| |
Records |
Links |
|
Author  |
Healy, S.D.; Braham, S.R.; Braithwaite, V.A. |
|
| |
Title |
Spatial working memory in rats: no differences between the sexes |
Type |
Journal Article |
| |
Year |
1999 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
|
| |
Volume |
266 |
Issue |
1435 |
Pages |
2303-2308 |
|
| |
Keywords |
Animals; Estrus/metabolism; Female; Male; Memory/*physiology; Rats; Sex Factors; Swimming |
|
| |
Abstract |
In a number of mammalian species, males appear to have superior spatial abilities to females. The favoured explanations for this cognitive difference are hormonal, with higher testosterone levels in males than females leading to better spatial performance, and evolutionary, where sexual selection has favoured males with increased spatial abilities for either better navigational skills in hunting or to enable an increased territory size. However, an alternative explanation for this sex difference focuses on the role of varying levels of oestrogen in females in spatial cognition (the 'fertility and parental care' hypothesis). One possibility is that varying oestrogen levels result in variation in spatial learning and memory so that, when tested across the oestrous cycle, females perform as well as males on days of low oestrogen but more poorly on days of high oestrogen. If day in the oestrous cycle is not taken into account then, across an experiment, any sex differences found would always produce male superiority. We used a spatial working memory task in a Morris water maze to test the spatial learning and memory abilities of male and female rats. The rats were tested across a number of consecutive days during which the females went through four oestrous cycles. We found no overall sex differences in latencies to reach a submerged platform in a Morris water maze but, on the day of oestrus (low oestrogen), females took an extra swim to learn the platform's location (a 100% increase over the other days in the cycle). Female swim speed also varied across the oestrous cycle but females were no less active on the day of oestrus. These results oppose the predictions of the fertility and parental care hypothesis. |
|
| |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Newcastle, UK. s.healey@ed.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 |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
| |
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
| |
Notes |
PMID:10629980 |
Approved |
no |
|
| |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2818 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Millot, S.; Nilsson, J.; Fosseidengen, J.E.; Bégout, M.-L.; Fernö, A.; Braithwaite, V.A.; Kristiansen, T.S. |
|
| |
Title |
Innovative behaviour in fish: Atlantic cod can learn to use an external tag to manipulate a self-feeder |
Type |
Journal Article |
| |
Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
|
|
| |
Volume |
17 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
779-785 |
|
| |
Keywords |
|
|
| |
Abstract |
This study describes how three individual fish, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.), developed a novel behaviour and learnt to use a dorsally attached external tag to activate a self-feeder. This behaviour was repeated up to several hundred times, and over time these fish fine-tuned the behaviour and made a series of goal-directed coordinated movements needed to attach the feeder’s pull string to the tag and stretch the string until the feeder was activated. These observations demonstrate a capacity in cod to develop a novel behaviour utilizing an attached tag as a tool to achieve a goal. This may be seen as one of the very few observed examples of innovation and tool use in fish. |
|
| |
Address |
|
|
| |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
| |
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
| |
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
| |
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
| |
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
| |
ISSN |
1435-9456 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
| |
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
| |
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
| |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ Millot2013 |
Serial |
5933 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
