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Author Grosenick, L.; Clement, T.S.; Fernald, R.D.
Title Fish can infer social rank by observation alone Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2007 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 445 Issue 7126 Pages 429-432
Keywords Aggression/physiology; Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Fishes/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Dominance; Territoriality
Abstract Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as 'bystanders'), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives.
Address Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA. logang@stanford.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 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17251980 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 600
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Author Rapin, V.; Poncet, P.A.; Burger, D.; Mermod, C.; Richard, M.A.
Title [Measurement of the attention time in the horse] Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2007 Publication Schweizer Archiv fur Tierheilkunde Abbreviated Journal Schweiz Arch Tierheilkd
Volume 149 Issue 2 Pages 77-83
Keywords Age Factors; Animals; *Attention/physiology; Conditioning, Operant; Cross-Over Studies; Female; Horses/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Memory/*physiology; Time Factors
Abstract A study carried out on 49 horses showed that it is possible to measure the attention time by operant conditioning. After teaching horses an instrumental task using a signal, we were then able to test their attention time by asking them to prolong it increasingly while setting success and failure criteria. Two tests were performed 3 weeks apart. The 2nd test was feasible without relearning, a proof of memory, and was repeatable, a proof of consistency in the attention time. A significant difference was observed between the 3 age groups. Young horses often performed very well during the 1st test but their attention dropped in the 2nd test while older horses were more stable with respect to attention and even increased it slightly. The study shows that there are individual differences but it was not possible to prove a significant influence of breed, gender and paternal influence. Consequently, learning appears to be one of the most interesting approaches for evaluating the attention of horses and for observing their behaviour.
Address Laboratoire d'Ecoethologie, Universite de Neuchatel, Suisse. veronique.rapin@unine.ch
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language French Summary Language Original Title Mesure de la duree d'attention chez le cheval
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0036-7281 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17343134 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1770
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Author Petruso, E.J.; Fuchs, T.; Bingman, V.P.
Title Time-space learning in homing pigeons (Columba livia): orientation to an artificial light source Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 181-188
Keywords Animals; Circadian Rhythm; Columbidae/*physiology; Homing Behavior/physiology; Learning/*physiology; *Light; Orientation/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Time Perception/*physiology
Abstract Time-space learning reflects an ability to represent in memory event-stimulus properties together with the place and time of the event; a capacity well developed in birds. Homing pigeons were trained in an indoor octagonal arena to locate one food goal in the morning and a different food goal in the late afternoon. The goals differed with respect to their angular/directional relationship to an artificial light source located outside the arena. Further, the angular difference in reward position approximated the displacement of the sun's azimuth that would occur during the same time period. The experimental birds quickly learned the task, demonstrating the apparent ease with which birds can adopt an artificial light source to discriminate among alternative spatial responses at different times of the day. However, a novel midday probe session following successful learning revealed that the light source was interpreted as a stable landmark and not as a surrogate sun that would support compass orientation. Probe sessions following a phase shift of the light-dark cycle revealed that the mechanism employed to make the temporal discrimination was prevailingly based on an endogenous circadian rhythm and not an interval timing mechanism.
Address Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
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:17160343 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2432
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Author Moses, S.N.; Villate, C.; Ryan, J.D.
Title An investigation of learning strategy supporting transitive inference performance in humans compared to other species Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Neuropsychologia Abbreviated Journal Neuropsychologia
Volume 44 Issue 8 Pages 1370-1387
Keywords Adult; Analysis of Variance; Association Learning/*physiology; *Cognition; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Logic; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology; Photic Stimulation/methods; Reaction Time/physiology
Abstract Generalizations about neural function are often drawn from non-human animal models to human cognition, however, the assumption of cross-species conservation may sometimes be invalid. Humans may use different strategies mediated by alternative structures, or similar structures may operate differently within the context of the human brain. The transitive inference problem, considered a hallmark of logical reasoning, can be solved by non-human species via associative learning rather than logic. We tested whether humans use similar strategies to other species for transitive inference. Results are crucial for evaluating the validity of widely accepted assumptions of similar neural substrates underlying performance in humans and other animals. Here we show that successful transitive inference in humans is unrelated to use of associative learning strategies and is associated with ability to report the hierarchical relationship among stimuli. Our work stipulates that cross-species generalizations must be interpreted cautiously, since performance on the same task may be mediated by different strategies and/or neural systems.
Address Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada. smoses@rotman-baycrest.on.ca
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 0028-3932 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16503340 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 153
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Author Gentner, T.Q.; Fenn, K.M.; Margoliash, D.; Nusbaum, H.C.
Title Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 440 Issue 7088 Pages 1204-1207
Keywords Acoustic Stimulation; *Animal Communication; Animals; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Humans; *Language; Learning/*physiology; Linguistics; Models, Neurological; Semantics; Starlings/*physiology; Stochastic Processes
Abstract Humans regularly produce new utterances that are understood by other members of the same language community. Linguistic theories account for this ability through the use of syntactic rules (or generative grammars) that describe the acceptable structure of utterances. The recursive, hierarchical embedding of language units (for example, words or phrases within shorter sentences) that is part of the ability to construct new utterances minimally requires a 'context-free' grammar that is more complex than the 'finite-state' grammars thought sufficient to specify the structure of all non-human communication signals. Recent hypotheses make the central claim that the capacity for syntactic recursion forms the computational core of a uniquely human language faculty. Here we show that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) accurately recognize acoustic patterns defined by a recursive, self-embedding, context-free grammar. They are also able to classify new patterns defined by the grammar and reliably exclude agrammatical patterns. Thus, the capacity to classify sequences from recursive, centre-embedded grammars is not uniquely human. This finding opens a new range of complex syntactic processing mechanisms to physiological investigation.
Address Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.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 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16641998 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 353
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Author Watanabe, S.; Troje, N.F.
Title Towards a “virtual pigeon”: a new technique for investigating avian social perception Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 271-279
Keywords Animals; Behavioral Research/instrumentation/methods; Columbidae/*physiology; Computer Graphics; *Computer Simulation; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Generalization (Psychology)/*physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology; Perceptual Masking/physiology; Rats; Recognition (Psychology)/physiology; *Social Behavior; User-Computer Interface
Abstract The purpose of the present study is to examine the applicability of a computer-generated, virtual animal to study animal cognition. Pigeons were trained to discriminate between movies of a real pigeon and a rat. Then, they were tested with movies of the computer-generated (CG) pigeon. Subjects showed generalization to the CG pigeon, however, they also responded to modified versions in which the CG pigeon was showing impossible movement, namely hopping and walking without its head bobbing. Hence, the pigeons did not attend to these particular details of the display. When they were trained to discriminate between the normal and the modified version of the CG pigeon, they were able to learn the discrimination. The results of an additional partial occlusion test suggest that the subjects used head movement as a cue for the usual vs. unusual CG pigeon discrimination.
Address Department of Psychology, Keio University, Mita 2-15-45, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108, Japan. swat@flet.keio.ac.jp
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:17024508 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2437
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Author Chiesa, A.D.; Pecchia, T.; Tommasi, L.; Vallortigara, G.
Title Multiple landmarks, the encoding of environmental geometry and the spatial logics of a dual brain Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 281-293
Keywords Animals; Association Learning/*physiology; Chickens; *Cues; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Environment; Exploratory Behavior/*physiology; Logic; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/physiology
Abstract A series of place learning experiments was carried out in young chicks (Gallus gallus) in order to investigate how the geometry of a landmark array and that of a walled enclosure compete when disoriented animals could rely on both of them to re-orient towards the centre of the enclosure. A square-shaped array (four wooden sticks) was placed in the middle of a square-shaped enclosure, the two structures being concentric. Chicks were trained to ground-scratch to search for food hidden in the centre of the enclosure (and the array). To check for effects of array degradation, one, two, three or all landmarks were removed during test trials. Chicks concentrated their searching activity in the central area of the enclosure, but their accuracy was inversely contingent on the number of landmarks removed; moreover, the landmarks still present within the enclosure appeared to influence the shape of the searching patterns. The reduction in the number of landmarks affected the searching strategy of chicks, suggesting that they had focussed mainly on local cues when landmarks were present within the enclosure. When all the landmarks were removed, chicks searched over a larger area, suggesting an absolute encoding of distances from the local cues and less reliance on the relationships provided by the geometry of the enclosure. Under conditions of monocular vision, chicks tended to rely on different strategies to localize the centre on the basis of the eye (and thus the hemisphere) in use, the left hemisphere attending to details of the environment and the right hemisphere attending to the global shape.
Address Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, via S. Anastasio 12, 34100, Trieste, Italy
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:16941155 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2443
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Author Benard, J.; Stach, S.; Giurfa, M.
Title Categorization of visual stimuli in the honeybee Apis mellifera Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 257-270
Keywords Animals; Bees/*physiology; Classification; Cognition/*physiology; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Generalization, Stimulus/physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology; Photic Stimulation; Transfer (Psychology)/*physiology; Visual Perception/*physiology
Abstract Categorization refers to the classification of perceptual input into defined functional groups. We present and discuss evidence suggesting that stimulus categorization can also be found in an invertebrate, the honeybee Apis mellifera, thus underlining the generality across species of this cognitive process. Honeybees show positive transfer of appropriate responding from a trained to a novel set of visual stimuli. Such a transfer was demonstrated for specific isolated features such as symmetry or orientation, but also for assemblies (layouts) of features. Although transfer from training to novel stimuli can be achieved by stimulus generalization of the training stimuli, most of these transfer tests involved clearly distinguishable stimuli for which generalization would be reduced. Though in most cases specific experimental controls such as stimulus balance and discriminability are still required, it seems appropriate to characterize the performance of honeybees as reflecting categorization. Further experiments should address the issue of which categorization theory accounts better for the visual performances of honeybees.
Address Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (UMR 5169), CNRS – Universite Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse cedex 4, France
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:16909238 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2446
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Author Church, D.L.; Plowright, C.M.S.
Title Spatial encoding by bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) of a reward within an artificial flower array Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 131-140
Keywords Animals; Appetitive Behavior/physiology; Association Learning/*physiology; Bees/*physiology; Chi-Square Distribution; *Cues; Female; Memory/physiology; Reward; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/*physiology
Abstract We presented bumblebees a spatial memory task similar to that used with other species (e.g., cats, dogs, and pigeons). In some conditions we allowed for presence of scent marks in addition to placing local and global spatial cues in conflict. Bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) were presented an array of artificial flowers within a flight cage, one flower offering reward (S+), while the others were empty (S-). Bees were tested with empty flowers. In Experiment 1, flowers were either moved at the time of testing or not. Bees returned to the flower in the same absolute position of the S+ (the flower-array-independent (FAI) position), even if it was in the wrong position relative to the S- and even when new flower covers prevented the use of possible scent marks. New flower covers (i.e., without possible scent marks) had the effect of lowering the frequency of probing behavior. In Experiment 2, the colony was moved between training and testing. Again, bees chose the flower in the FAI position of the S+, and not the flower that would be chosen using strictly memory for a flight vector. Together, these experiments show that to locate the S+ bees did not rely on scent marks nor the positions of the S-, though the S- were prominent objects close to the goal. Also, bees selected environmental features to remember the position of the S+ instead of relying upon a purely egocentric point of view. Similarities with honeybees and vertebrates are discussed, as well as possible encoding mechanisms.
Address Psychology Department, Bag Service #45444, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, E3B 6E4, Canada. dchurchl@unb.ca
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:16416106 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2474
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Author Rizzolatti, G.; Fogassi, L.; Gallese, V.
Title Mirrors of the mind Type Journal Article
Year (down) 2006 Publication Scientific American Abbreviated Journal Sci Am
Volume 295 Issue 5 Pages 54-61
Keywords Animals; Brain/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology; Emotions/physiology; Humans; Imitative Behavior; Learning/*physiology; Mental Processes/*physiology; Motor Activity/physiology; Neurons/physiology; Recognition (Psychology); Sensation/physiology
Abstract
Address Neurosciences Department, University of Parma, Italy
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 0036-8733 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17076084 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2829
Permanent link to this record