466863 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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218 |
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Author |
Vlasak, A.N. |
Title |
Global and local spatial landmarks: their role during foraging by Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
71-80 |
Keywords |
Animals; Cues; Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; *Memory; Mental Recall; Orientation; Sciuridae/*psychology; *Space Perception; *Spatial Behavior |
Abstract |
Locating food and refuge is essential for an animal's survival. However, little is known how mammals navigate under natural conditions and cope with given environmental constraints. In a series of six experiments, I investigated landmark-based navigation in free-ranging Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus). Squirrels were trained individually to find a baited platform within an array of nine identical platforms and artificial landmarks set up on their territories. After animals learned the location of the food platform in the array, the position of the latter with respect to local artificial, local natural, and global landmarks was manipulated, and the animal's ability to find the food platform was tested. When only positions of local artificial landmarks were changed, squirrels located food with high accuracy. When the location of the array relative to global landmarks was altered, food-finding accuracy decreased but remained significant. In the absence of known global landmarks, the presence of a familiar route and natural local landmarks resulted in significant but not highly accurate performance. Squirrels likely relied on multiple types of cues when orienting towards a food platform. Local landmarks were used only as a secondary mechanism of navigation, and were not attended to when a familiar route and known global landmarks were present. This study provided insights into landmark use by a wild mammal in a natural situation, and it demonstrated that an array of platforms can be employed to investigate landmark-based navigation under such conditions. |
Address |
Biology Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. avlasak@sas.upenn.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16163480 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2483 |
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Author |
Fiset, S.; Dore, F.Y. |
Title |
Duration of cats' (Felis catus) working memory for disappearing objects |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
62-70 |
Keywords |
Animals; Cats/*psychology; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; Male; *Memory; Random Allocation; *Visual Perception |
Abstract |
This study explored the duration of cats' working memory for hidden objects. Twenty-four cats were equally divided into four groups, which differed according to the type of visual cues displayed on and/or around the hiding boxes. During eight sessions, the four groups of cats were trained to locate a desirable object hidden behind one of the four boxes placed in front of them. Then, the cats were tested with retention intervals of 0, 10, 30 and 60 s. Results revealed no significant differences between the groups during training or testing. In testing, the cats' accuracy to locate the hidden object rapidly declined between 0 and 30 s but remained higher than chance with delays of up to 60 s. The analysis of errors also indicated that the cats searched as a function of the proximity of the target box and were not subjected to intertrial proactive interference. This experiment reveals that the duration of cats' working memory for disappearing objects is limited and the visual cues displayed on and/or around the boxes do not help the cats to memorize a hiding position. In discussion, we explore why the duration of cats' working memory for disappearing objects rapidly declined and compare these finding with those from domestic dogs. The irrelevance of visual cues displayed on and around the hiding boxes on cats' retention capacity is also discussed. |
Address |
Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, Edmundston, New-Brunswick,, Canada, E3V 2S8. sfiset@umce.ca |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16133631 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2485 |
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