Records |
Author |
Kiltie, R.A.; Fan, J.; Laine, A.F. |
Title |
A wavelet-based metric for visual texture discrimination with applications in evolutionary ecology |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1995 |
Publication |
Mathematical Biosciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Math Biosci |
Volume |
126 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
21-39 |
Keywords |
Animals; Carnivora; *Ecology; Equidae; *Evolution; Humans; Mathematics; Models, Biological; Moths; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Pigmentation |
Abstract |
Much work on natural and sexual selection is concerned with the conspicuousness of visual patterns (textures) on animal and plant surfaces. Previous attempts by evolutionary biologists to quantify apparency of such textures have involved subjective estimates of conspicuousness or statistical analyses based on transect samples. We present a method based on wavelet analysis that avoids subjectivity and that uses more of the information in image textures than transects do. Like the human visual system for texture discrimination, and probably like that of other vertebrates, this method is based on localized analysis of orientation and frequency components of the patterns composing visual textures. As examples of the metric's utility, we present analyses of crypsis for tigers, zebras, and peppered moth morphs. |
Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville |
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English |
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0025-5564 |
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PMID:7696817 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2660 |
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Author |
Joffe, T.H.; Dunbar, R.I. |
Title |
Visual and socio-cognitive information processing in primate brain evolution |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1997 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
Volume |
264 |
Issue |
1386 |
Pages |
1303-1307 |
Keywords |
Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; *Evolution; Geniculate Bodies/anatomy & histology/physiology; Humans; Mental Processes/physiology; Neocortex/physiology; Primates/anatomy & histology/*physiology/*psychology; *Social Behavior; Visual Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology |
Abstract |
Social group size has been shown to correlate with neocortex size in primates. Here we use comparative analyses to show that social group size is independently correlated with the size of non-V1 neocortical areas, but not with other more proximate components of the visual system or with brain systems associated with emotional cueing (e.g. the amygdala). We argue that visual brain components serve as a social information 'input device' for socio-visual stimuli such as facial expressions, bodily gestures and visual status markers, while the non-visual neocortex serves as a 'processing device' whereby these social cues are encoded, interpreted and associated with stored information. However, the second appears to have greater overall importance because the size of the V1 visual area appears to reach an asymptotic size beyond which visual acuity and pattern recognition may not improve significantly. This is especially true of the great ape clade (including humans), that is known to use more sophisticated social cognitive strategies. |
Address |
School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK |
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English |
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ISSN |
0962-8452 |
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Notes |
PMID:9332015 |
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no |
Call Number |
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Serial |
2095 |
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Author |
Barrett, L.; Henzi, P. |
Title |
The social nature of primate cognition |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
Volume |
272 |
Issue |
1575 |
Pages |
1865-1875 |
Keywords |
Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; *Evolution; Intelligence/*physiology; Primates/*physiology; *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
The hypothesis that the enlarged brain size of the primates was selected for by social, rather than purely ecological, factors has been strongly influential in studies of primate cognition and behaviour over the past two decades. However, the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis, also known as the social brain hypothesis, tends to emphasize certain traits and behaviours, like exploitation and deception, at the expense of others, such as tolerance and behavioural coordination, and therefore presents only one view of how social life may shape cognition. This review outlines work from other relevant disciplines, including evolutionary economics, cognitive science and neurophysiology, to illustrate how these can be used to build a more general theoretical framework, incorporating notions of embodied and distributed cognition, in which to situate questions concerning the evolution of primate social cognition. |
Address |
School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK. louiseb@liv.ac.uk |
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0962-8452 |
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PMID:16191591 |
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no |
Call Number |
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Serial |
2086 |
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Author |
Shoshani, J.; Kupsky, W.J.; Marchant, G.H. |
Title |
Elephant brain. Part I: gross morphology, functions, comparative anatomy, and evolution |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Brain Research Bulletin |
Abbreviated Journal |
Brain Res Bull |
Volume |
70 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
124-157 |
Keywords |
Animals; Brain/*anatomy & histology/blood supply/*physiology; Cats; Chinchilla; Elephants/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; Equidae; *Evolution; Female; Guinea Pigs; Haplorhini; Humans; Hyraxes; Male; Pan troglodytes; Sheep; Wolves |
Abstract |
We report morphological data on brains of four African, Loxodonta africana, and three Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, and compare findings to literature. Brains exhibit a gyral pattern more complex and with more numerous gyri than in primates, humans included, and in carnivores, but less complex than in cetaceans. Cerebral frontal, parietal, temporal, limbic, and insular lobes are well developed, whereas the occipital lobe is relatively small. The insula is not as opercularized as in man. The temporal lobe is disproportionately large and expands laterally. Humans and elephants have three parallel temporal gyri: superior, middle, and inferior. Hippocampal sizes in elephants and humans are comparable, but proportionally smaller in elephant. A possible carotid rete was observed at the base of the brain. Brain size appears to be related to body size, ecology, sociality, and longevity. Elephant adult brain averages 4783 g, the largest among living and extinct terrestrial mammals; elephant neonate brain averages 50% of its adult brain weight (25% in humans). Cerebellar weight averages 18.6% of brain (1.8 times larger than in humans). During evolution, encephalization quotient has increased by 10-fold (0.2 for extinct Moeritherium, approximately 2.0 for extant elephants). We present 20 figures of the elephant brain, 16 of which contain new material. Similarities between human and elephant brains could be due to convergent evolution; both display mosaic characters and are highly derived mammals. Humans and elephants use and make tools and show a range of complex learning skills and behaviors. In elephants, the large amount of cerebral cortex, especially in the temporal lobe, and the well-developed olfactory system, structures associated with complex learning and behavioral functions in humans, may provide the substrate for such complex skills and behavior. |
Address |
Department of Biology, University of Asmara, P.O. Box 1220, Asmara, Eritrea (Horn of Africa). hezy@bio.uoa.edu.er |
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ISSN |
0361-9230 |
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Notes |
PMID:16782503 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2623 |
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Author |
Macfadden, B.J. |
Title |
Evolution. Fossil horses--evidence for evolution |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
307 |
Issue |
5716 |
Pages |
1728-1730 |
Keywords |
Animals; Body Size; DNA, Mitochondrial; Diet; *Equidae/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics; *Evolution; Feeding Behavior; *Fossils; *Horses/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics; Paleodontology; Phylogeny; Time; Tooth/anatomy & histology |
Abstract |
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Address |
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. bmacfadd@flmnh.ufl.edu |
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ISSN |
1095-9203 |
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Notes |
PMID:15774746 |
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no |
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Serial |
1892 |
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Author |
Nettle, D. |
Title |
The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
The American Psychologist |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am Psychol |
Volume |
61 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
622-631 |
Keywords |
Animals; Birds; *Evolution; Female; Fishes; Humans; Insects; Male; Personality/*genetics/*physiology |
Abstract |
A comprehensive evolutionary framework for understanding the maintenance of heritable behavioral variation in humans is yet to be developed. Some evolutionary psychologists have argued that heritable variation will not be found in important, fitness-relevant characteristics because of the winnowing effect of natural selection. This article propounds the opposite view. Heritable variation is ubiquitous in all species, and there are a number of frameworks for understanding its persistence. The author argues that each of the Big Five dimensions of human personality can be seen as the result of a trade-off between different fitness costs and benefits. As there is no unconditionally optimal value of these trade-offs, it is to be expected that genetic diversity will be retained in the population. |
Address |
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, United Kingdom. daniel.nettle@ncl.ac.uk |
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ISSN |
0003-066X |
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Notes |
PMID:16953749 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4105 |
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Author |
Real, L.A. |
Title |
Animal choice behavior and the evolution of cognitive architecture |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1991 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
253 |
Issue |
5023 |
Pages |
980-986 |
Keywords |
Animals; Bees/genetics/*physiology; Biomechanics; *Choice Behavior; *Cognition; *Evolution; Mathematics; Models, Genetic; Probability |
Abstract |
Animals process sensory information according to specific computational rules and, subsequently, form representations of their environments that form the basis for decisions and choices. The specific computational rules used by organisms will often be evolutionarily adaptive by generating higher probabilities of survival, reproduction, and resource acquisition. Experiments with enclosed colonies of bumblebees constrained to foraging on artificial flowers suggest that the bumblebee's cognitive architecture is designed to efficiently exploit floral resources from spatially structured environments given limits on memory and the neuronal processing of information. A non-linear relationship between the biomechanics of nectar extraction and rates of net energetic gain by individual bees may account for sensitivities to both the arithmetic mean and variance in reward distributions in flowers. Heuristic rules that lead to efficient resource exploitation may also lead to subjective misperception of likelihoods. Subjective probability formation may then be viewed as a problem in pattern recognition subject to specific sampling schemes and memory constraints. |
Address |
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-3280 |
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English |
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0036-8075 |
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Notes |
PMID:1887231 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2846 |
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Author |
Vallortigara, G.; Rogers, L.J. |
Title |
Survival with an asymmetrical brain: advantages and disadvantages of cerebral lateralization |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav Brain Sci |
Volume |
28 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
575-89; discussion 589-633 |
Keywords |
Animals; Attention/*physiology; Behavior/*physiology; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; Models, Biological; Visual Perception/physiology |
Abstract |
Recent evidence in natural and semi-natural settings has revealed a variety of left-right perceptual asymmetries among vertebrates. These include preferential use of the left or right visual hemifield during activities such as searching for food, agonistic responses, or escape from predators in animals as different as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There are obvious disadvantages in showing such directional asymmetries because relevant stimuli may be located to the animal's left or right at random; there is no a priori association between the meaning of a stimulus (e.g., its being a predator or a food item) and its being located to the animal's left or right. Moreover, other organisms (e.g., predators) could exploit the predictability of behavior that arises from population-level lateral biases. It might be argued that lateralization of function enhances cognitive capacity and efficiency of the brain, thus counteracting the ecological disadvantages of lateral biases in behavior. However, such an increase in brain efficiency could be obtained by each individual being lateralized without any need to align the direction of the asymmetry in the majority of the individuals of the population. Here we argue that the alignment of the direction of behavioral asymmetries at the population level arises as an “evolutionarily stable strategy” under “social” pressures occurring when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behavior with the behavior of other asymmetrical organisms of the same or different species. |
Address |
Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, 34123 Trieste, Italy. vallorti@univ.trieste.it |
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ISSN |
0140-525X |
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PMID:16209828 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4622 |
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Author |
Mulcahy, N.J.; Call, J. |
Title |
Apes save tools for future use |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
312 |
Issue |
5776 |
Pages |
1038-1040 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Evolution; *Mental Processes; *Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; *Pongo pygmaeus |
Abstract |
Planning for future needs, not just current ones, is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements. Whether this skill is a uniquely human adaptation is a controversial issue. In a study we conducted, bonobos and orangutans selected, transported, and saved appropriate tools above baseline levels to use them 1 hour later (experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these results to a 14-hour delay between collecting and using the tools. Experiment 3 showed that seeing the apparatus during tool selection was not necessary to succeed. These findings suggest that the precursor skills for planning for the future evolved in great apes before 14 million years ago, when all extant great ape species shared a common ancestor. |
Address |
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany |
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1095-9203 |
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PMID:16709782 |
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no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
466 |
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Author |
Dunbar, R. |
Title |
Evolution of the social brain |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
302 |
Issue |
5648 |
Pages |
1160-1161 |
Keywords |
Animals; Animals, Wild; *Cognition; Endorphins/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Grooming; Hierarchy, Social; Language; Neocortex/anatomy & histology/physiology; Papio/physiology/*psychology; *Reproduction; *Social Behavior; Social Dominance; Social Support; Vocalization, Animal |
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Address |
School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK. rimd@liv.ac.uk |
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1095-9203 |
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PMID:14615522 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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548 |
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