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| Author | Rørvang, M.V.; Ahrendt, L.P.; Christensen, J.W. | ||||
| Title | A trained demonstrator has a calming effect on naïve horses when crossing a novel surface | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 171 | Issue | Pages | 117-120 | |
| Keywords | Fear; Habituation; Social learning; Social transmission; Heart rate | ||||
| Abstract | Abstract Habituated horses have been found to have a calming effect on conspecifics in fear-eliciting situations. In practice, experienced horses are often used as companions when young horses are introduced to potentially frightening situations, like loading onto a trailer. However, studies of social transmission of habituation in horses are scarce. This study investigated if demonstration by a habituated demonstrator horse influenced the willingness of young Icelandic horses (n = 22, 3 years old) to cross a novel surface. Observer horses (n = 11) were allowed to observe the similarly aged demonstrator horse being led five times across a novel surface. Immediately afterwards the observer horses were given the opportunity to cross the novel surface themselves to obtain food on the other side. Controls (n = 11) were allowed to observe the demonstrator eating on the opposite side of the novel surface but not the demonstration of crossing the novel surface. All observers and controls succeeded the task, but observers had significantly lower average and maximum heart rate, compared to controls. This result suggests a calming effect of the demonstration, which could be exploited for habituation training of horses in fear-eliciting situations. | ||||
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| ISSN | 0168-1591 | ISBN  |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5922 | ||
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| Author | Leadbeater, E. | ||||
| Title | What evolves in the evolution of social learning? | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Journal of Zoology | Abbreviated Journal | J Zool |
| Volume | 295 | Issue | 1 | Pages | 4-11 |
| Keywords | social learning; associative learning; social information use | ||||
| Abstract | Social learning is fundamental to social life across the animal kingdom, but we still know little about how natural selection has shaped social learning abilities on a proximate level. Sometimes, complex social learning phenomena can be entirely explained by Pavlovian processes that have little to do with the evolution of sociality. This implies that the ability to learn socially could be an exaptation, not an adaptation, to social life but not that social learning abilities have been left untouched by natural selection. I discuss new empirical evidence for associative learning in social information use, explain how natural selection might facilitate the associative learning process and discuss why such studies are changing the way that we think about social learning. | ||||
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| ISSN | 1469-7998 | ISBN |
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| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6015 | ||
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| Author | Boogert, N.J.; Reader, S.M.; Hoppitt, W.; Laland, K.N. | ||||
| Title | The origin and spread of innovations in starlings | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2008 | Publication | Animal Behaviour | Abbreviated Journal | Anim. Behav. |
| Volume | 75 | Issue | 4 | Pages | 1509-1518 |
| Keywords | diffusion dynamics; dominance; foraging; group; innovation; neophobia; social learning; social network; starling; Sturnus vulgaris | ||||
| Abstract | There are numerous reports of novel learned behaviour patterns in animal populations, yet the factors influencing the invention and spread of these innovations remain poorly understood. Here we investigated to what extent the pattern of spread of innovations in captive groups of starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, could be predicted by knowledge of individual and social group variables, including association patterns, social rank orders, measures of neophobia and asocial learning performance. We presented small groups of starlings with a series of novel extractive foraging tasks and recorded the latency for each bird to contact and solve each task, as well as the orders of contacting and solving. We then explored which variables best predicted the observed diffusion patterns. Object neophobia and social rank measures characterized who was the first of the group to contact the novel foraging tasks, and the subsequent spread of contacting tasks was associated with latency to feed in a novel environment. Asocial learning performance, measured in isolation, predicted who was the first solver of the novel foraging tasks in each group. Association patterns did not predict the spread of solving. Contact latency and solving duration were negatively correlated, consistent with social learning underlying the spread of solving. Our findings indicate that we can improve our understanding of the diffusion dynamics of innovations in animal groups by investigating group-dependent and individual variables in combination. We introduce novel methods for exploring predictors of the origin and spread of behavioural innovations that could be widely applied. | ||||
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| ISSN | 0003-3472 | ISBN |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6036 | ||
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| Author | Burla, J.-B.; Siegwart, J.; Nawroth, C. | ||||
| Title | Human Demonstration Does Not Facilitate the Performance of Horses (Equus caballus) in a Spatial Problem-Solving Task | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2018 | Publication | Animal | Abbreviated Journal | Animal |
| Volume | 8 | Issue | 6 | Pages | 96 |
| Keywords | detour task; equids; social cognition; social learning; spatial cognition | ||||
| Abstract | Horses’ ability to adapt to new environments and to acquire new information plays an important role in handling and training. Social learning in particular would be very adaptive for horses as it enables them to flexibly adjust to new environments. In the context of horse handling, social learning from humans has been rarely investigated but could help to facilitate management practices. We assessed the impact of human demonstration on the spatial problem-solving abilities of horses during a detour task. In this task, a bucket with a food reward was placed behind a double-detour barrier and 16 horses were allocated to two test groups of 8 horses each. One group received a human demonstration of how to solve the spatial task while the other group received no demonstration. We found that horses did not solve the detour task more often or faster with human demonstration. However, both test groups improved rapidly over trials. Our results suggest that horses prefer to use individual rather than social information when solving a spatial problem-solving task | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6392 | ||
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| Author | McVey, A.; Wilkinson, A.; Mills, D.S. | ||||
| Title | Social learning in horses: the effect of using a group leader demonstrator on the performance of familiar conspecifics in a detour task | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2018 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | |||
| Keywords | Equine; Imitation; Leader; Social facilitation; Social learning | ||||
| Abstract | Learning through the observation of others allows the transfer of information without the costs incurred during individual trial and error learning. Horses (Equus caballus) are a highly social species, which might be expected to be capable of learning from others, but experimental findings are inconsistent, and potentially confounded by social facilitation effects not related directly to the learning of the task. We refined the methods used in previous equine social learning studies, to examine and distinguish specific social influences on learning of a task: we used predefined group leaders rather than agonistically dominant individuals to demonstrate a detour task to familiar conspecific observers; in addition we had two control groups: a non-observer (true control) and a group with the demonstrator simply present at the goal (social facilitation control). 44 socially kept horses were allocated to one of the three test conditions and took part in five trials each. Success rate, latency and detour direction were recorded. There was no significant difference between the three groups in the likelihood of them succeeding in the task nor latency to succeed; however there was a significant difference in the route chosen by the groups, with the true control choosing the side with the entrance gate significantly more than either the observer group or social facilitation group. Both of the latter two groups chose to go in the same direction relative to themselves, regardless of which side the gate was. Seven out of nine horses in the observer group chose the same direction as their demonstrator every time. Our results show a significant role of social facilitation on detour behaviour and highlight the importance of including adequate controls for simpler cognitive influences on behaviour before claims can be made about the specific learning of motor actions or goal directed behaviour. Social cues may be important to horses if the task is sufficiently challenging and motivationally important, so future work should consider more demanding, but ecologically relevant situations, in order to maximise the potential revelation of social learning effects which do not depend on simple local or stimulus enhancement effects. | ||||
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| ISSN | 0168-1591 | ISBN |
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| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6395 | ||
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| Author | Pongrácz, P.; Miklósi, Á.; Vida, V.; Csányi, V. | ||||
| Title | The pet dogs ability for learning from a human demonstrator in a detour task is independent from the breed and age | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2005 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 90 | Issue | 3 | Pages | 309-323 |
| Keywords | Dog; Breed differences; Social learning | ||||
| Abstract | There are many indications and much practical knowledge about the different tasks which various breeds of dogs are selected for. Correspondingly these different breeds are known to possess different physical and mental abilities. We hypothesized that commonly kept breeds will show differences in their problem solving ability in a detour task around a V-shaped fence, and also, that breed differences will affect their learning ability from a human demonstrator, who demonstrates a detour around the fence. Subjects were recruited in Hungarian pet dog schools. We compared the results of the 10 most common breeds in our sample when they were tested in the detour task without human demonstration. There was no significant difference between the latencies of detour, however, there was a trend that German Shepherd dogs were the quickest and Giant Schnauzers were the slowest in this test. For testing the social learning ability of dogs we formed three breed groups (“utility”, “shepherd” and “hunting”). There were no significant differences between these, all the breed groups learned equally well from the human demonstrator. However, we found that dogs belonging to the “shepherd” group looked back more frequently to their owner than the dogs in the “hunting” group. Further, we have found that the age of pet dogs did not affect their social learning ability in the detour task. Our results showed that the pet status of a dog has probably a stronger effect on its cognitive performance and human related behaviour than its age or breed. These results emphasize that socialization and common activities with the dog might overcome the possible breed differences, if we give the dogs common problem solving, or social learning tasks. | ||||
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| ISSN | 0168-1591 | ISBN |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6584 | ||
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| Author | Krueger, K. | ||||
| Title | Social learning and innovative behaviour in horses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Keywords | social learning, innovative behaviour, Equus caballus, cognitive capacities | ||||
| Abstract | The evaluation of important parameters for measuring the horses’ cognitive capacities is one of the central topics of the equine behaviour team at Nürtingen-Geislingen University. Social complexity has been said to be one of the settings in which needs for cognitive capacities arise in animals. A variety of studies throughout the last two decades proved the horses’ social complexity to be far more elaborate than previously assumed. Horses form social bonds for the protection of offspring, intervene in encounters of others, identify group mates individually and easily orientate in a fission fusion society. In such socially complex societies, animals will benefit from learning socially. In many bird and primate species the degree of social complexity correlates nicely with the species abilities for social learning. Social learning was, therefore, argued to be an indicator for elaborate mental capacities in animals. We were delighted to prove that horses actually copy social behaviour and techniques for operating a feeding apparatus from older and higher ranking group members. In a recent study we found young horses, at the age of 3 to 12, to copy the operation of a feeding apparatus from a human demonstrator. Social learning seems to work nicely in horses when the social background of the animals is considered. The degree to which individual animals adapt to changes in their social or physical environment by finding innovative solution appears to be the other side of the coin, of whether animals adjust to challenges by social learning. It is not very astonishing, that along with the animals’ social complexity and their ability to learn socially also the degree to which they show innovative behaviour was claimed to be one of the most important demonstrations of advanced cognitive capacities. In a recent approach, we started to ask horse owners and horse keepers in many countries to tell us about unusual behaviour of their horses via a web site (http://innovative-behaviour.org). To date, we received 204 cases of innovative behaviour descriptions from which six cases were clear examples of tool use or borderline tool use. We categorized the innovative behaviours into the classes, a) innovations to gain food, b) innovations to gain freedom, c) social innovations, d) innovations to increase maintenance, and e) innovations that could not be clearly assigned to a category. About 20% of the innovative horses showed more than one innovation. These animals could be termed “true innovators”. Again, young horses were more innovative than older ones with the age group 5 – 9 showing the highest number of innovative behaviour descriptions. In a nutshell, the horses’ cognitive capacities appear to be underestimated throughout the last decades. The horses’ social complexity is far more elaborate than previously assumed, horses learn socially from conspecific and humans, some of them demonstrate innovative behaviour adaptations to their environment and even simple forms of tool use. |
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| Corporate Author | Krueger, K. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | |
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| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
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978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5848 | ||
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