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Author Byrne, R.W. doi  openurl
  Title Culture in great apes: using intricate complexity in feeding skills to trace the evolutionary origin of human technical prowess Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume (down) 362 Issue 1480 Pages 577-585  
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  Abstract Geographical cataloguing of traits, as used in human ethnography, has led to the description of “culture” in some non-human great apes. Culture, in these terms, is detected as a pattern of local ignorance resulting from environmental constraints on knowledge transmission. However, in many cases, the geographical variations may alternatively be explained by ecology. Social transmission of information can reliably be identified in many other animal species, by experiment or distinctive patterns in distribution; but the excitement of detecting culture in great apes derives from the possibility of understanding the evolution of cumulative technological culture in humans. Given this interest, I argue that great ape research should concentrate on technically complex behaviour patterns that are ubiquitous within a local population; in these cases, a wholly non-social ontogeny is highly unlikely. From this perspective, cultural transmission has an important role in the elaborate feeding skills of all species of great ape, in conveying the “gist” or organization of skills. In contrast, social learning is unlikely to be responsible for local stylistic differences, which are apt to reflect sensitive adaptations to ecology.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 3527  
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Author Bates, L.A.; Byrne, R.W. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Creative or created: Using anecdotes to investigate animal cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Methods Abbreviated Journal Methods  
  Volume (down) 42 Issue 1 Pages 12-21  
  Keywords Anecdote; Creativity; Intelligence; Deception; Innovation; African elephant  
  Abstract In non-human animals, creative behaviour occurs spontaneously only at low frequencies, so is typically missed by standardised observational methods. Experimental approaches have tended to rely overly on paradigms from child development or adult human cognition, which may be inappropriate for species that inhabit very different perceptual worlds and possess quite different motor capacities than humans. The analysis of anecdotes offers a solution to this impasse, provided certain conditions are met. To be reliable, anecdotes must be recorded immediately after observation, and only the records of scientists experienced with the species and the individuals concerned should be used. Even then, interpretation of a single record is always ambiguous, and analysis is feasible only when collation of multiple records shows that a behaviour pattern occurs repeatedly under similar circumstances. This approach has been used successfully to study a number of creative capacities of animals: the distribution, nature and neural correlates of deception across the primate order; the occurrence of teaching in animals; and the neural correlates of several aptitudes--in birds, foraging innovation, and in primates, innovation, social learning and tool-use. Drawing on these approaches, we describe the use of this method to investigate a new problem, the cognition of the African elephant, a species whose sheer size and evolutionary distance from humans renders the conventional methods of comparative psychology of little use. The aim is both to chart the creative cognitive capacities of this species, and to devise appropriate experimental methods to confirm and extend previous findings.  
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  ISSN 1046-2023 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes also special issue: Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Creativity: A Toolkit Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6185  
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Author Barton, R.A.; Byrne, R.W.; Whiten, A. doi  openurl
  Title Ecology, feeding competition and social structure in baboons Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.  
  Volume (down) 38 Issue 5 Pages 321-329  
  Keywords Key words Ecology – Competition – Group size – Baboons  
  Abstract Predictions of the model of van Schaik (1989) of female-bonding in primates are tested by systematically comparing the ecology, level of within-group contest competition for food (WGC), and patterns of social behaviour found in two contrasting baboon populations. Significant differences were found in food distribution (percentage of the diet from clumped sources), feeding supplant rates and grooming patterns. In accord with the model, the tendencies of females to affiliate and form coalitions with one another, and to be philopatric, were strongest where ecological conditions promoted WGC. Group fission in the population with strong WGC was “horizontal” with respect to female dominance rank, and associated with female-female aggression during a period of elevated feeding competition. In contrast, where WGC was low, females' grooming was focused on adult males rather than other females. Recent evidence suggests that group fission here is initiated by males, tends to result in the formation of one-male groups, and is not related to feeding competition but to male-male competition for mates. An ecological model of baboon social structure is presented which incorporates the effects of female-female competition, male-male competition, and predation pressure. The model potentially accounts for wide variability in group size, group structure and social relationships within the genus Papio. Socio-ecological convergence between common baboons and hamadryas baboons, however, may be limited in some respects by phylogenetic inertia.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 807  
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Author Byrne, R.W. url  openurl
  Title Imitation of novel complex actions: What does the evidence from animals mean? Type Book Chapter
  Year 2002 Publication Advances in the Study of Behavior Abbreviated Journal Adv Stud Behav  
  Volume (down) 31 Issue Pages 77-105  
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  Abstract Summary Underlying the various behaviors that are classified as imitation, there may be several distinct mechanisms, differing in adaptive function, cognitive basis, and computational power. Experiments reporting “true motor imitation” in animals do not as yet give evidence of production learning by imitation; instead, contextual imitation can explain their data, and this can be explained by a simple mechanism (response facilitation) which matches known neural findings. When imitation serves a function in social mimicry, which applies to a wide range of phenomena from neonatal imitation in humans and great apes to pair-bonding in some bird species, the fidelity of the behavioral match is crucial. Learning of novel behavior can potentially be achieved by matching the outcome of a model's action, and it is argued that vocal imitation by birds is a clear example of this method (which is sometimes called emulation). Alternatively, the behavior itself may be perceived in terms of actions that the observer can perform, and thus it may be copied. If the imitation is linear and stringlike (action level), following the surface form rather than the underlying plan, then its utility for learning new instrumental methods is limited. However, the underlying plan of hierarchically organized behavior is visible in output behavior, in subtle but detectable ways, and imitation could instead be based on this organization (program level), extracted automatically by string parsing. Currently, the most likely candidates for such capacities are all great apes. It is argued that this ability to perceive the underlying plan of action, in addition to allowing highly flexible imitation of novel instrumental methods, may have resulted in the competence to understand the intentions (theory of mind) of others.  
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  Publisher Academic Press Place of Publication San Diego Editor Snowdon, C. T.; Roper, T. J.;Rosenblatt,J. S.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 746  
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Author Byrne, R.W.; Whiten, A. openurl 
  Title Tactical deception in primates: the 1990 database Type Book Whole
  Year 1990 Publication Primate Reports Abbreviated Journal Primate Rep.  
  Volume (down) 27 Issue Pages 1-101  
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  Publisher German Primate Center Place of Publication Editor  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6172  
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Author Byrne, R. W.; Russon, A. E. doi  openurl
  Title Learning by imitation: a hierachical approach Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Abbreviated Journal Behav. Brain Sci.  
  Volume (down) 21 Issue Pages 667-721  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5598  
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Author Farmer, K.; Krüger, K.; Byrne, R.W.; Marr, I. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Sensory laterality in affiliative interactions in domestic horses and ponies (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2018 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 21 Issue 5 Pages 631-637  
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  Abstract Many studies have been carried out into both motor and sensory laterality of horses in agonistic and stressful situations. Here we examine sensory laterality in affiliative interactions within four groups of domestic horses and ponies (N = 31), living in stable social groups, housed at a single complex close to Vienna, Austria, and demonstrate for the first time a significant population preference for the left side in affiliative approaches and interactions. No effects were observed for gender, rank, sociability, phenotype, group, or age. Our results suggest that right hemisphere specialization in horses is not limited to the processing of stressful or agonistic situations, but rather appears to be the norm for processing in all social interactions, as has been demonstrated in other species including chicks and a range of vertebrates. In domestic horses, hemispheric specialization for sensory input appears not to be based on a designation of positive versus negative, but more on the perceived need to respond quickly and appropriately in any given situation.  
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  ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Farmer2018 Serial 6386  
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Author Byrne, R.W.; Whiten, A.; Henzi, S.P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social relationships of mountain baboons: Leadership and affiliation in a non-female-bonded monkey Type Journal Article
  Year 1990 Publication American journal of primatology Abbreviated Journal Am. J. Primatol.  
  Volume (down) 20 Issue 4 Pages 313-329  
  Keywords relationships; one-male groups; female-bonding; spacing; support; Papio ursinus; Papio hamadryas  
  Abstract Abstract 10.1002/ajp.1350200409.abs Instead of close and differentiated relationships among adult females, the accepted norm for savanna baboons, groups of Drakensberg mountain baboons (Papio ursinus) showed strong affiliation of females towards a single male. The same male was usually the decision-making animal in controlling group movements. Lactating or pregnant females focused their grooming on this “leader” male, producing a radially patterned sociogram, as in the desert baboon (P. hamadryas); the leader male supported young animals in the group against aggression and protected them against external threats. Unlike typical savanna baboons, these mountain baboons rarely displayed approach-retreat or triadic interactions, and entirely lacked coalitions among adult females. Both groups studied were reproductively one-male; male-female relationships in one were like those in a unit of a hamadryas male at his peak, while the other group resembled the unit of an old hamadryas male, who still leads the group, with a male follower starting to build up a new unit and already monopolizing mating. In their mountain environment, where the low population density suggests conditions as harsh for baboons as in deserts, adults in these groups kept unusually large distances apart during ranging; kin tended to range apart, and spacing of adults was greatest at the end of the dry, winter season. These facts support the hypothesis that sparse food is responsible for convergence with hamadryas social organization. It is suggested that all baboons, though matrilocal, are better categorized as “cross-sex-bonded” than “female bonded”.  
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  Publisher Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company Place of Publication Editor  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1098-2345 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5309  
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Author Seed, A.; Byrne, R. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Animal Tool-Use Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Current Biology Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume (down) 20 Issue 23 Pages R1032-R1039  
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  Abstract The sight of an animal making and using a tool captivates scientists and laymen alike, perhaps because it forces us to question some of our ideas about human uniqueness. Does the animal know how the tool works? Did it anticipate the need for the tool and make it in advance? To some, this fascination with tools seems arbitrary and anthropocentric; after all, animals engage in many other complex activities, like nest building, and we know that complex behaviour need not be cognitively demanding. But tool-using behaviour can also provide a powerful window into the minds of living animals, and help us to learn what capacities we share with them -- and what might have changed to allow for the incontrovertibly unique levels of technology shown by modern humans.  
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  ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5318  
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Author Riley, J.L.; Noble, D.W.A.; Byrne, R.W.; Whiting, M.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Does social environment influence learning ability in a family-living lizard? Type Journal Article
  Year 2017 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 20 Issue 3 Pages 449-458  
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  Abstract Early developmental environment can have profound effects on individual physiology, behaviour, and learning. In birds and mammals, social isolation during development is known to negatively affect learning ability; yet in other taxa, like reptiles, the effect of social isolation during development on learning ability is unknown. We investigated how social environment affects learning ability in the family-living tree skink (Egernia striolata). We hypothesized that early social environment shapes cognitive development in skinks and predicted that skinks raised in social isolation would have reduced learning ability compared to skinks raised socially. Offspring were separated at birth into two rearing treatments: (1) raised alone or (2) in a pair. After 1 year, we quantified spatial learning ability of skinks in these rearing treatments (N = 14 solitary, 14 social). We found no effect of rearing treatment on learning ability. The number of skinks to successfully learn the task, the number of trials taken to learn the task, the latency to perform the task, and the number of errors in each trial did not differ between isolated and socially reared skinks. Our results were unexpected, yet the facultative nature of this species' social system may result in a reduced effect of social isolation on behaviour when compared to species with obligate sociality. Overall, our findings do not provide evidence that social environment affects development of spatial learning ability in this family-living lizard.  
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  ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Riley2017 Serial 6190  
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