| Records |
| Author |
Chiandetti, C.; Regolin, L.; Sovrano, V.A.; Vallortigara, G. |
| Title |
Spatial reorientation: the effects of space size on the encoding of landmark and geometry information |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year  |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
10 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
159-168 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Chickens/*physiology; *Feeding Behavior; Male; Orientation/*physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology; *Space Perception |
| Abstract |
The effects of the size of the environment on animals' spatial reorientation was investigated. Domestic chicks were trained to find food in a corner of either a small or a large rectangular enclosure. A distinctive panel was located at each of the four corners of the enclosures. After removal of the panels, chicks tested in the small enclosure showed better retention of geometrical information than chicks tested in the large enclosure. In contrast, after changing the enclosure from a rectangular-shaped to a square-shaped one, chicks tested in the large enclosure showed better retention of landmark (panels) information than chicks tested in the small enclosure. No differences in the encoding of the overall arrangement of landmarks were apparent when chicks were tested for generalisation in an enclosure differing from that of training in size together with a transformation (affine transformation) that altered the geometric relations between the target and the shape of the environment. These findings suggest that primacy of geometric or landmark information in reorientation tasks depends on the size of the experimental space, likely reflecting a preferential use of the most reliable source of information available during visual exploration of the environment. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, Via S. Anastasio 12, 34123, Trieste, Italy. cchiandetti@univ.trieste.it |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17136416 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2433 |
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| Author |
Naug, D.; Arathi, H.S. |
| Title |
Sampling and decision rules used by honey bees in a foraging arena |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
10 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
117-124 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Bees/*physiology; *Choice Behavior; Cooperative Behavior; *Feeding Behavior; Flight, Animal |
| Abstract |
Animals must continuously choose among various available options to exploit the most profitable resource. They also need to keep themselves updated about the values of all available options, since their relative values can change quickly due to depletion or exploitation by competitors. While the sampling and decision rules by which foragers profitably exploit a flower patch have attracted a great deal of attention in theory and experiments with bumble bees, similar rules for honey bee foragers, which face similar foraging challenges, are not as well studied. By presenting foragers of the honey bee Apis cerana with choice tests in a foraging arena and recording their behavior, we investigate possible sampling and decision rules that the foragers use to choose one option over another and to track other options. We show that a large part of the sampling and decision-making process of a foraging honey bee can be explained by decomposing the choice behavior into dichotomous decision points and incorporating the cost of sampling. The results suggest that a honey bee forager, by using a few simple rules as part of a Bayesian inference process, is able to effectively deal with the complex task of successfully exploiting foraging patches that consist of dynamic and multiple options. |
| Address |
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. dhruba@lamar.colostate.edu |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16941157 |
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no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2441 |
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King, A.J.; Douglas, C.M.S.; Huchard, E.; Isaac, N.J.B.; Cowlishaw, G. |
| Title |
Dominance and affiliation mediate despotism in a social primate |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2008 |
Publication |
Current Biology : CB |
Abbreviated Journal |
Curr Biol |
| Volume |
18 |
Issue |
23 |
Pages |
1833-1838 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Authoritarianism; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cooperative Behavior; *Decision Making; Feeding Behavior; Female; *Group Processes; Male; Papio ursinus/*psychology; *Social Dominance |
| Abstract |
Group-living animals routinely have to reach a consensus decision and choose between mutually exclusive actions in order to coordinate their activities and benefit from sociality. Theoretical models predict “democratic” rather than “despotic” decisions to be widespread in social vertebrates, because they result in lower “consensus costs”-the costs of an individual foregoing its optimal action to comply with the decision-for the group as a whole. Yet, quantification of consensus costs is entirely lacking, and empirical observations provide strong support for the occurrence of both democratic and despotic decisions in nature. We conducted a foraging experiment on a wild social primate (chacma baboons, Papio ursinus) in order to gain new insights into despotic group decision making. The results show that group foraging decisions were consistently led by the individual who acquired the greatest benefits from those decisions, namely the dominant male. Subordinate group members followed the leader despite considerable consensus costs. Follower behavior was mediated by social ties to the leader, and where these ties were weaker, group fission was more likely to occur. Our findings highlight the importance of leader incentives and social relationships in group decision-making processes and the emergence of despotism. |
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Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK. andrew.king@ioz.ac.uk |
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English |
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0960-9822 |
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| Notes |
PMID:19026539 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5124 |
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| Author |
Rands, S.A.; Cowlishaw, G.; Pettifor, R.A.; Rowcliffe, J.M.; Johnstone, R.A. |
| Title |
The emergence of leaders and followers in foraging pairs when the qualities of individuals differ |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2008 |
Publication |
BMC Evolutionary Biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
BMC Evol Biol |
| Volume |
8 |
Issue |
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Pages |
51 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Feeding Behavior; *Food Chain; *Models, Biological; *Social Dominance |
| Abstract |
BACKGROUND: Foraging in groups offers animals a number of advantages, such as increasing their likelihood of finding food or detecting and avoiding predators. In order for a group to remain together, there has to be some degree of coordination of behaviour and movement between its members (which may in some cases be initiated by a decision-making leader, and in other cases may emerge as an underlying property of the group). For example, behavioural synchronisation is a phenomenon where animals within a group initiate and then continue to conduct identical behaviours, and has been characterised for a wide range of species. We examine how a pair of animals should behave using a state-dependent approach, and ask what conditions are likely to lead to behavioural synchronisation occurring, and whether one of the individuals is more likely to act as a leader. RESULTS: The model we describe considers how the energetic gain, metabolic requirements and predation risks faced by the individuals affect measures of their energetic state and behaviour (such as the degree of behavioural synchronisation seen within the pair, and the value to an individual of knowing the energetic state of its colleague). We explore how predictable changes in these measures are in response to changes in physiological requirements and predation risk. We also consider how these measures should change when the members of the pair are not identical in their metabolic requirements or their susceptibility to predation. We find that many of the changes seen in these measures are complex, especially when asymmetries exist between the members of the pair. CONCLUSION: Analyses are presented that demonstrate that, although these general patterns are robust, care needs to be taken when considering the effects of individual differences, as the relationship between individual differences and the resulting qualitative changes in behaviour may be complex. We discuss how these results are related to experimental observations, and how the model and its predictions could be extended. |
| Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. sean.rands@bristol.ac.uk |
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English |
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Edition |
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1471-2148 |
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| Notes |
PMID:18282297 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5126 |
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