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Author van der Willigen, R.F.; Frost, B.J.; Wagner, H. doi  openurl
  Title How owls structure visual information Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages 39-55  
  Keywords Animals; *Cognition; Depth Perception; Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Strigiformes; *Visual Perception  
  Abstract Recent studies on perceptual organization in humans claim that the ability to represent a visual scene as a set of coherent surfaces is of central importance for visual cognition. We examined whether this surface representation hypothesis generalizes to a non-mammalian species, the barn owl ( Tyto alba). Discrimination transfer combined with random-dot stimuli provided the appropriate means for a series of two behavioural experiments with the specific aims of (1) obtaining psychophysical measurements of figure-ground segmentation in the owl, and (2) determining the nature of the information involved. In experiment 1, two owls were trained to indicate the presence or absence of a central planar surface (figure) among a larger region of random dots (ground) based on differences in texture. Without additional training, the owls could make the same discrimination when figure and ground had reversed luminance, or were camouflaged by the use of uniformly textured random-dot stereograms. In the latter case, the figure stands out in depth from the ground when positional differences of the figure in two retinal images are combined (binocular disparity). In experiment 2, two new owls were trained to distinguish three-dimensional objects from holes using random-dot kinematograms. These birds could make the same discrimination when information on surface segmentation was unexpectedly switched from relative motion to half-occlusion. In the latter case, stereograms were used that provide the impression of stratified surfaces to humans by giving unpairable image features to the eyes. The ability to use image features such as texture, binocular disparity, relative motion, and half-occlusion interchangeably to determine figure-ground relationships suggests that in owls, as in humans, the structuring of the visual scene critically depends on how indirect image information (depth order, occlusion contours) is allocated between different surfaces.  
  Address Institut fur Biologie II, RWTH Aachen, Kopernikusstrasse 16, 52074, Aachen, Germany. willigen@bio2.rwth-aachen.de  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language (up) 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:12658534 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2582  
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Author Ray, E.D.; Heyes, C.M. doi  openurl
  Title Do rats in a two-action test encode movement egocentrically or allocentrically? Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 245-252  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Discrimination Learning; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Random Allocation; Rats/physiology/*psychology; Smell  
  Abstract Two-action tests of imitation compare groups that observe topographically different responses to a common manipulandum. The general aim of the two experiments reported here was to find a demonstrator-consistent responding effect in a procedure that could be elaborated to investigate aspects of what was learned about the demonstrated lever response. Experiment 1 was a pilot study with rats of a variant of the two-action method of investigating social learning about observed responses. Groups of observer rats ( Rattus norvegicus) saw a demonstrator push a lever up or down for a food reward. When these observers were subsequently given access to the lever and rewarded for responses in both directions, their directional preferences were compared with two 'screen control' groups that were unable to see their demonstrators' behaviour. Demonstrator-consistent responding was found to be restricted to observers that were able to see demonstrator performance, suggesting that scent cues alone were insufficient to cue a preference for the demonstrators' response direction and thereby that the rats learned by observation about body movements (imitation) or lever movement (emulation). Experiment 2 assessed responding on two levers, one that had been manipulated by the demonstrator, and a second, transposed lever positioned some distance away. Demonstrator-consistent responding was abolished when actions were observed and performed in different parts of the apparatus, suggesting that observed movement was encoded allocentrically with respect to the apparatus rather than egocentrically with respect to the actor's body. With particular reference to the influence of scent cues, the results are discussed in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of this and other varieties of the two-action procedure as tests of imitation in animals and human infants.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. e.ray@ucl.ac.uk  
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  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12461602 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2588  
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Author Pepperberg, I.M. doi  openurl
  Title The value of the Piagetian framework for comparative cognitive studies Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 177-182  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; Discrimination Learning; *Intelligence; *Models, Psychological; *Models, Theoretical  
  Abstract Although the Piagetian framework has been used by numerous researchers to compare cognitive abilities of diverse species, the system is often criticized as implemented. I examine the various criticisms, suggest ways in which the system can be improved, and argue for the need for descriptive systems such as the Piagetian framework to complement programs that look for cellular and molecular bases or mathematical models to explain behavior.  
  Address School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357290 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2595  
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Author Funk, M.S. doi  openurl
  Title Problem solving skills in young yellow-crowned parakeets (Cyanoramphus auriceps) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 167-176  
  Keywords Animals; *Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Motor Skills; *Parakeets; Play and Playthings; *Problem Solving; Social Behavior  
  Abstract Despite the long divergent evolutionary history of birds and mammals, early avian and primate cognitive development have many convergent features. Some of these features were investigated with a series of tasks designed to assess human infant development. The tasks were presented to young parakeets to assess their means-end problem solving abilities. Examples of these early skills are: attaining and playing with objects, retrieving rewards through use of a stick or rake, or by pulling in rewards on supports or on the ends of strings. Twelve such tasks were presented to 11 young yellow-crowned parakeets ( Cyanoramphus auriceps) to investigate their natural abilities; there was no attempt to train them to do those tasks that they did not spontaneously perform. Six of the birds were parent-raised and five were hand-raised. The birds completed 9 of the 12 tasks, demonstrating all the Piagetian sensorimotor circular reactions, but they failed to hand-watch (“claw-watch”), to stack objects, or to fill a container. Their ordinality on the tasks differed from that of human infants in that locomotion to obtain objects occurred earlier in the avian sequence of development and the mid-level tasks were performed by the two groups of avian subjects in a mixed order perhaps indicating that these abilities may not emerge in any particular order for these birds as they supposedly do for human infants. The hand-raised group needed fewer sessions to complete these means-end tasks.  
  Address Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. mdfunk@northwestern.edu  
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  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357289 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2596  
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Author Hauber, M.E.; Pearson, H.E.; Reh, A.; Merges, A. doi  openurl
  Title Discrimination between host songs by brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 129-137  
  Keywords Animals; *Auditory Perception; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; Sexual Behavior; *Songbirds; *Vocalization, Animal  
  Abstract Songbirds can learn both to produce and to discriminate between different classes of acoustic stimuli. Varying levels of auditory discrimination may improve the fitness of individuals in certain ecological and social contexts and, thus, selection is expected to mold the cognitive abilities of different species according to the potential benefits of acoustic processing. Although fine-scale auditory discrimination of conspecific songs and calls has been frequently reported for brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater), it remains unclear why and how they perceive differently the songs of their many host species. Using habituation-dishabituation paradigms and measuring behavioral and physiological (heart-rate) responses, we found that captive female cowbirds consistently discriminated between songs of two host species, the song sparrow ( Melospiza melodia) and the red-winged blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus). Playback experiments with stimuli composed of con-specific followed by heterospecific vocalizations in the field also demonstrated discrimination between these heterospecific songs even though cowbirds were not attracted to playbacks of either host species' songs alone. Our results do not directly support a nest-searching function of heterospecific song discrimination by cowbirds and are most consistent with a function of the parasites' avoidance of attacks by their aggressive hosts. These data demonstrate discrimination between heterospecific vocalizations by brown-headed cowbirds and add a novel dimension to the already expansive auditory perceptual abilities of brood parasitic species and other songbirds.  
  Address Field Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell, University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. hauberm@socrates.berkeley.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12357285 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2600  
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Author Goto, K.; Lea, S.E.G.; Dittrich, W.H. doi  openurl
  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 School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Laboratories, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. K.Goto@exeter.ac.uk  
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  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 Treichler, F.R.; Van Tilburg, D. doi  openurl
  Title Premise-pair training for valid tests of serial list organization in macaques Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 97-105  
  Keywords Animals; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Macaca/*psychology; *Memory  
  Abstract This study evaluated the role of several different training procedures on (1) efficiency of acquisition and (2) organizational characteristics of memory for lists that could be serially ordered. Five macaque monkeys were trained via two-choice object discriminations in a formboard apparatus on several five-item-series tasks that provided different levels of intrasession conditionality. Although ease of acquisition differed for subsets of the constituent pairs, concurrent inclusion of the four premise pairs that defined a list required equivalent amounts of training on every task. All training procedures yielded similar retention-test performances and showed common organizational properties (on both error and latency measures) consistent with the view that lists were retained as internally represented ordered series. Test outcomes emphasized the need for integrated exposition of all concurrent conditional relationships to allow appropriate tests of serial organization. However, if given such training, the monkeys revealed integrated serial memory even though they had never seen many of the possible novel combinations of list items. In overview, their performances offered further definition of the procedures required for valid assessment of inferential properties in comparative cognition.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA. rtreichl@kent.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12150042 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2602  
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Author Hopkins, W.D.; Washburn, D.A. doi  openurl
  Title Matching visual stimuli on the basis of global and local features by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 27-31  
  Keywords Animals; Discrimination Learning; Facial Expression; Female; Macaca mulatta/physiology/*psychology; Male; Pan troglodytes/physiology/*psychology; Perceptual Masking; Social Perception; Visual Perception/*physiology  
  Abstract This study was designed to examine whether chimpanzees and monkeys exhibit a global-to-local precedence in the processing of hierarchically organized compound stimuli, as has been reported for humans. Subjects were tested using a sequential matching-to-sample paradigm using stimuli that differed on the basis of their global configuration or local elements, or on both perceptual attributes. Although both species were able to discriminate stimuli on the basis of their global configuration or local elements, the chimpanzees exhibited a global-to-local processing strategy, whereas the rhesus monkeys exhibited a local-to-global processing strategy. The results suggest that perceptual and attentional mechanisms underlying information-processing strategies may account for differences in learning by primates.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Berry College, Mount Berry, GA 30149, USA. whopkins@berry.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11957399 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2613  
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Author Aust, U.; Huber, L. doi  openurl
  Title Picture-object recognition in pigeons: evidence of representational insight in a visual categorization task using a complementary information procedure Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 190-195  
  Keywords Animals; Classification; *Cognition; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; *Form Perception; *Generalization (Psychology); Humans; Perceptual Closure; Photic Stimulation; Photography; *Recognition (Psychology)  
  Abstract Success in tasks requiring categorization of pictorial stimuli does not prove that a subject understands what the pictures stand for. The ability to achieve representational insight is by no means a trivial one because it exceeds mere detection of 2-D features present in both the pictorial images and their referents. So far, evidence for such an ability in nonhuman species is weak and inconclusive. Here, the authors report evidence of representational insight in pigeons. After being trained on pictures of incomplete human figures, the birds responded significantly more to pictures of the previously missing parts than to nonrepresentative stimuli, which demonstrates that they actually recognized the pictures' representational content.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Austria. ulrike.aust@univie.ac.at  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16634663 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2759  
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Author Washburn, D.A.; Smith, J.D.; Shields, W.E. doi  openurl
  Title Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) immediately generalize the uncertain response Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 185-189  
  Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; *Generalization (Psychology); Macaca mulatta/*psychology; Male; *Uncertainty  
  Abstract Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) have learned, like humans, to use an uncertain response adaptively under test conditions that create uncertainty, suggesting a metacognitive process by which human and nonhuman primates may monitor their confidence and alter their behavior accordingly. In this study, 4 rhesus monkeys generalized their use of the uncertain response, without additional training, to 2 familiar tasks (2-choice discrimination learning and mirror-image matching to sample) that predictably and demonstrably produce uncertainty. The monkeys were significantly less likely to use the uncertain response on trials in which the answer might be known. These results indicate that monkeys, like humans, know when they do not know and that they can learn to use a symbol as a generalized means for indicating their uncertainty.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, 30303, USA. dwashhburn@gsu.edu  
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  ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16634662 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2760  
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