toggle visibility Search & Display Options

Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print
  Records Links
Author Bates, L.A.; Sayialel, K.N.; Njiraini, N.W.; Poole, J.H.; Moss, C.J.; Byrne, R.W. doi  openurl
  Title African elephants have expectations about the locations of out-of-sight family members Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication (up) Biology Letters Abbreviated Journal Biol Lett  
  Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 34-36  
  Keywords elephants, olfaction, urine, individual recognition  
  Abstract Monitoring the location of conspecifics may be important to social mammals. Here, we use an expectancy-violation paradigm to test the ability of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to keep track of their social companions from olfactory cues. We presented elephants with samples of earth mixed with urine from female conspecifics that were either kin or unrelated to them, and either unexpected or highly predictable at that location. From behavioural measurements of the elephants' reactions, we show that African elephants can recognize up to 17 females and possibly up to 30 family members from cues present in the urine-earth mix, and that they keep track of the location of these individuals in relation to themselves.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved yes  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4332  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Dreier, S.; van Zweden, J.S.; D'Ettorre, P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Long-term memory of individual identity in ant queens Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication (up) Biology Letters Abbreviated Journal Biol Lett  
  Volume 3 Issue 5 Pages 459-462  
  Keywords Aggression; Animals; Ants/*physiology; Conditioning, Operant; Evolution; Female; *Memory; *Recognition (Psychology); Social Dominance  
  Abstract Remembering individual identities is part of our own everyday social life. Surprisingly, this ability has recently been shown in two social insects. While paper wasps recognize each other individually through their facial markings, the ant, Pachycondyla villosa, uses chemical cues. In both species, individual recognition is adaptive since it facilitates the maintenance of stable dominance hierarchies among individuals, and thus reduces the cost of conflict within these small societies. Here, we investigated individual recognition in Pachycondyla ants by quantifying the level of aggression between pairs of familiar or unfamiliar queens over time. We show that unrelated founding queens of P. villosa and Pachycondyla inversa store information on the individual identity of other queens and can retrieve it from memory after 24h of separation. Thus, we have documented for the first time that long-term memory of individual identity is present and functional in ants. This novel finding represents an advance in our understanding of the mechanism determining the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals.  
  Address Institute of Biology, Department of Population Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. sdreier@bi.ku.dk  
  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 1744-9561 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17594958 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4649  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Crowley, P.H.; Provencher, L.; Sloane, S.; Dugatkin, L.A.; Spohn, B.; Rogers, L.; Alfieri, M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Evolving cooperation: the role of individual recognition Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication (up) Biosystems Abbreviated Journal Biosystems  
  Volume 37 Issue 1-2 Pages 49-66  
  Keywords Game theory; Genetic algorithms; Individual recognition; Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma; Reciprocal altruism  
  Abstract To evaluate the role of individual recognition in the evolution of cooperation, we formulated and analyzed a genetic algorithm model (EvCo) for playing the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) game. Strategies compete against each other during each generation, and successful strategies contribute more of their attributes to the next generation. Each strategy is encoded on a `chromosome' that plays the IPD, responding to the sequences of most recent responses by the interacting individuals (chromosomes). The analysis reported in this paper considered different memory capabilities (one to five previous interactions), pairing continuities (pairs of individuals remain together for about one, two, five, or 1000 consecutive interactions), and types of individual recognition (recognition capability was maximal, nil, or allowed to evolve between these limits). Analysis of the results focused on the frequency of mutual cooperation in pairwise interactions (a good indicator of overall success in the IPD) and on the extent to which previous responses by the focal individual and its partner were associated with the partner's identity (individual recognition). Results indicated that a fixed, substantial amount of individual recognition could maintain high levels of mutual cooperation even at low pairing continuities, and a significant but limited capability for individual recognition evolved under selection. Recognition generally increased mutual cooperation more when the recent responses of individuals other than the current partner were ignored. Titrating recognition memory under selection using a fitness cost suggested that memory of the partner's previous responses was more valuable than memory of the focal's previous responses. The dynamics produced to date by EvCo are a step toward understanding the evolution of social networks, for which additional benefits associated with group interactions must be incorporated.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 483  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Macphail, E.M. doi  openurl
  Title Cognitive function in mammals: the evolutionary perspective Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication (up) Brain research. Cognitive brain research Abbreviated Journal Brain Res Cogn Brain Res  
  Volume 3 Issue 3-4 Pages 279-290  
  Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Conditioning (Psychology)/*physiology; Evolution; Humans; Learning/*physiology; Task Performance and Analysis  
  Abstract The work of behavioural pharmacologists has concentrated on small animals, such as rodents and pigeons. The validity of extrapolation of their findings to humans depends upon the existence of parallels in both physiology and psychology between these animals and humans. This paper considers the question whether there are in fact substantial cognitive parallels between, first, different non-human groups of vertebrates and, second, non-humans and humans. Behavioural data from 'simple' tasks, such as habituation and conditioning, do not point to species differences among vertebrates. Using examples that concentrate on the performance of rodents and birds, it is argued that, similarly, data from more complex tasks (learning-set formation, transitive inference, and spatial memory serve as examples) reveal few if any cognitive differences amongst non-human vertebrates. This conclusion supports the notion that association formation may be the critical problem-solving process available to non-human animals; associative mechanisms are assumed to have evolved to detect causal links between events, and would therefore be relevant in all ecological niches. In agreement with this view, recent advances in comparative neurology show striking parallels in functional organisation of mammalian and avian telencephalon. Finally, it is argued that although the peculiarly human capacity for language marks a large cognitive contrast between humans and non-humans, there is good evidence-in particular, from work on implicit learning--that the learning mechanisms available to non--humans are present and do play an important role in human cognition.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of York at Heslington, 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 0926-6410 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:8806029 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 603  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Shettleworth, S.J. doi  openurl
  Title Memory and hippocampal specialization in food-storing birds: challenges for research on comparative cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication (up) Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol  
  Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 108-116  
  Keywords Animals; Birds/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Color Perception/physiology; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Hippocampus/*physiology; Memory/*physiology; Species Specificity  
  Abstract The three-way association among food-storing behavior, spatial memory, and hippocampal enlargement in some species of birds is widely cited as an example of a new 'cognitive ecology' or 'neuroecology.' Whether this relationship is as strong as it first appears and whether it might be evidence for an adaptive specialization of memory and hippocampus in food-storers have recently been the subject of some controversy [Bolhuis and Macphail, 2001; Macphail and Bolhuis, 2001]. These critiques are based on misconceptions about the nature of adaptive specializations in cognition, misconceptions about the uniformity of results to be expected from applying the comparative method to data from a wide range of species, and a narrow view of what kinds of cognitive adaptations are theoretically interesting. New analyses of why food-storers (black-capped chickadees, Poecile Atricapilla) respond preferentially to spatial over color cues when both are relevant in a memory task show that this reflects a relative superiority of spatial memory as compared to memory for color rather than exceptional spatial attention or spatial discrimination ability. New studies of chickadees from more or less harsh winter climates also support the adaptive specialization hypothesis and suggest that within-species comparisons may be especially valuable for unraveling details of the relationships among ecology, memory, and brain in food-storing species.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca  
  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 0006-8977 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12937349 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 367  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Pepperberg, I.M. doi  openurl
  Title In search of king Solomon's ring: cognitive and communicative studies of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication (up) Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol  
  Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 54-67  
  Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; Attention/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Cues; Form Perception/physiology; Humans; Intelligence; Learning/physiology; Male; Models, Psychological; Parrots/*physiology; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Reward; Social Behavior  
  Abstract During the past 24 years, I have used a modeling technique (M/R procedure) to train Grey parrots to use an allospecific code (English speech) referentially; I then use the code to test their cognitive abilities. The oldest bird, Alex, labels more than 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities to 6, 3 categories (color, shape, material) and uses 'no', 'come here', wanna go X' and 'want Y' (X and Y are appropriate location or item labels). He combines labels to identify, request, comment upon or refuse more than 100 items and to alter his environment. He processes queries to judge category, relative size, quantity, presence or absence of similarity/difference in attributes, and show label comprehension. He semantically separates labeling from requesting. He thus exhibits capacities once presumed limited to humans or nonhuman primates. Studies on this and other Greys show that parrots given training that lacks some aspect of input present in M/R protocols (reference, functionality, social interaction) fail to acquire referential English speech. Examining how input affects the extent to which parrots acquire an allospecific code may elucidate mechanisms of other forms of exceptional learning: learning unlikely in the normal course of development but that can occur under certain conditions.  
  Address The MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu  
  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 0006-8977 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12097860 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 579  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Marino, L. doi  openurl
  Title Convergence of complex cognitive abilities in cetaceans and primates Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication (up) Brain, Behavior and Evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol  
  Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 21-32  
  Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Brain/physiology; Cerebral Cortex/physiology; Cetacea/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; Intelligence; Primates/*physiology  
  Abstract What examples of convergence in higher-level complex cognitive characteristics exist in the animal kingdom? In this paper I will provide evidence that convergent intelligence has occurred in two distantly related mammalian taxa. One of these is the order Cetacea (dolphins, whales and porpoises) and the other is our own order Primates, and in particular the suborder anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans). Despite a deep evolutionary divergence, adaptation to physically dissimilar environments, and very different neuroanatomical organization, some primates and cetaceans show striking convergence in social behavior, artificial 'language' comprehension, and self-recognition ability. Taken together, these findings have important implications for understanding the generality and specificity of those processes that underlie cognition in different species and the nature of the evolution of intelligence.  
  Address Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga. 30322, USA. lmarino@emory.edu  
  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 0006-8977 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12097858 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4158  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author McCoy, D.E.; Schiestl, M.; Neilands, P.; Hassall, R.; Gray, R.D.; Taylor, A.H. url  doi
openurl 
  Title New Caledonian Crows Behave Optimistically after Using Tools Type Journal Article
  Year 2019 Publication (up) Current Biology Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages  
  Keywords tool use; New Caledonian crows; optimism; cognitive bias; animal emotion; intrinsic motivation; comparative cognition  
  Abstract Summary Are complex, species-specific behaviors in animals reinforced by material reward alone or do they also induce positive emotions? Many adaptive human behaviors are intrinsically motivated: they not only improve our material outcomes, but improve our affect as well [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Work to date on animal optimism, as an indicator of positive affect, has generally focused on how animals react to change in their circumstances, such as when their environment is enriched [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] or they are manipulated by humans [15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23], rather than whether complex actions improve emotional state. Here, we show that wild New Caledonian crows are optimistic after tool use, a complex, species-specific behavior. We further demonstrate that this finding cannot be explained by the crows needing to put more effort into gaining food. Our findings therefore raise the possibility that intrinsic motivation (enjoyment) may be a fundamental proximate cause in the evolution of tool use and other complex behaviors. Video Abstract  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6581  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Hare, B.; Plyusnina, I.; Ignacio, N.; Schepina, O.; Stepika, A.; Wrangham, R.; Trut, L. doi  openurl
  Title Social cognitive evolution in captive foxes is a correlated by-product of experimental domestication Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication (up) Current biology : CB Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 226-230  
  Keywords Animals; *Animals, Domestic; Cognition/*physiology; *Cues; *Evolution; Foxes/*physiology; *Selection (Genetics); Social Behavior; Species Specificity  
  Abstract Dogs have an unusual ability for reading human communicative gestures (e.g., pointing) in comparison to either nonhuman primates (including chimpanzees) or wolves . Although this unusual communicative ability seems to have evolved during domestication , it is unclear whether this evolution occurred as a result of direct selection for this ability, as previously hypothesized , or as a correlated by-product of selection against fear and aggression toward humans--as is the case with a number of morphological and physiological changes associated with domestication . We show here that fox kits from an experimental population selectively bred over 45 years to approach humans fearlessly and nonaggressively (i.e., experimentally domesticated) are not only as skillful as dog puppies in using human gestures but are also more skilled than fox kits from a second, control population not bred for tame behavior (critically, neither population of foxes was ever bred or tested for their ability to use human gestures) . These results suggest that sociocognitive evolution has occurred in the experimental foxes, and possibly domestic dogs, as a correlated by-product of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression, and it is likely the observed social cognitive evolution did not require direct selection for improved social cognitive ability.  
  Address Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. hare@eva.mpg.de  
  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 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15694305 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 594  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Gould, J.L. doi  openurl
  Title Animal cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication (up) Current Biology : CB Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume 14 Issue 10 Pages R372-5  
  Keywords Animals; Awareness; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Concept Formation; Decision Making; Instinct; Intelligence/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Species Specificity  
  Abstract  
  Address Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. gould@princeton.edu  
  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 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15186759 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4169  
Permanent link to this record
Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print