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Author Croneya, C.C. doi  openurl
  Title Group size and cognitive processes Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 103 Issue 3-4 Pages 15-228  
  Keywords Group size; Social complexity; Social learning; Cognitive processes  
  Abstract Animal group sizes may exert important effects on various cognitive mechanisms. Group

size is believed to exert pressures on fundamental brain structures that correlate with the

increased social demands placed on animals living in relatively large, complex and dynamic

social organizations. There is strong experimental evidence connecting social complexity,

social learning and development of other cognitive abilities in a broad range of wild and

domesticated animal species. In particular, group size seems to have significant effects on

animals? abilities to derive concrete and abstract relationships. Here, we review the literature

pertaining to cognitive processes and behaviours of various animal species relative to group

size, with emphasis on social learning. It is suggested that understanding the relationship

between group size and cognition in animals may yield practical animal management

benefits, such as housing and conservation strategies, and may also have implications for

improved animal welfare.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Ruth C. Newberryb Thesis  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 277  
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Author Nicol, C.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title How animals learn from each other Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 100 Issue 1-2 Pages 58-63  
  Keywords Social learning; Chickens; Demonstrators; Dominance  
  Abstract This paper explores ways by which animals may learn from one another, using examples drawn mostly from the chicken, an animal for which social learning is likely to be less dangerous than individual learning. In early life, the behaviour of the hen is important in encouraging chicks to peck at edible items. Maternal display not only attracts chicks to profitable food items, but also redirects their attention away from harmful or non-profitable items. Older chicks can enhance their foraging success by observing the behaviour of conspecifics within their own social group. Hens have been trained to perform a novel behaviour (key-pecking for food) by observation of a trained demonstrator bird. Moreover, observers learnt most from watching dominant demonstrators. Thus the ability to learn from others is not `fixed', but depends on the context and the social identity of both the observer and the demonstrator.  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 564  
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Author Griffin, A.S. doi  openurl
  Title Social learning in Indian mynahs, Acridotheres tristis: the role of distress calls Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 75 Issue 1 Pages 79-89  
  Keywords Acridotheres tristis; distress vocalizations; head saccades; Indian mynah; predator avoidance learning; social learning  
  Abstract Socially acquired predator avoidance is a phenomenon in which individuals acquire an avoidance response towards an initially neutral stimulus after they have experienced it together with the antipredator signals of social companions. Earlier research has established that alarm calls used for intraspecific communication are effective stimuli for triggering acquisition. However, animals produce a large range of other antipredator responses that might engage antipredator learning. Here, I examine the effects of conspecific distress calls, a signal that is produced by birds when restrained by a predator, and that appears to be directed towards predators, rather than conspecifics, on predator avoidance learning in Indian mynahs, Acridotheres tristis. Distress calls reflect high levels of alarm in the caller and should, therefore, mediate robust learning. Experiment 1 revealed that subjects performed higher rates of head movements in response to a previously unfamiliar avian mount after it had been presented simultaneously with playbacks of conspecific distress vocalizations. Experiment 2 revealed that increased rates of head saccades resembled the spontaneous response evoked by a novel stimulus more closely than it resembled the response evoked by a perched raptor, suggesting that distress calls inculcated a visual exploratory response, rather than an antipredator response. While it is usually thought that the level of acquisition in learners follows a simple relationship with the level of alarm shown by demonstrators, the present results suggest that this relationship may be more complex. Antipredator signals with different functions may have differential effects on learners.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4696  
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Author Choleris, E.; Kavaliers, M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social Learning in Animals: Sex Differences and Neurobiological Analysis Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior Abbreviated Journal Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.  
  Volume 64 Issue 4 Pages 767-776  
  Keywords Observational learning; Social learning; Individual learning; Imitation; Social constraints; Social facilitation; male-female differences; Gender differences  
  Abstract Social learning where an “individual's behavior is influenced by observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products” has been extensively documented in a broad variety of species, including humans. Social learning occurs within the complex framework of an animal's social interactions that are markedly affected by factors such as dominance hierarchies, family bonds, age, and sex of the interacting individuals. Moreover, it is clear that social learning is influenced not only by important sexually dimorphic social constraints but also that it involves attention, motivational, and perceptual mechanisms, all of which exhibit substantial male-female differences. Although sex differences have been demonstrated in a wide range of cognitive and behavioral processes, investigations of male-female differences in social learning and its neurobiological substrates have been largely neglected. As such, sex differences in social learning and its neurobiological substrates merit increased attention. This review briefly considers various aspects of the study of social learning in mammals, and indicates where male-female differences have either been described, neglected and, or could have a potential impact. It also describes the results of neurobiological investigations of social learning and considers the relevance of these findings to other sexually dimorphic cognitive processes.  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 575  
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Author Anderson, J.R.; Fornasieri, I.; Ludes, E.; Roeder, J.-J. url  doi
openurl 
  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 Nicol, C.J. url  openurl
  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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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 577  
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Author Lefebvre, L. url  openurl
  Title Ecological correlates of social learning: problems and solutions for the comparative method Type Journal Article
  Year 1995 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 35 Issue 1-3 Pages 163-171  
  Keywords Adaptive specialization; Social learning; Comparative method  
  Abstract Interspecific variation in learning and cognition is often accounted for by adaptive specialization, an ecological framework where variation between species in the environmental problems they face is thought to select for quantitatively and/or qualitatively different abilities. Adaptive specialization theory relies on the comparative method for testing its hypotheses and assumes a naturally selected basis for the predicted differences. This review examines social learning as a specialization to group-living and scramble feeding competition. It points out one important problem with current studies in the area, the lack of quantitative controls for confounding variables that may cause type 1 or 2 error in comparative tests. A linear regression technique is proposed to measure and remove interspecific differences on control tests for which there is no predicted adaptive specialization; as in other areas of comparative biology, the adaptive prediction is then made on the residual deviation from the regression of these confounding variables. Examples are given from research on opportunistic Columbids, the group-living feral pigeon Columbia livia, and the territorial Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 843  
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Author Boyd, R.; Richerson, P.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Why does culture increase human adaptability? Type Journal Article
  Year 1995 Publication Ethology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Ethol. a. Sociob.  
  Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 125-143  
  Keywords Social learning; Adaptation; Culture; Sociobiology  
  Abstract It is often argued that culture is adaptive because it allows people to acquire useful information without costly learning. In a recent paper Rogers (1989) analyzed a simple mathematical model that showed that this argument is wrong. Here we show that Rogers' result is robust. As long as the only benefit of social learning is that imitators avoid learning costs, social learning does not increase average fitness. However, we also show that social learning can be adaptive if it makes individual learning more accurate or less costly.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4196  
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Author Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Valone, Thomas, J.; Templeton, Jennifer, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Potential disadvantages of using socially acquired information Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 357 Issue 1427 Pages 1559-1566  
  Keywords Public Information Informational Cascades Social Learning Sampling  
  Abstract The acquisition and use of socially acquired information is commonly assumed to be profitable. We challenge this assumption by exploring hypothetical scenarios where the use of such information either provides no benefit or can actually be costly. First, we show that the level of incompatibility between the acquisition of personal and socially acquired information will directly affect the extent to which the use of socially acquired information can be profitable. When these two sources of information cannot be acquired simultaneously, there may be no benefit to socially acquired information. Second, we assume that a solitary individual's behavioural decisions will be based on cues revealed by its own interactions with the environment. However, in many cases, for social animals the only socially acquired information available to individuals is the behavioural actions of others that expose their decisions, rather than the cues on which these decisions were based. We argue that in such a situation the use of socially acquired information can lead to informational cascades that sometimes result in sub-optimal behaviour. From this theory of informational cascades, we predict that when erroneous cascades are costly, individuals should pay attention only to socially generated cues and not behavioural decisions. We suggest three scenarios that might be examples of informational cascades in nature.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4197  
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Author Bonnie, K.E.; Earley, R.L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Expanding the scope for social information use Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 171-18  
  Keywords behavioural cue; eavesdropping; public information; signalling; social information; social learning  
  Abstract Our understanding of how, why, and the circumstances under which animals use social information has been facilitated by three principal areas of research, social learning, public information use and social eavesdropping. With few exceptions, these related concepts have remained remarkably distinct within the literature, with little discussion or integration among them. Are these distinctions warranted? We tackle the issue by exploring similarities and differences between the concepts with respect to how animals gather and use social information, the type of information gathered, how information is packaged, and the relative payoffs to individuals involved. We contend that none of the currently dominant paradigms, social learning, public information use, or social eavesdropping, provide a unifying theme for studying social information use. Instead, we favour the central characteristic of the three concepts, social information use, as the overarching umbrella, and advocate a broader conceptual framework for understanding more comprehensively how animals behave with their social environments. Our intention is not to revolutionize the fields of social learning, public information use or social eavesdropping, but rather to stimulate discussion among researchers investigating the abilities of animals to extract information from the social environment.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4205  
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