| Records |
| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Taking the best for learning |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
69 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
147-9; author reply 159-63 |
| Keywords |
*Algorithms; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Decision Making; Evolution; *Learning; *Models, Theoretical |
| Abstract |
Examples of how animals learn when multiple, sometimes redundant, cues are present provide further examples not considered by Hutchinson and Gigerenzer that seem to fit the principle of taking the best. “The best” may the most valid cue in the present circumstances; evolution may also produce species-specific biases to use the most functionally relevant cues. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 3G3. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0376-6357 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15845301 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
361 |
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| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J.; Sutton, J.E. |
| Title |
Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
| Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
125-141 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cues; *Feeding Behavior; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Homing Behavior; *Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; *Space Perception |
| Abstract |
Rats homed with food in a large lighted arena. Without visual cues, they used dead reckoning. When a beacon indicated the home, rats could also use the beacon. Homing did not differ in 2 groups of rats, 1 provided with the beacon and 1 without it; tests without the beacon gave no evidence that beacon learning overshadowed dead reckoning (Experiment 1). When the beacon was at the home for 1 group and in random locations for another, there was again no evidence of cue competition (Experiment 2). Dead reckoning experience did not block acquisition of beacon homing (Experiment 3). Beacon learning and dead reckoning do not compete for predictive value but acquire information in parallel and are used hierarchically. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0097-7403 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839771 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
364 |
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| Author |
Subiaul, F.; Cantlon, J.F.; Holloway, R.L.; Terrace, H.S. |
| Title |
Cognitive imitation in rhesus macaques |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
305 |
Issue |
5682 |
Pages |
407-410 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Macaca mulatta/*physiology/psychology; Male |
| Abstract |
Experiments on imitation typically evaluate a student's ability to copy some feature of an expert's motor behavior. Here, we describe a type of observational learning in which a student copies a cognitive rule rather than a specific motor action. Two rhesus macaques were trained to respond, in a prescribed order, to different sets of photographs that were displayed on a touch-sensitive monitor. Because the position of the photographs varied randomly from trial to trial, sequences could not be learned by motor imitation. Both monkeys learned new sequences more rapidly after observing an expert execute those sequences than when they had to learn new sequences entirely by trial and error. |
| Address |
Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. subiaul@aol.com |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1095-9203 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15256673 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2839 |
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| Author |
Thornton, A.; McAuliffe, K. |
| Title |
Teaching in wild meerkats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
313 |
Issue |
5784 |
Pages |
227-229 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Animals, Wild/psychology; Behavior, Animal; *Herpestidae/psychology; *Learning; *Predatory Behavior; South Africa; *Teaching; Vocalization, Animal |
| Abstract |
Despite the obvious benefits of directed mechanisms that facilitate the efficient transfer of skills, there is little critical evidence for teaching in nonhuman animals. Using observational and experimental data, we show that wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with opportunities to interact with live prey. In response to changing pup begging calls, helpers alter their prey-provisioning methods as pups grow older, thus accelerating learning without the use of complex cognition. The lack of evidence for teaching in species other than humans may reflect problems in producing unequivocal support for the occurrence of teaching, rather than the absence of teaching. |
| Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. jant2@cam.ac.uk |
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English |
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1095-9203 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16840701 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2834 |
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| Author |
Vlamings, P.H.J.M.; Uher, J.; Call, J. |
| Title |
How the great apes (Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan paniscus, and Gorilla gorilla) perform on the reversed contingency task: the effects of food quantity and food visibility |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
| Volume |
32 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
60-70 |
| Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cognition; Conditioning (Psychology); Female; *Food; Gorilla gorilla/*psychology; *Learning; Male; Pan paniscus/*psychology; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Pongo pygmaeus/*psychology; *Visual Perception |
| Abstract |
S. T. Boysen and G. G. Berntson (1995) found that chimpanzees performed poorly on a reversed contingency task in which they had to point to the smaller of 2 food quantities to acquire the larger quantity. The authors compared the performance of 4 great ape species (Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan paniscus, and Gorilla gorilla) on the reversed contingency task while manipulating food quantity (0-4 or 1-4) and food visibility (visible pairs or covered pairs). Results showed no systematic species differences but large individual differences. Some individuals of each species were able to solve the reversed contingency task. Both quantity and visibility of the food items had a significant effect on performance. Subjects performed better when the disparity between quantities was smaller and the quantities were not directly visible. |
| Address |
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. p.vlamings@psychology.unimaas.nl |
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0097-7403 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16435965 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2765 |
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| Author |
Whiten, A.; Horner, V.; Litchfield, C.A.; Marshall-Pescini, S. |
| Title |
How do apes ape? |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Learning & Behavior |
Abbreviated Journal |
Learn. Behav. |
| Volume |
32 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
36-52 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Hominidae/*psychology; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; Psychological Theory; *Social Environment; *Social Facilitation |
| Abstract |
In the wake of telling critiques of the foundations on which earlier conclusions were based, the last 15 years have witnessed a renaissance in the study of social learning in apes. As a result, we are able to review 31 experimental studies from this period in which social learning in chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans has been investigated. The principal question framed at the beginning of this era, Do apes ape? has been answered in the affirmative, at least in certain conditions. The more interesting question now is, thus, How do apes ape? Answering this question has engendered richer taxonomies of the range of social-learning processes at work and new methodologies to uncover them. Together, these studies suggest that apes ape by employing a portfolio of alternative social-learning processes in flexibly adaptive ways, in conjunction with nonsocial learning. We conclude by sketching the kind of decision tree that appears to underlie the deployment of these alternatives. |
| Address |
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. a.whiten@st-and.ac.uk |
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English |
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1543-4494 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15161139 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
734 |
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| Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
| Title |
Action imitation in birds |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Learning & behavior : a Psychonomic Society publication |
Abbreviated Journal |
Learn Behav |
| Volume |
32 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
15-23 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Birds; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Learning; Motivation; Psychological Theory; *Social Environment; *Social Facilitation; Vocalization, Animal |
| Abstract |
Action imitation, once thought to be a behavior almost exclusively limited to humans and the great apes, surprisingly also has been found in a number of bird species. Because imitation has been viewed by some psychologists as a form of intelligent behavior, there has been interest in how it is distributed among animal species. Although the mechanisms responsible for action imitation are not clear, we are now at least beginning to understand the conditions under which it occurs. In this article, I try to identify and differentiate the various forms of socially influenced behavior (species-typical social reactions, social effects on motivation, social effects on perception, socially influenced learning, and action imitation) and explain why it is important to differentiate imitation from other forms of social influence. I also examine some of the variables that appear to be involved in the occurrence of imitation. Finally, I speculate about why a number of bird species, but few mammal species, appear to imitate. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
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English |
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1543-4494 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15161137 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
230 |
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| Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
| Title |
Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
335-353 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Motivation; *Social Environment; Transfer (Psychology) |
| Abstract |
Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. Zentall@uky.edu |
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Edition |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17024510 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
217 |
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