| Records |
| Author |
Flack, J.C.; Girvan, M.; de Waal, F.B.M.; Krakauer, D.C. |
| Title |
Policing stabilizes construction of social niches in primates |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
439 |
Issue |
7075 |
Pages |
426-429 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Conflict (Psychology); Female; Macaca nemestrina/*physiology/*psychology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior |
| Abstract |
All organisms interact with their environment, and in doing so shape it, modifying resource availability. Termed niche construction, this process has been studied primarily at the ecological level with an emphasis on the consequences of construction across generations. We focus on the behavioural process of construction within a single generation, identifying the role a robustness mechanism--conflict management--has in promoting interactions that build social resource networks or social niches. Using 'knockout' experiments on a large, captive group of pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), we show that a policing function, performed infrequently by a small subset of individuals, significantly contributes to maintaining stable resource networks in the face of chronic perturbations that arise through conflict. When policing is absent, social niches destabilize, with group members building smaller, less diverse, and less integrated grooming, play, proximity and contact-sitting networks. Instability is quantified in terms of reduced mean degree, increased clustering, reduced reach, and increased assortativity. Policing not only controls conflict, we find it significantly influences the structure of networks that constitute essential social resources in gregarious primate societies. The structure of such networks plays a critical role in infant survivorship, emergence and spread of cooperative behaviour, social learning and cultural traditions. |
| Address |
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA. jflack@santafe.edu |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16437106 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
298 |
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| Author |
Agrillo, C.; Dadda, M.; Bisazza, A. |
| Title |
Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
10 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
63-70 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cognition; *Cyprinodontiformes; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Mathematics; *Pattern Recognition, Visual |
| Abstract |
The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates. |
| Address |
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. christian.agrillo@unipd.it |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16868736 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
339 |
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| Author |
Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.; Bergman, T.J. |
| Title |
Primate social cognition and the origins of language |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Trends in Cognitive Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends. Cognit. Sci. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
264-266 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; Humans; *Language; Papio; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Perception |
| Abstract |
Are the cognitive mechanisms underlying language unique, or can similar mechanisms be found in other domains? Recent field experiments demonstrate that baboons' knowledge of their companions' social relationships is based on discrete-valued traits (identity, rank, kinship) that are combined to create a representation of social relations that is hierarchically structured, open-ended, rule-governed, and independent of sensory modality. The mechanisms underlying language might have evolved from the social knowledge of our pre-linguistic primate ancestors. |
| Address |
Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1364-6613 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15925802 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
343 |
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| Author |
Cheney, D.; Seyfarth, R.; Smuts, B. |
| Title |
Social relationships and social cognition in nonhuman primates |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1986 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
234 |
Issue |
4782 |
Pages |
1361-1366 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; Female; Male; Pair Bond; Primates/*physiology; *Social Behavior; Social Dominance; Social Perception |
| Abstract |
Complex social relationships among nonhuman primates appear to contribute to individual reproductive success. Experiments with and behavioral observations of natural populations suggest that sophisticated cognitive mechanisms may underlie primate social relationships. Similar capacities are usually less apparent in the nonsocial realm, supporting the view that at least some aspects of primate intelligence evolved to solve the challenges of interacting with conspecifics. |
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English |
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0036-8075 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:3538419 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
349 |
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| Author |
Paz-y-Miño C. G.; Bond, A.B.; Kamil, A.C.; Balda, R.P. |
| Title |
Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
430 |
Issue |
7001 |
Pages |
778-781 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Group Structure; Male; *Social Dominance; Songbirds/*physiology |
| Abstract |
Living in large, stable social groups is often considered to favour the evolution of enhanced cognitive abilities, such as recognizing group members, tracking their social status and inferring relationships among them. An individual's place in the social order can be learned through direct interactions with others, but conflicts can be time-consuming and even injurious. Because the number of possible pairwise interactions increases rapidly with group size, members of large social groups will benefit if they can make judgments about relationships on the basis of indirect evidence. Transitive reasoning should therefore be particularly important for social individuals, allowing assessment of relationships from observations of interactions among others. Although a variety of studies have suggested that transitive inference may be used in social settings, the phenomenon has not been demonstrated under controlled conditions in animals. Here we show that highly social pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) draw sophisticated inferences about their own dominance status relative to that of strangers that they have observed interacting with known individuals. These results directly demonstrate that animals use transitive inference in social settings and imply that such cognitive capabilities are widespread among social species. |
| Address |
Center for Avian Cognition, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15306809 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @; Equine Behaviour @ team @ room B 3.029 |
Serial |
352 |
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| Author |
Gentner, T.Q.; Fenn, K.M.; Margoliash, D.; Nusbaum, H.C. |
| Title |
Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
440 |
Issue |
7088 |
Pages |
1204-1207 |
| Keywords |
Acoustic Stimulation; *Animal Communication; Animals; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Humans; *Language; Learning/*physiology; Linguistics; Models, Neurological; Semantics; Starlings/*physiology; Stochastic Processes |
| Abstract |
Humans regularly produce new utterances that are understood by other members of the same language community. Linguistic theories account for this ability through the use of syntactic rules (or generative grammars) that describe the acceptable structure of utterances. The recursive, hierarchical embedding of language units (for example, words or phrases within shorter sentences) that is part of the ability to construct new utterances minimally requires a 'context-free' grammar that is more complex than the 'finite-state' grammars thought sufficient to specify the structure of all non-human communication signals. Recent hypotheses make the central claim that the capacity for syntactic recursion forms the computational core of a uniquely human language faculty. Here we show that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) accurately recognize acoustic patterns defined by a recursive, self-embedding, context-free grammar. They are also able to classify new patterns defined by the grammar and reliably exclude agrammatical patterns. Thus, the capacity to classify sequences from recursive, centre-embedded grammars is not uniquely human. This finding opens a new range of complex syntactic processing mechanisms to physiological investigation. |
| Address |
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.edu |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16641998 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
353 |
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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 |
School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16710411 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
354 |
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| Author |
Ottoni, E.B.; de Resende, B.D.; Izar, P. |
| Title |
Watching the best nutcrackers: what capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) know about others' tool-using skills |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
8 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
215-219 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Cebus/*psychology; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Nuts; *Problem Solving |
| Abstract |
The present work is part of a decade-long study on the spontaneous use of stones for cracking hard-shelled nuts by a semi-free-ranging group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Nutcracking events are frequently watched by other individuals--usually younger, less proficient, and that are well tolerated to the point of some scrounging being allowed by the nutcracker. Here we report findings showing that the choice of observational targets is an active, non-random process, and that observers seem to have some understanding of the relative proficiency of their group mates, preferentially watching the more skilled nutcrackers, which enhances not only scrounging payoffs, but also social learning opportunities. |
| Address |
Laboratory of Cognitive Ethology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. ebottoni@usp.br |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15719240 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
355 |
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| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Animal behaviour: planning for breakfast |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
445 |
Issue |
7130 |
Pages |
825-826 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; *Food; Haplorhini/physiology; Memory/physiology; Songbirds/*physiology; Thinking/*physiology |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17314961 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
356 |
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| Author |
Ratcliffe, J.M.; Fenton, M.B.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Behavioral flexibility positively correlated with relative brain volume in predatory bats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Brain, behavior and evolution |
Abbreviated Journal |
Brain Behav Evol |
| Volume |
67 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
165-176 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Brain/*anatomy & histology/physiology; Chiroptera/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; Organ Size; Predatory Behavior/*physiology |
| Abstract |
We investigated the potential relationships between foraging strategies and relative brain and brain region volumes in predatory (animal-eating) echolocating bats. The species we considered represent the ancestral state for the order and approximately 70% of living bat species. The two dominant foraging strategies used by echolocating predatory bats are substrate-gleaning (taking prey from surfaces) and aerial hawking (taking airborne prey). We used species-specific behavioral, morphological, and ecological data to classify each of 59 predatory species as one of the following: (1) ground gleaning, (2) behaviorally flexible (i.e., known to both glean and hawk prey), (3) clutter tolerant aerial hawking, or (4) open-space aerial hawking. In analyses using both species level data and phylogenetically independent contrasts, relative brain size was larger in behaviorally flexible species. Further, relative neocortex volume was significantly reduced in bats that aerially hawk prey primarily in open spaces. Conversely, our foraging behavior index did not account for variability in hippocampus and inferior colliculus volume and we discuss these results in the context of past research. |
| Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. jmr247@cornell.edu |
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English |
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0006-8977 |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16415571 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
358 |
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