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Author Lea, S.E.G.; Goto, K.; Osthaus, B.; Ryan, C.M.E.
Title The logic of the stimulus Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 247-256
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae; Comprehension/physiology; Dogs; Humans; *Logic; Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology; Perception/*physiology; Problem Solving/*physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract This paper examines the contribution of stimulus processing to animal logics. In the classic functionalist S-O-R view of learning (and cognition), stimuli provide the raw material to which the organism applies its cognitive processes-its logic, which may be taxon-specific. Stimuli may contribute to the logic of the organism's response, and may do so in taxon-specific ways. Firstly, any non-trivial stimulus has an internal organization that may constrain or bias the way that the organism addresses it; since stimuli can only be defined relative to the organism's perceptual apparatus, and this apparatus is taxon-specific, such constraints or biases will often be taxon-specific. Secondly, the representation of a stimulus that the perceptual system builds, and the analysis it makes of this representation, may provide a model for the synthesis and analysis done at a more cognitive level. Such a model is plausible for evolutionary reasons: perceptual analysis was probably perfected before cognitive analysis in the evolutionary history of the vertebrates. Like stimulus-driven analysis, such perceptually modelled cognition may be taxon-specific because of the taxon-specificity of the perceptual apparatus. However, it may also be the case that different taxa are able to free themselves from the stimulus logic, and therefore apply a more abstract logic, to different extents. This thesis is defended with reference to two examples of cases where animals' cognitive logic seems to be isomorphic with perceptual logic, specifically in the case of pigeons' attention to global and local information in visual stimuli, and dogs' failure to comprehend means-end relationships in string-pulling tasks.
Address (down) School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, United Kingdom. s.e.g.lea@exeter.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 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16909234 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2450
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Author Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A.
Title Evolutionary perspectives on imitation: is a comparative psychology of social learning possible? Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 193-208
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Evolution; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Learning; Models, Animal
Abstract Studies of imitation in animals have become numerous in recent times, but do they contribute to a comparative psychology of social learning? We review this burgeoning field to identify the problems and prospects for such a goal. Difficulties of two main kinds are identified. First, researchers have tackled questions about social learning from at least three very different theoretical perspectives, the “phylogenetic”, “animal model”, and “adaptational”. We examine the conflicts between them and consider the scope for integration. A second difficulty arises in the methodological approaches used in the discipline. In relation to one of these – survey reviews of published studies – we tabulate and compare the contrasting conclusions of nine articles that together review 36 studies. The basis for authors' disagreements, including the matters of perceptual opacity, novelty, sequential structure, and goal representation, are examined. In relation to the other key method, comparative experimentation, we identify 12 studies that have explicitly compared species' imitative ability on similar tasks. We examine the principal problems of comparing like with like in these studies and consider solutions, the most powerful of which we propose to be the use of a systematic range of task designs, rather than any single “gold standard” task.
Address (down) School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.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 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12461597 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2593
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Author Goto, K.; Wills, A.J.; Lea, S.E.G.
Title Global-feature classification can be acquired more rapidly than local-feature classification in both humans and pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 109-113
Keywords Adult; Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; *Classification; Columbidae/*physiology; *Discrimination Learning; Form Perception; Humans; *Mental Processes; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Species Specificity
Abstract When humans process visual stimuli, global information often takes precedence over local information. In contrast, some recent studies have pointed to a local precedence effect in both pigeons and nonhuman primates. In the experiment reported here, we compared the speed of acquisition of two different categorizations of the same four geometric figures. One categorization was on the basis of a local feature, the other on the basis of a readily apparent global feature. For both humans and pigeons, the global-feature categorization was acquired more rapidly. This result reinforces the conclusion that local information does not always take precedence over global information in nonhuman animals.
Address (down) School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK. K.Goto@exeter.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 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15069610 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2530
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Author Whiten, A.
Title Social complexity and social intelligence Type Conference Article
Year 2000 Publication Novartis Foundation Symposium Abbreviated Journal Novartis Found Symp
Volume 233 Issue Pages 185-96; discussion 196-201
Keywords Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Humans; *Intelligence/physiology; Learning; Models, Psychological; Primates; *Social Behavior; Social Problems
Abstract When we talk of the 'nature of intelligence', or any other attribute, we may be referring to its essential structure, or to its place in nature, particularly the function it has evolved to serve. Here I examine both, from the perspective of the evolution of intelligence in primates. Over the last 20 years, the Social (or 'Machiavellian') Intelligence Hypothesis has gained empirical support. Its core claim is that the intelligence of primates is primarily an adaptation to the special complexities of primate social life. In addition to this hypothesis about the function of intellect, a secondary claim is that the very structure of intelligence has been moulded to be 'social' in character, an idea that presents a challenge to orthodox views of intelligence as a general-purpose capacity. I shall outline the principal components of social intelligence and the environment of social complexity it engages with. This raises the question of whether domain specificity is an appropriate characterization of social intelligence and its subcomponents, like theory of mind. As a counter-argument to such specificity I consider the hypothesis that great apes exhibit a cluster of advanced cognitive abilities that rest on a shared capacity for second-order mental representation.
Address (down) School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, 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 1528-2511 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11276903 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2084
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Author Arnold, K.; Zuberbuhler, K.
Title Language evolution: semantic combinations in primate calls Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 441 Issue 7091 Pages 303
Keywords Animal Migration; Animals; Eagles/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Haplorhini/*physiology; Male; Predatory Behavior; *Semantics; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Syntax sets human language apart from other natural communication systems, although its evolutionary origins are obscure. Here we show that free-ranging putty-nosed monkeys combine two vocalizations into different call sequences that are linked to specific external events, such as the presence of a predator and the imminent movement of the group. Our findings indicate that non-human primates can combine calls into higher-order sequences that have a particular meaning.
Address (down) School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, 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 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16710411 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 354
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Author Goto, K.; Lea, S.E.G.; Dittrich, W.H.
Title Discrimination of intentional and random motion paths by pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 119-127
Keywords Animals; *Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; *Motion Perception; Recognition (Psychology)
Abstract Twelve pigeons ( Columba livia) were trained on a go/no-go schedule to discriminate between two kinds of movement patterns of dots, which to human observers appear to be “intentional” and “non-intentional” movements. In experiment 1, the intentional motion stimulus contained one dot (a “wolf”) that moved systematically towards another dot as though stalking it, and three distractors (“sheep”). The non-intentional motion stimulus consisted of four distractors but no stalker. Birds showed some improvement of discrimination as the sessions progressed, but high levels of discrimination were not reached. In experiment 2, the same birds were tested with different stimuli. The same parameters were used but the number of intentionally moving dots in the intentional motion stimulus was altered, so that three wolves stalked one sheep. Despite the enhanced difference of movement patterns, the birds did not show any further improvement in discrimination. However, birds for which the non-intentional stimulus was associated with reward showed a decline in discrimination. These results indicated that pigeons can discriminate between stimuli that do and do not contain an element that human observer see as moving intentionally. However, as no feature-positive effect was found in experiment 1, it is assumed that pigeons did not perceive or discriminate these stimuli on the basis that the intentional stimuli contained a feature that the non-intentional stimuli lacked, though the convergence seen in experiment 2 may have been an effective feature for the pigeons. Pigeons seem to be able to recognise some form of multiple simultaneously goal-directed motions, compared to random motions, as a distinctive feature, but do not seem to use simple “intentional” motion paths of two geometrical figures, embedded in random motions, as a feature whose presence or absence differentiates motion displays.
Address (down) School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Laboratories, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. K.Goto@exeter.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 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12357284 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2601
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Author Osthaus, B.; Lea, S.E.G.; Slater, A.M.
Title Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) fail to show understanding of means-end connections in a string-pulling task Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 37-47
Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; *Cognition; Dogs/*psychology; *Problem Solving
Abstract Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were tested in four experiments for their understanding of means-end connections. In each of the experiments, the dogs attempted to retrieve a food treat that could be seen behind a barrier and which was connected, via string, to a within-reach wooden block. In the experiments, either one or two strings were present, but the treat was attached only to one string. Successful retrieval of the treat required the animals to pull the appropriate string (either by pawing or by grasping the wooden block in their jaws) until the treat emerged from under the barrier. The results showed that the dogs were successful if the treat was in a perpendicular line to the barrier, i.e. straight ahead, but not when the string was at an angle: in the latter condition, the typical response was a proximity error in that the dogs pawed or mouthed at a location closest in line to the treat. When two strings that crossed were present, the dogs tended to pull on the wrong string. The combined results from the experiments show that, although dogs can learn to pull on a string to obtain food, they do not spontaneously understand means-end connections involving strings.
Address (down) School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK. b.osthaus@exeter.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 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15338446 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2513
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Author Haruta, N.; Kitagawa, T.
Title Time-resolved UV resonance Raman investigation of protein folding using a rapid mixer: characterization of kinetic folding intermediates of apomyoglobin Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Biochemistry Abbreviated Journal Biochemistry
Volume 41 Issue 21 Pages 6595-6604
Keywords Animals; Apoproteins/*chemistry; Circular Dichroism; Holoenzymes/chemistry; Horses; Hydrochloric Acid/chemistry; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Imidazoles/chemistry; Kinetics; Models, Molecular; Myoglobin/*chemistry; Peptide Fragments/chemistry; *Protein Folding; Protein Structure, Secondary; Spectrum Analysis, Raman/*methods; Tryptophan/*chemistry; Ultraviolet Rays; Whales
Abstract The 244-nm excited transient UV resonance Raman spectra are observed for the refolding intermediates of horse apomyoglobin (h-apoMb) with a newly constructed mixed flow cell system, and the results are interpreted on the basis of the spectra observed for the equilibrium acid unfolding of the same protein. The dead time of mixing, which was determined with the appearance of UV Raman bands of imidazolium upon mixing of imidazole with acid, was 150 micros under the flow rate that was adopted. The pH-jump experiments of h-apoMb from pH 2.2 to 5.6 conducted with this device demonstrated the presence of three folding intermediates. On the basis of the analysis of W3 and W7 bands of Trp7 and Trp14, the first intermediate, formed before 250 micros, involved incorporation of Trp14 into the alpha-helix from a random coil. The frequency shift of the W3 band of Trp14 observed for this process was reproduced with a model peptide of the A helix when it forms the alpha-helix. In the second intermediate, formed around 1 ms after the start of refolding, the surroundings of both Trp7 and Trp14 were significantly hydrophobic, suggesting the formation of the hydrophobic core. In the third intermediate appearing around 3 ms, the hydrophobicity was relaxed to the same level as that of the pH 4 equilibrium intermediate, which was investigated in detail with the stationary state technique. The change from the third intermediate to the native state needs more time than 40 ms, while the appearance of the native spectrum after the mixing of the same solutions was confirmed separately.
Address (down) School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
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 0006-2960 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12022863 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3785
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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 (down) School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, 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:9332015 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2095
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Author Hall, C.A.; Cassaday, H.J.; Derrington, A.M.
Title The effect of stimulus height on visual discrimination in horses Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Journal of Animal Science Abbreviated Journal J. Anim Sci.
Volume 81 Issue 7 Pages 1715-1720
Keywords Animals; *Discrimination Learning/physiology; Female; Horses/physiology/*psychology; Male; Orientation; *Photic Stimulation; Vision/*physiology
Abstract This study investigated the effect of stimulus height on the ability of horses to learn a simple visual discrimination task. Eight horses were trained to perform a two-choice, black/white discrimination with stimuli presented at one of two heights: ground level or at a height of 70 cm from the ground. The height at which the stimuli were presented was alternated from one session to the next. All trials within a single session were presented at the same height. The criterion for learning was four consecutive sessions of 70% correct responses. Performance was found to be better when stimuli were presented at ground level with respect to the number of trials taken to reach the criterion (P < 0.05), percentage of correct first choices (P < 0.01), and repeated errors made (P < 0.01). Thus, training horses to carry out tasks of visual discrimination could be enhanced by placing the stimuli on the ground. In addition, the results of the present study suggest that the visual appearance of ground surfaces is an important factor in both horse management and training.
Address (down) School of Land-based Studies, Nottingham Trent University, Brackenhurst College Campus, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England NG25 0QF. carol.hall@ntu.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 0021-8812 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12854807 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 835
Permanent link to this record