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Author Sarter, M.
Title Animal cognition: defining the issues Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Abbreviated Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev
Volume 28 Issue 7 Pages 645-650
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Humans; *Models, Animal; Psychopharmacology/methods; Reproducibility of Results
Abstract The assessment of cognitive functions in rodents represents a critical experimental variable in many research fields, ranging from the basic cognitive neurosciences to psychopharmacology and neurotoxicology. The increasing use of animal behavioral tests as 'assays' for the assessment of effects on learning and memory has resulted in a considerable heterogeneity of data, particularly in the field of behavioral and psycho pharmacology. The limited predictive validity of changes in behavioral performance observed in standard animal tests of learning and memory indicates that a renewed effort to scrutinize the validity of these tests is warranted. In humans, levels of processing (effortful vs. automatic) and categories of information (procedural vs. episodic/declarative) are important variables of cognitive operations. The design of tasks that assess the recall of 'episodic' or 'declarative' information appears to represent a particular challenge for research using laboratory rodents. For example, the hypothesis that changes in inspection time for a previously encountered place or object are based on the recall of declarative/episodic information requires substantiation. In order to generalize findings on the effects of neuronal or pharmacological manipulations on learning and memory, obtained from one species and one task, to other species and other tasks, the mediating role of important sets of variables which influence learning and memory (e.g. attentional, affective) needs to be determined. Similar to the view that a neuronal manipulation (e.g. a lesion) represents a theory of the condition modeled (e.g. a degenerative disorder), an animal behavioral task represents a theory of the behavioral/cognitive process of interest. Therefore, the test of hypotheses regarding the validity of procedures used to assess cognitive functions in animals is an inherent part of the research process.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 4032 East Hall, 525 E. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA. msarter@umich.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 0149-7634 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15555674 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2804
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Author Branchi, I.; Bichler, Z.; Berger-Sweeney, J.; Ricceri, L.
Title Animal models of mental retardation: from gene to cognitive function Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Abbreviated Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev
Volume 27 Issue 1-2 Pages 141-153
Keywords Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified/growth & development; Behavior/physiology; Behavior, Animal; Brain/*growth & development; Cognition/*physiology; *Disease Models, Animal; Environment; Genes; Genetic Diseases, Inborn/physiopathology; Humans; Mental Retardation/classification/*genetics/*physiopathology
Abstract About 2-3% of all children are affected by mental retardation, and genetic conditions rank among the leading causes of mental retardation. Alterations in the information encoded by genes that regulate critical steps of brain development can disrupt the normal course of development, and have profound consequences on mental processes. Genetically modified mouse models have helped to elucidate the contribution of specific gene alterations and gene-environment interactions to the phenotype of several forms of mental retardation. Mouse models of several neurodevelopmental pathologies, such as Down and Rett syndromes and X-linked forms of mental retardation, have been developed. Because behavior is the ultimate output of brain, behavioral phenotyping of these models provides functional information that may not be detectable using molecular, cellular or histological evaluations. In particular, the study of ontogeny of behavior is recommended in mouse models of disorders having a developmental onset. Identifying the role of specific genes in neuropathologies provides a framework in which to understand key stages of human brain development, and provides a target for potential therapeutic intervention.
Address Section of Behavioural Pathophysiology, Laboratorio di Fisiopatologia di Organo e di Sistema, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italy. branchi@iss.it
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 0149-7634 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12732230 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2805
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Author Milgram, N.W.; Head, E.; Muggenburg, B.; Holowachuk, D.; Murphey, H.; Estrada, J.; Ikeda-Douglas, C.J.; Zicker, S.C.; Cotman, C.W.
Title Landmark discrimination learning in the dog: effects of age, an antioxidant fortified food, and cognitive strategy Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Abbreviated Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev
Volume 26 Issue 6 Pages 679-695
Keywords Age Factors; Aging/*physiology; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Antioxidants/*pharmacology; Blood Chemical Analysis/methods; Cognition/*physiology; *Diet; Discrimination Learning/*drug effects/*physiology; Distance Perception/drug effects/physiology; Dogs/physiology; Female; Male; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Retention (Psychology)/drug effects/physiology; Spatial Behavior/*drug effects/*physiology; Task Performance and Analysis; Time Factors; Vitamin E/blood
Abstract The landmark discrimination learning test can be used to assess the ability to utilize allocentric spatial information to locate targets. The present experiments examined the role of various factors on performance of a landmark discrimination learning task in beagle dogs. Experiments 1 and 2 looked at the effects of age and food composition. Experiments 3 and 4 were aimed at characterizing the cognitive strategies used in performance on this task and in long-term retention. Cognitively equivalent groups of old and young dogs were placed into either a test group maintained on food enriched with a broad-spectrum of antioxidants and mitochondrial cofactors, or a control group maintained on a complete and balanced food formulated for adult dogs. Following a wash-in period, the dogs were tested on a series of problems, in which reward was obtained when the animal responded selectively to the object closest to a thin wooden block, which served as a landmark. In Experiment 1, dogs were first trained to respond to a landmark placed directly on top of coaster, landmark 0 (L0). In the next phase of testing, the landmark was moved at successively greater distances (1, 4 or 10 cm) away from the reward object. Learning varied as a function of age group, food group, and task. The young dogs learned all of the tasks more quickly than the old dogs. The aged dogs on the enriched food learned L0 significantly more rapidly than aged dogs on control food. A higher proportion of dogs on the enriched food learned the task, when the distance was increased to 1cm. Experiment 2 showed that accuracy decreased with increased distance between the reward object and landmark, and this effect was greater in old animals. Experiment 3 showed stability of performance, despite using a novel landmark, and new locations, indicating that dogs learned the landmark concept. Experiment 4 found age impaired long-term retention of the landmark task. These results indicate that allocentric spatial learning is impaired in an age-dependent manner in dogs, and that age also affects performance when the distance between the landmark and target is increased. In addition, these results both support a role of oxidative damage in the development of age-associated cognitive dysfunction and indicate that short-term administration of a food enriched with supplemental antioxidants and mitochondrial cofactors can partially reverse the deleterious effects of aging on cognition.
Address Life Science Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ont., Canada M1C 1A4. milgram@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 0149-7634 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12479842 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2806
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Author Heschl, A.; Burkart, J.
Title A new mark test for mirror self-recognition in non-human primates Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Primates Abbreviated Journal Primates
Volume 47 Issue 3 Pages 187-198
Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Callithrix/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology; Female; Male; Photic Stimulation; *Self Concept
Abstract For 30 years Gallup's (Science 167:86-87, 1970) mark test, which consists of confronting a mirror-experienced test animal with its own previously altered mirror image, usually a color mark on forehead, eyebrow or ear, has delivered valuable results about the distribution of visual self-recognition in non-human primates. Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and, less frequently, gorillas can learn to correctly understand the reflection of their body in a mirror. However, the standard version of the mark test is good only for positively proving the existence of self-recognition. Conclusive statements about the lack of self-recognition are more difficult because of the methodological constraints of the test. This situation has led to a persistent controversy about the power of Gallup's original technique. We devised a new variant of the test which permits more unequivocal decisions about both the presence and absence of self-recognition. This new procedure was tested with marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), following extensive training with mirror-related tasks to facilitate performance in the standard mark test. The results show that a slightly altered mark test with a new marking substance (chocolate cream) can help to reliably discriminate between true negative results, indicating a real lack of ability to recognize oneself in a mirror, from false negative results that are due to methodological particularities of the standard test. Finally, an evolutionary hypothesis is put forward as to why many primates can use a mirror instrumentally – i.e. know how to use it for grasping at hidden objects – while failing in the decisive mark test.
Address Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Adolf Lorenz Gasse 2, 3422, Altenberg, Austria. adolf.heschl@uni-graz.at
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 0032-8332 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16432640 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2810
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Author Hampton, R.R.
Title Rhesus monkeys know when they remember Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 98 Issue 9 Pages 5359-5362
Keywords Animals; Choice Behavior/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Cues; Food Preferences/psychology; Macaca mulatta/*physiology/*psychology; Male; Memory/*physiology; Probability; Psychological Tests; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity
Abstract Humans are consciously aware of some memories and can make verbal reports about these memories. Other memories cannot be brought to consciousness, even though they influence behavior. This conspicuous difference in access to memories is central in taxonomies of human memory systems but has been difficult to document in animal studies, suggesting that some forms of memory may be unique to humans. Here I show that rhesus macaque monkeys can report the presence or absence of memory. Although it is probably impossible to document subjective, conscious properties of memory in nonverbal animals, this result objectively demonstrates an important functional parallel with human conscious memory. Animals able to discern the presence and absence of memory should improve accuracy if allowed to decline memory tests when they have forgotten, and should decline tests most frequently when memory is attenuated experimentally. One of two monkeys examined unequivocally met these criteria under all test conditions, whereas the second monkey met them in all but one case. Probe tests were used to rule out “cueing” by a wide variety of environmental and behavioral stimuli, leaving detection of the absence of memory per se as the most likely mechanism underlying the monkeys' abilities to selectively decline memory tests when they had forgotten.
Address Section on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 49, Room 1B-80, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. robert@ln.nimh.nih.gov
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 0027-8424 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11274360 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2824
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Author Rizzolatti, G.; Fogassi, L.; Gallese, V.
Title Mirrors of the mind Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Scientific American Abbreviated Journal Sci Am
Volume 295 Issue 5 Pages 54-61
Keywords Animals; Brain/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology; Emotions/physiology; Humans; Imitative Behavior; Learning/*physiology; Mental Processes/*physiology; Motor Activity/physiology; Neurons/physiology; Recognition (Psychology); Sensation/physiology
Abstract
Address Neurosciences Department, University of Parma, Italy
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 0036-8733 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17076084 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2829
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Author Gomez, J.-C.
Title Species comparative studies and cognitive development Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 118-125
Keywords Animals; Attention/physiology; Brain/*growth & development; Child, Preschool; Cognition/*physiology; Concept Formation/physiology; Dogs; Evolution; Fixation, Ocular; Gorilla gorilla; Humans; Infant; Learning/*physiology; Macaca mulatta; Mental Recall/physiology; Personal Construct Theory; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract The comparative study of infant development and animal cognition brings to cognitive science the promise of insights into the nature and origins of cognitive skills. In this article, I review a recent wave of comparative studies conducted with similar methodologies and similar theoretical frameworks on how two core components of human cognition--object permanence and gaze following--develop in different species. These comparative findings call for an integration of current competing accounts of developmental change. They further suggest that evolution has produced developmental devices capable at the same time of preserving core adaptive components, and opening themselves up to further adaptive change, not only in interaction with the external environment, but also in interaction with other co-developing cognitive systems.
Address Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY15 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 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15737820 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2851
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Author Matsushima, T.; Izawa, E.-I.; Aoki, N.; Yanagihara, S.
Title The mind through chick eyes: memory, cognition and anticipation Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Zoological Science Abbreviated Journal Zoolog Sci
Volume 20 Issue 4 Pages 395-408
Keywords Animals; Birds/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Brain/anatomy & histology/cytology/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Memory/*physiology; Perception/physiology
Abstract To understand the animal mind, we have to reconstruct how animals recognize the external world through their own eyes. For the reconstruction to be realistic, explanations must be made both in their proximate causes (brain mechanisms) as well as ultimate causes (evolutionary backgrounds). Here, we review recent advances in the behavioral, psychological, and system-neuroscience studies accomplished using the domestic chick as subjects. Diverse behavioral paradigms are compared (such as filial imprinting, sexual imprinting, one-trial passive avoidance learning, and reinforcement operant conditioning) in their behavioral characterizations (development, sensory and motor aspects of functions, fitness gains) and relevant brain mechanisms. We will stress that common brain regions are shared by these distinct paradigms, particularly those in the ventral telencephalic structures such as AIv (in the archistriatum) and LPO (in the medial striatum). Neuronal ensembles in these regions could code the chick's anticipation for forthcoming events, particularly the quality/quantity and the temporal proximity of rewards. Without the internal representation of the anticipated proximity in LPO, behavioral tolerance will be lost, and the chick makes impulsive choice for a less optimized option. Functional roles of these regions proved compatible with their anatomical counterparts in the mammalian brain, thus suggesting that the neural systems linking between the memorized past and the anticipated future have remained highly conservative through the evolution of the amniotic vertebrates during the last 300 million years. With the conservative nature in mind, research efforts should be oriented toward a unifying theory, which could explain behavioral deviations from optimized foraging, such as “naive curiosity,” “contra-freeloading,” “Concorde fallacy,” and “altruism.”
Address Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan. matusima@agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp
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 0289-0003 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12719641 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2858
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Author Marino, L.
Title Convergence of complex cognitive abilities in cetaceans and primates Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication 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
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Author Gould, J.L.
Title Animal cognition Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication 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
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