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Author Riedel, J.; Buttelmann, D.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M. doi  openurl
  Title Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) use a physical marker to locate hidden food Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 27-35  
  Keywords Animals; Cues; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Gestures; Humans; Male; *Nonverbal Communication; *Recognition (Psychology); Signal Detection (Psychology); Visual Perception  
  Abstract Dogs can use the placement of an arbitrary marker to locate hidden food in an object-choice situation. We tested domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in three studies aimed at pinning down the relative contributions of the human's hand and the marker itself. We baited one of two cups (outside of the dogs' view) and gave the dog a communicative cue to find the food. Study 1 systematically varied dogs' perceptual access to the marker placing event, so that dogs saw either the whole human, the hand only, the marker only, or nothing. Follow-up trials investigated the effect of removing the marker before the dog's choice. Dogs used the marker as a communicative cue even when it had been removed prior to the dog's choice and attached more importance to this cue than to the hand that placed it although the presence of the hand boosted performance when it appeared together with the marker. Study 2 directly contrasted the importance of the hand and the marker and revealed that the effect of the marker diminished if it had been associated with both cups. In contrast touching both cups with the hand had no effect on performance. Study 3 investigated whether the means of marker placement (intentional or accidental) had an effect on dogs' choices. Results showed that dogs did not differentiate intentional and accidental placing of the marker. These results suggest that dogs use the marker as a genuine communicative cue quite independently from the experimenter's actions.  
  Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103, Leipzig, Germany. riedel@eva.mpg.de  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15846526 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2488  
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Author Fiset, S.; Landry, F.; Ouellette, M. doi  openurl
  Title Egocentric search for disappearing objects in domestic dogs: evidence for a geometric hypothesis of direction Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 1-12  
  Keywords Animals; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Form Perception; Male; Mental Recall; *Motion Perception; Orientation; Problem Solving; *Space Perception  
  Abstract In several species, the ability to locate a disappearing object is an adaptive component of predatory and social behaviour. In domestic dogs, spatial memory for hidden objects is primarily based on an egocentric frame of reference. We investigated the geometric components of egocentric spatial information used by domestic dogs to locate an object they saw move and disappear. In experiment 1, the distance and the direction between the position of the animal and the hiding location were put in conflict. Results showed that the dogs primarily used the directional information between their own spatial coordinates and the target position. In experiment 2, the accuracy of the dogs in finding a hidden object by using directional information was estimated by manipulating the angular deviation between adjacent hiding locations and the position of the animal. Four angular deviations were tested: 5, 7.5, 10 and 15 degrees . Results showed that the performance of the dogs decreased as a function of the angular deviations but it clearly remained well above chance, revealing that the representation of the dogs for direction is precise. In the discussion, we examine how and why domestic dogs determine the direction in which they saw an object disappear.  
  Address Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, Edmundston, New-Brunswick, Canada E3V 2S8. sfiset@umce.ca  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15750805 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2489  
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Author Ottoni, E.; de Resende, B.; Izar, P. doi  openurl
  Title Erratum Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 156-156  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3258  
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Author Agrillo, C.; Dadda, M.; Bisazza, A. doi  openurl
  Title Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 63-70  
  Keywords Animals; Cognition; *Cyprinodontiformes; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Mathematics; *Pattern Recognition, Visual  
  Abstract The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates.  
  Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. christian.agrillo@unipd.it  
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  Notes PMID:16868736 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 339  
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Author Saucier, D.M.; Shultz, S.R.; Keller, A.J.; Cook, C.M.; Binsted, G. doi  openurl
  Title Sex differences in object location memory and spatial navigation in Long-Evans rats Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract In both humans and rodents, males typically excel on a number of tasks requiring spatial ability. However, human females exhibit advantages in memory for the spatial location of objects. This study investigated whether rats would exhibit similar sex differences on a task of object location memory (OLM) and on the watermaze (WM). We predicted that females should outperform males on the OLM task and that males should outperform females on the WM. To control for possible effects of housing environment, rats were housed in either complex environments or in standard shoebox housing. Eighty Long-Evans rats (40 males and 40 females) were housed in either complex (Complex rats) or standard shoebox housing (Control rats). Results indicated that males had superior performance on the WM, whereas females outperformed males on the OLM task, regardless of housing environment. As these sex differences cannot be easily attributed to differences in cognitive style related to linguistic processing of environmental features or to selection pressures related to the hunting gathering evolutionary prehistory of humans, these data suggest that sex differences in spatial ability may be related to traits selected for by polygynous mating strategies.  
  Address Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Dr., Lethbridge, AB, Canada, T1K 3M4, Deborah.Saucier@ULeth.ca  
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  Notes PMID:17562087 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2391  
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Author Madden, J.R. doi  openurl
  Title Do bowerbirds exhibit cultures? Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Definitions of what features constitute cultural behaviour, and hence define cultures are numerous. Many seem designed to describe those aspects of human behaviour which set us apart from other animals. A broad definition prescribing that the behaviour is: learned; learned socially; normative and collective is considered to apply to several species of great ape. In this paper, I review observations and experiments covering a suite of different behavioural characteristics displayed in members of the bowerbird family (Ptilonorhynchidae) and ask whether they fulfil these criteria. These include vocalisations, bower design, decoration use, bower orientation and display movements. Such a range of behaviours refutes the suggestion that these species are “one-trick ponies”-a criticism that is often levelled at claims for culture in non-primate species. I suggest that, despite a paucity of data in comparison with primate studies, it could be argued that bowerbirds may be considered to fulfil the same criteria on which we base our use of the term culture when applied to our close relatives, the great apes. If bowerbirds do have cultures, then their unusual natural history makes them a highly tractable system in which questions of social learning and culture can be tackled.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK, jrm54@cam.ac.uk  
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  Notes PMID:17551758 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2393  
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Author Beran, M.J. doi  openurl
  Title Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) succeed in a test of quantity conservation Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Nonhuman animals demonstrate a number of impressive quantitative skills such as counting sets of items, comparing sets on the basis of the number of items or amount of material, and even responding to simple arithmetic manipulations. In this experiment, capuchin monkeys were presented with a computerized task designed to assess conservation of discrete quantity. Monkeys first were trained to select from two horizontal arrays of stimuli the one with the larger number of items. On some trials, after a correct selection there was no feedback but instead an additional manipulation of one of those arrays. In some cases, this manipulation involved moving items closer together or farther apart to change the physical arrangement of the array but not the quantity of items in the array. In other cases, additional items were added to the initially smaller array so that it became quantitatively larger. Monkeys then made a second selection from the two arrays of items. Previous research had shown that rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) succeeded with this task. However, there was no condition in that study in which items were added to the smaller array without increasing its quantity to a point where it became the new larger array. This new condition was added in the present experiment. Capuchin monkeys were sensitive to all of these manipulations, changing their selections when the manipulations changed which array contained the larger number of items but not when the manipulations changed the physical arrangement of items or increased the quantity in one array without also reversing which of the two arrays had more items. Therefore, capuchin monkeys responded on the basis of the quantity of items, and they were not distracted by non-quantitative manipulations of the arrays. The data indicate that capuchins are sensitive to simply arithmetic manipulations that involve addition of items to arrays and also that they can conserve quantity.  
  Address Language Research Center, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA, mjberan@yahoo.com  
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  Notes PMID:17549530 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2394  
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Author Helton, W.S. doi  openurl
  Title Expertise acquisition as sustained learning in humans and other animals: commonalities across species Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Expertise acquisition may be a universal attribute of animals. In this study data on foraging efficiency, or expertise, was compared for four species: honeybees (Apis mellifera), oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and humans (Homo sapiens). Polynomial regression models were constructed to investigate the relationship between age and foraging efficiency. There was a similar expertise-acquisition function between age and foraging efficiency across species, best described by a quadratic equation. The peak of performance was reached, in all cases, before the average age of death but well after reaching physical maturity and the percentage of lifespan devoted to the skill was more than 10% of the species-typical lifespan.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA, deak_helton@yahoo.com  
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  Notes PMID:17534675 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2395  
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Author Buttelmann, D.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M. doi  openurl
  Title Behavioral cues that great apes use to forage for hidden food Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract We conducted three studies to examine whether the four great ape species (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) are able to use behavioral experimenter-given cues in an object-choice task. In the subsequent experimental conditions subjects were presented with two eggs, one of which contained food and the other did not. In Study 1 the experimenter examined both eggs by smelling or shaking them, but only made a failed attempt to open (via biting) the egg containing food. In a control condition, the experimenter examined and attempted to open both eggs, but in reverse order to control for stimulus enhancement. The apes significantly preferred the egg that was first examined and then bitten, but had no preference in a baseline condition in which there were no cues. In Study 2, we investigated whether the apes could extend this ability to cues not observed in apes so far (i.e., attempting to pull apart the egg), as well as whether they made this discrimination based on the function of the action the experimenter performed. Subjects significantly preferred eggs presented with this novel cue, but did not prefer eggs presented with a novel but functionally irrelevant action. In Study 3, apes did not interpret human actions as cues to food-location when they already knew that the eggs were empty. Thus, great apes were able to use a variety of experimenter-given cues associated with foraging actions to locate hidden food and thereby were partially sensitive to the general purpose underlying these actions.  
  Address Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany, buttelmann@eva.mpg.de  
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  Notes PMID:17534674 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2396  
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Author Furlong, E.E.; Boose, K.J.; Boysen, S.T. doi  openurl
  Title Raking it in: the impact of enculturation on chimpanzee tool use Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Recent evidence for different tool kits, proposed to be based upon culture-like transmission, have been observed across different chimpanzee communities across Western Africa. In light of these findings, the reported failures by seven captive juvenile chimpanzees tested with 27 tool use tasks (Povinelli 2000) seem enigmatic. Here we report successful performance by a group of nine captive, enculturated chimpanzees, and limited success by a group of six semi-enculturated chimpanzees, on two of the Povinelli tasks, the Flimsy Tool task, and the Hybrid Tool task. All chimpanzees were presented with a rake with a flimsy head and a second rake with a rigid head, either of which could be used to attempt to retrieve a food reward that was out of reach. The rigid rake was constructed such that it had the necessary functional features to permit successful retrieval, while the flimsy rake did not. Both chimpanzee groups in the present experiment selected the functional rigid tool correctly to use during the Flimsy Tool task. All animals were then presented with two “hybrid rakes” A and B, with one half of each rake head constructed from flimsy, non-functional fabric, and the other half of the head was made of wood. Food rewards were placed in front of the rigid side of Rake A and the flimsy side of Rake B. To be successful, the chimps needed to choose the rake that had the reward in front of the rigid side of the rake head. The fully enculturated animals were successful in selecting the functional rake, while the semi-enculturated subjects chose randomly between the two hybrid tools. Compared with findings from Povinelli, whose non-enculturated animals failed both tasks, our results demonstrate that chimpanzees reared under conditions of semi-enculturation could learn to discriminate correctly the necessary tool through trial-and-error during the Flimsy Tool task, but were unable to recognize the functional relationship necessary for retrieving the reward with the “hybrid” rake. In contrast, the enculturated chimpanzees were correct in their choices during both the Flimsy Tool and the Hybrid Tool tasks. These results provide the first empirical evidence for the differential effects of enculturation on subsequent tool use capacities in captive chimpanzees.  
  Address Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 209 Psychology Building, 1835 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210-1222, USA, boysen.1@osu.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17516100 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2398  
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