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	Author	McLean, A.N.
	Title	Cognitive abilities -- the result of selective pressures on food acquisition?			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2001	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	71	Issue	3	Pages	241-258
	Keywords	Adaptive intelligence; Animal cognition; Darwinian selection; Insightful learning
	Abstract	Locating and capturing food are suggested as significant selection pressures for the evolution of various cognitive abilities in mammals and birds. The hypothesis is proposed that aspects of food procuring behaviour should be strongly indicative of particular cognitive abilities. Experimental data concerning higher mental abilities in mammals and birds are reviewed. These data deal with self-recognition studies, rule-learning experiments, number concept, deceptive abilities, tool-use and observational learning. A Darwinian approach reveals: (1) the adaptiveness of particular abilities for particular niches, (2) that in complex foraging environments, increases in foraging efficiencies in animals should result from the evolution of particular cognitive abilities, (3) that phenomena such as convergent mental evolution should be expected to have taken place across taxonomic groups for species exploiting similar niches, (4) that divergence in mental ability should also have taken place where related species have exploited dissimilar niches. Experimental data of higher mental abilities in animals concur with a Darwinian explanation for the distribution of these cognitive abilities and no anomalies have been found. There are, as a consequence, significant implications for the welfare of animals subject to training when training methodology gives little or no consideration to the various mental abilities of species.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	2907
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	Author	Nicol, C.J.
	Title	The social transmission of information and behaviour			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1995	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	44	Issue	2-4	Pages	79-98
	Keywords	Social learning; Imitation; Social facilitation; Cultural transmission; Stereotypies
	Abstract	Social influences on established behaviour and on the acquisition of new information and behaviour are reviewed. Distinctions between social facilitation and contagious behaviour are drawn and suggestions for further research on contagious behaviour are made. Socially derived visual, olfactory and auditory cues are considered as important influences on behaviour and subsequent learning. The evidence supporting two potential mechanisms of social learning, i.e. stimulus enhancement followed by individual learning, and imitation, is reviewed in detail. It is argued that the functions of social learning are similarly heterogeneous and include motor skill acquisition, gathering of environmental information, and social conformity. Factors affecting the spread of socially acquired skills, including the social relationship between demonstrator and observer, are highlighted. Lastly, the few studies of social learning that have been conducted with domestic species are reviewed and potential applied goals that could stimulate further research in this area are suggested.
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	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	577
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	Author	Mendl, M.
	Title	Performing under pressure: stress and cognitive function			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1999	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	65	Issue	3	Pages	221-244
	Keywords	Stress; Cognition; Attention; Learning; Memory; Welfare
	Abstract	The way in which cognitive functioning is affected by stressors is an important area of research for applied ethologists because stress caused by captive conditions may disrupt cognitive processes and lead to welfare and husbandry problems. Such problems may be minimised through an understanding of the links between stress and cognition. The effects of stress on cognitive function have been studied in disciplines ranging from human perceptual psychology to animal neuroscience. The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to this research, focusing on the effects of stressors on attention, memory formation and memory recall. Findings from such a diverse literature with little apparent inter-disciplinary communication are inevitably complex and often contradictory. Nevertheless, some generalities do emerge. The idea that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between an individual's state of stress or arousal and its ability to perform a cognitive task effectively, the so-called Yerkes-Dodson law, is commonly encountered. The law has limited explanatory value because it is unlikely that different stressors act on cognitive function via the same intervening, non-specific state. Furthermore, the law only provides a very general description of the relationship between stress and cognitive function. Empirical research on attention and memory processes reveals more specific findings. Stressors appear to cause shifts, lapses and narrowing of attention, and can also influence decision speed. These processes may be viewed as serving an adaptive role helping the animal to search for and scrutinise a source of danger. There is conflicting evidence as to whether hormones involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress response play a part in these processes. These hormones and those involved in the sympathetic-adrenomedullary stress response do appear to play an important role in memory formation. Low or moderate concentrations of circulating glucocorticoids and catecholamines can enhance memory formation, while excessively high or prolonged elevations of these hormones can lead to memory disruption. The effects of stressors on memory recall are less clear. There is evidence for disruptive effects, and for facilitatory effects indicating state-dependent memory recall; events experienced under conditions of high arousal may be best recalled under similar conditions. Applied ethologists have the opportunity to extend work in this area, which often involves studies of single stressors/stress hormones acting in isolation and limited measures of cognitive function, by focusing on real-life husbandry stressors encountered by captive animals. This will yield fundamental information which also has direct relevance to animal welfare and management issues.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	393
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	Author	Clarke, J.V.; Nicol, C.J.; Jones, R.; McGreevy, P.D.
	Title	Effects of observational learning on food selection in horses			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1996	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	50	Issue	2	Pages	177-184
	Keywords	Horse; Observational learning; Food discrimination
	Abstract	Fourteen riding horses of mixed age and breed were randomly allocated to observer and control treatments. An additional horse was pre-trained as a demonstrator to walk the 13.8 m length of the test arena and select one of two food buckets using colour and pattern cues. Observer horses were exposed to correct performances of the task by the trained demonstrator, for 20 trials held over 2 days. Control horses were subjected to the same handling and placement procedures as the observer horses but without exposure to the behaviour of the demonstrator. The third day for all subjects was designated as a test day. Each subject was released individually in a predetermined place in the arena, and the latency to walk the length of the test arena to the food buckets, the latency to feed, the identity of the bucket approached and the identity of the bucket selected were recorded on ten consecutive trials. During tests both food buckets contained food to minimize the possibility of individual trial and error learning. On the first trial the mean latency to approach the goal area was 18 s for observer horses, compared with 119 s for control horses (t = 2.8, d.f. = 12, P < 0.01) and the mean latency to eat was 35 s for observer horses, compared with 181 s for control horses (t = 4.86, d.f. = 11, P < 0.001). However, observer horses were no more likely to choose the demonstrated bucket than control horses on the first trial. Twelve of the 14 horses decreased their latency to approach the goal area during the series of ten trials, but there were no significant changes in the buckets selected.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	563
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	Author	Lindberg, A.C.; Kelland, A.; Nicol, C.J.
	Title	Effects of observational learning on acquisition of an operant response in horses			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1999	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	61	Issue	3	Pages	187-199
	Keywords	Horse; Observational learning; Stereotyped behaviour; Operant behaviour; Breed influence; Age influence
	Abstract	The effect of observational learning on the acquisition of an operant response was examined in eighteen riding horses and ponies. The test horses were randomly divided into three groups of six and individually exposed to one of three treatments. An additional horse was trained as a demonstrator, to perform the operant response. The observer horses watched either the demonstrator performing the bin-opening response (Group D+B); the demonstrator standing passively (Group D); or the operant bin in the absence of the demonstrator (Group B). Observers had access to and were free to interact with an identical bin during testing. Observers in Groups D+B and D were socially familiar with the demonstrator. Each test horse was tested once a day for 10 days. An ANOVA revealed no significant differences between treatment groups in the number of responses or the time taken to reach the learning criterion. However, there were highly significant differences between breed types, with non-warmbloods performing more bouts of opening the bin and feeding (p=0.02), feeding from the bin sooner (p=0.01) and reaching the criterion for learning sooner than warmbloods (p=0.05). There was also a significant negative linear relationship between horses' ages and time spent investigating the bin, with younger horses performing more investigative behaviour (y=-3.08x+106.86; p=0.02).
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	562
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	Author	Slabbert, J.M.; Rasa, O.A.E.
	Title	Observational learning of an acquired maternal behaviour pattern by working dog pups: an alternative training method?			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1997	Publication	Applied Animal Behaviour Science	Abbreviated Journal	Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
	Volume	53	Issue	4	Pages	309-316
	Keywords	Dog; Learning; Parental behaviour; Narcotics
	Abstract	German shepherd pups from untrained bitches and bitches trained in the location of narcotics were either separated from their mothers at 6 weeks (standard raised) or at 3 months of age (extended maternal care). Pups with extended maternal care which were allowed to observe their trained mothers locating and retrieving a sachet of odour-producing narcotic between the ages of 6 and 12 weeks performed the same task significantly better than non-exposed pups when tested at the age of 6 months, without further reinforcement during the interim period. This difference in performance was independent of the duration of maternal care or maternal origin of the pups and was attributed to differences in early experience acquired through observational learning.
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	ISSN	0168-1591	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	5225
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	Author	Murphy, J.; Arkins, S.
	Title	Equine learning behaviour			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2007	Publication	Behavioural Processes	Abbreviated Journal	Behav. Process.
	Volume	76	Issue	1	Pages	1-13
	Keywords	Horse; Behaviour; Learning; Processes; Memory
	Abstract	Scientists and equestrians continually seek to achieve a clearer understanding of equine learning behaviour and its implications for training. Behavioural and learning processes in the horse are likely to influence not only equine athletic success but also the usefulness of the horse as a domesticated species. However given the status and commercial importance of the animal, equine learning behaviour has received only limited investigation. Indeed most experimental studies on equine cognitive function to date have addressed behaviour, learning and conceptualisation processes at a moderately basic cognitive level compared to studies in other species. It is however, likely that the horses with the greatest ability to learn and form/understand concepts are those, which are better equipped to succeed in terms of the human-horse relationship and the contemporary training environment. Within equitation generally, interpretation of the behavioural processes and training of the desired responses in the horse are normally attempted using negative reinforcement strategies. On the other hand, experimental designs to actually induce and/or measure equine learning rely almost exclusively on primary positive reinforcement regimes. Employing two such different approaches may complicate interpretation and lead to difficulties in identifying problematic or undesirable behaviours in the horse. The visual system provides the horse with direct access to immediate environmental stimuli that affect behaviour but vision in the horse is of yet not fully investigated or understood. Further investigations of the equine visual system will benefit our understanding of equine perception, cognitive function and the subsequent link with learning and training. More detailed comparative investigations of feral or free-ranging and domestic horses may provide useful evidence of attention, stress and motivational issues affecting behavioural and learning processes in the horse. The challenge for scientists is, as always, to design and commission experiments that will investigate and provide insight into these processes in a manner that withstands scientific scrutiny.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	629
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	Author	Anderson, J.R.; Fornasieri, I.; Ludes, E.; Roeder, J.-J.
	Title	Social processes and innovative behaviour in changing groups of lemur fulvus			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1992	Publication	Behavioural Processes	Abbreviated Journal	Behav. Process.
	Volume	27	Issue	2	Pages	101-112
	Keywords	Social learning; Lemur fulvus; Dominance; Individual differences
	Abstract	A group of brown lemurs was presented with one or two baited food-boxes requiring a specific type of motor response in order to be opened. Subsequently, four groups containing different combinations of experienced individuals from the original group and naive individuals were tested. Solutions to the problem and access to the food were recorded and considered in relation to social factors. In the original group, two adult males learned to open the boxes, with one male increasingly preventing the other from approaching. In the second group, with the subordinate male and certain females removed, the dominant male tolerated successful performances by a juvenile female. Group 3 consisted of three passive female participants from the original group and a naive female; one of the three original females now became the sole box-opener. The introduction of the subordinate male from the original group into the all-female group led to a sharing of box-opening by this subject and the skilled female. In the final group, intense aggression toward the skilled female by a new, naive adult male resulted in two previously passive females succeeding on some occasions. In lemurs, at least some `scroungers' appear able to learn to perform a new act when the social context permits.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	refbase @ user @			Serial	576
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	Author	Petherick, J.C.; Seawright, E.; Waddington, D.
	Title	Influence of motivational state on choice of food or a dustbathing/foraging substrate by domestic hens			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1993	Publication	Behavioural Processes	Abbreviated Journal	Behav. Process.
	Volume	28	Issue	3	Pages	209-220
	Keywords	Food; Learning; Litter; Motivation; Poultry; Preference
	Abstract	Domestic hens were trained to run a Y-maze and make an association between differently coloured doorways and access to food pellets or sand. The hens were tested for their choice of doorway when the goals were not visible from the choice point and when they were food or sand deprived. Hens made the choice appropriate to their deprivation state (correct choice) significantly more often for food than sand and were faster at choosing and entering the goal box when food deprived. In a follow up experiment, the goals were visible from the choice point. Again the hens chose correctly significantly more often when food than sand deprived and made the choice and entered the goal box faster when food deprived. Thus, failure to choose sand in the first experiment was not due to an inability to learn the association, but appears to result from a strong motivation to feed in the Y-maze, even when not food deprived, and a weak motivation to dustbathe or forage, even when sand deprived.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	3608
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	Author	Petherick, J.C.; Waddington, D.; Duncan, I.J.H.
	Title	Learning to gain access to a foraging and dustbathing substrate by domestic fowl: is `out of sight out of mind'?			Type	Journal Article
	Year	1991	Publication	Behavioural Processes	Abbreviated Journal	Behav. Process.
	Volume	22	Issue	3	Pages	213-226
	Keywords	Domestic fowl; Dustbathing; Welfare; Learning; Cognition
	Abstract	Domestic fowl were deprived of the opportunity to perform litter-related behaviour for three or four days and were tested in a Y-maze (which they had previously been trained to run) for their ability to associate a coloured cue with gaining access to peat. When the goal boxes were within sight of the choice point, most birds chose peat. However, when the birds had to rely solely on the coloured cue only one bird from 12 showed learning. However, the birds seemed to have some expectation of a reward, as they ran faster if, on the previous trial, they had chosen peat. The inability of the birds to learn the association may have been an artefact of the schedule of deprivation and testing, for when they were hungry and tested in the same way they were again unable to learn an association between the same coloured cue and food reward. The experiment with peat was repeated using “massed” trials (several trials in immediate succession) during training and testing and six from 15 birds showed learning. These results suggest that the initial failure to learn was probably due to the training and testing schedule, that access to peat appears to be rewarding and that hens can learn an association between an abstract cue and a rewarding consequence. This is consistent with the possibility that domestic fowls may have some cognitive representation of peat when it is out of sight.
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	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	3609
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