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Author Panksepp, J. doi  openurl
  Title Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Consciousness and Cognition Abbreviated Journal Conscious Cogn  
  Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 30-80  
  Keywords Affect/*physiology; Animals; Bonding, Human-Pet; Brain/*physiology; Consciousness/*physiology; Fear; Humans; Limbic System/physiology; Social Behavior; Species Specificity; Unconscious (Psychology)  
  Abstract The position advanced in this paper is that the bedrock of emotional feelings is contained within the evolved emotional action apparatus of mammalian brains. This dual-aspect monism approach to brain-mind functions, which asserts that emotional feelings may reflect the neurodynamics of brain systems that generate instinctual emotional behaviors, saves us from various conceptual conundrums. In coarse form, primary process affective consciousness seems to be fundamentally an unconditional “gift of nature” rather than an acquired skill, even though those systems facilitate skill acquisition via various felt reinforcements. Affective consciousness, being a comparatively intrinsic function of the brain, shared homologously by all mammalian species, should be the easiest variant of consciousness to study in animals. This is not to deny that some secondary processes (e.g., awareness of feelings in the generation of behavioral choices) cannot be evaluated in animals with sufficiently clever behavioral learning procedures, as with place-preference procedures and the analysis of changes in learned behaviors after one has induced re-valuation of incentives. Rather, the claim is that a direct neuroscientific study of primary process emotional/affective states is best achieved through the study of the intrinsic (“instinctual”), albeit experientially refined, emotional action tendencies of other animals. In this view, core emotional feelings may reflect the neurodynamic attractor landscapes of a variety of extended trans-diencephalic, limbic emotional action systems-including SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC, and PLAY. Through a study of these brain systems, the neural infrastructure of human and animal affective consciousness may be revealed. Emotional feelings are instantiated in large-scale neurodynamics that can be most effectively monitored via the ethological analysis of emotional action tendencies and the accompanying brain neurochemical/electrical changes. The intrinsic coherence of such emotional responses is demonstrated by the fact that they can be provoked by electrical and chemical stimulation of specific brain zones-effects that are affectively laden. For substantive progress in this emerging research arena, animal brain researchers need to discuss affective brain functions more openly. Secondary awareness processes, because of their more conditional, contextually situated nature, are more difficult to understand in any neuroscientific detail. In other words, the information-processing brain functions, critical for cognitive consciousness, are harder to study in other animals than the more homologous emotional/motivational affective state functions of the brain.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA. jpankse@bgnet.bgsu.ed  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1053-8100 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15766890 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4159  
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Author Saucier, D.M.; Shultz, S.R.; Keller, A.J.; Cook, C.M.; Binsted, G. doi  openurl
  Title Sex differences in object location memory and spatial navigation in Long-Evans rats Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume Issue Pages  
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  Abstract In both humans and rodents, males typically excel on a number of tasks requiring spatial ability. However, human females exhibit advantages in memory for the spatial location of objects. This study investigated whether rats would exhibit similar sex differences on a task of object location memory (OLM) and on the watermaze (WM). We predicted that females should outperform males on the OLM task and that males should outperform females on the WM. To control for possible effects of housing environment, rats were housed in either complex environments or in standard shoebox housing. Eighty Long-Evans rats (40 males and 40 females) were housed in either complex (Complex rats) or standard shoebox housing (Control rats). Results indicated that males had superior performance on the WM, whereas females outperformed males on the OLM task, regardless of housing environment. As these sex differences cannot be easily attributed to differences in cognitive style related to linguistic processing of environmental features or to selection pressures related to the hunting gathering evolutionary prehistory of humans, these data suggest that sex differences in spatial ability may be related to traits selected for by polygynous mating strategies.  
  Address Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Dr., Lethbridge, AB, Canada, T1K 3M4, Deborah.Saucier@ULeth.ca  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17562087 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2391  
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Author Buttelmann, D.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M. doi  openurl
  Title Behavioral cues that great apes use to forage for hidden food Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume Issue Pages  
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  Abstract We conducted three studies to examine whether the four great ape species (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) are able to use behavioral experimenter-given cues in an object-choice task. In the subsequent experimental conditions subjects were presented with two eggs, one of which contained food and the other did not. In Study 1 the experimenter examined both eggs by smelling or shaking them, but only made a failed attempt to open (via biting) the egg containing food. In a control condition, the experimenter examined and attempted to open both eggs, but in reverse order to control for stimulus enhancement. The apes significantly preferred the egg that was first examined and then bitten, but had no preference in a baseline condition in which there were no cues. In Study 2, we investigated whether the apes could extend this ability to cues not observed in apes so far (i.e., attempting to pull apart the egg), as well as whether they made this discrimination based on the function of the action the experimenter performed. Subjects significantly preferred eggs presented with this novel cue, but did not prefer eggs presented with a novel but functionally irrelevant action. In Study 3, apes did not interpret human actions as cues to food-location when they already knew that the eggs were empty. Thus, great apes were able to use a variety of experimenter-given cues associated with foraging actions to locate hidden food and thereby were partially sensitive to the general purpose underlying these actions.  
  Address Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany, buttelmann@eva.mpg.de  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17534674 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2396  
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Author Beran, M.J. doi  openurl
  Title Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) succeed in a test of quantity conservation Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Nonhuman animals demonstrate a number of impressive quantitative skills such as counting sets of items, comparing sets on the basis of the number of items or amount of material, and even responding to simple arithmetic manipulations. In this experiment, capuchin monkeys were presented with a computerized task designed to assess conservation of discrete quantity. Monkeys first were trained to select from two horizontal arrays of stimuli the one with the larger number of items. On some trials, after a correct selection there was no feedback but instead an additional manipulation of one of those arrays. In some cases, this manipulation involved moving items closer together or farther apart to change the physical arrangement of the array but not the quantity of items in the array. In other cases, additional items were added to the initially smaller array so that it became quantitatively larger. Monkeys then made a second selection from the two arrays of items. Previous research had shown that rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) succeeded with this task. However, there was no condition in that study in which items were added to the smaller array without increasing its quantity to a point where it became the new larger array. This new condition was added in the present experiment. Capuchin monkeys were sensitive to all of these manipulations, changing their selections when the manipulations changed which array contained the larger number of items but not when the manipulations changed the physical arrangement of items or increased the quantity in one array without also reversing which of the two arrays had more items. Therefore, capuchin monkeys responded on the basis of the quantity of items, and they were not distracted by non-quantitative manipulations of the arrays. The data indicate that capuchins are sensitive to simply arithmetic manipulations that involve addition of items to arrays and also that they can conserve quantity.  
  Address Language Research Center, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA, mjberan@yahoo.com  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17549530 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2394  
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Author Helton, W.S. doi  openurl
  Title Expertise acquisition as sustained learning in humans and other animals: commonalities across species Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume Issue Pages  
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  Abstract Expertise acquisition may be a universal attribute of animals. In this study data on foraging efficiency, or expertise, was compared for four species: honeybees (Apis mellifera), oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and humans (Homo sapiens). Polynomial regression models were constructed to investigate the relationship between age and foraging efficiency. There was a similar expertise-acquisition function between age and foraging efficiency across species, best described by a quadratic equation. The peak of performance was reached, in all cases, before the average age of death but well after reaching physical maturity and the percentage of lifespan devoted to the skill was more than 10% of the species-typical lifespan.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA, deak_helton@yahoo.com  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17534675 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2395  
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Author Madden, J.R. doi  openurl
  Title Do bowerbirds exhibit cultures? Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume Issue Pages  
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  Abstract Definitions of what features constitute cultural behaviour, and hence define cultures are numerous. Many seem designed to describe those aspects of human behaviour which set us apart from other animals. A broad definition prescribing that the behaviour is: learned; learned socially; normative and collective is considered to apply to several species of great ape. In this paper, I review observations and experiments covering a suite of different behavioural characteristics displayed in members of the bowerbird family (Ptilonorhynchidae) and ask whether they fulfil these criteria. These include vocalisations, bower design, decoration use, bower orientation and display movements. Such a range of behaviours refutes the suggestion that these species are “one-trick ponies”-a criticism that is often levelled at claims for culture in non-primate species. I suggest that, despite a paucity of data in comparison with primate studies, it could be argued that bowerbirds may be considered to fulfil the same criteria on which we base our use of the term culture when applied to our close relatives, the great apes. If bowerbirds do have cultures, then their unusual natural history makes them a highly tractable system in which questions of social learning and culture can be tackled.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK, jrm54@cam.ac.uk  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17551758 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2393  
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Author Furlong, E.E.; Boose, K.J.; Boysen, S.T. doi  openurl
  Title Raking it in: the impact of enculturation on chimpanzee tool use Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume Issue Pages  
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  Abstract Recent evidence for different tool kits, proposed to be based upon culture-like transmission, have been observed across different chimpanzee communities across Western Africa. In light of these findings, the reported failures by seven captive juvenile chimpanzees tested with 27 tool use tasks (Povinelli 2000) seem enigmatic. Here we report successful performance by a group of nine captive, enculturated chimpanzees, and limited success by a group of six semi-enculturated chimpanzees, on two of the Povinelli tasks, the Flimsy Tool task, and the Hybrid Tool task. All chimpanzees were presented with a rake with a flimsy head and a second rake with a rigid head, either of which could be used to attempt to retrieve a food reward that was out of reach. The rigid rake was constructed such that it had the necessary functional features to permit successful retrieval, while the flimsy rake did not. Both chimpanzee groups in the present experiment selected the functional rigid tool correctly to use during the Flimsy Tool task. All animals were then presented with two “hybrid rakes” A and B, with one half of each rake head constructed from flimsy, non-functional fabric, and the other half of the head was made of wood. Food rewards were placed in front of the rigid side of Rake A and the flimsy side of Rake B. To be successful, the chimps needed to choose the rake that had the reward in front of the rigid side of the rake head. The fully enculturated animals were successful in selecting the functional rake, while the semi-enculturated subjects chose randomly between the two hybrid tools. Compared with findings from Povinelli, whose non-enculturated animals failed both tasks, our results demonstrate that chimpanzees reared under conditions of semi-enculturation could learn to discriminate correctly the necessary tool through trial-and-error during the Flimsy Tool task, but were unable to recognize the functional relationship necessary for retrieving the reward with the “hybrid” rake. In contrast, the enculturated chimpanzees were correct in their choices during both the Flimsy Tool and the Hybrid Tool tasks. These results provide the first empirical evidence for the differential effects of enculturation on subsequent tool use capacities in captive chimpanzees.  
  Address Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 209 Psychology Building, 1835 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210-1222, USA, boysen.1@osu.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17516100 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2398  
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Author Tomonaga, M. doi  openurl
  Title Relative numerosity discrimination by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): evidence for approximate numerical representations Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Two adult chimpanzees were trained on a relative “numerosity” discrimination task. In each trial, two arrays containing different numbers of red dots were presented on a CRT monitor. The subjects were required to choose the array containing the larger number of dots. In Experiment 1, using numerosities between 1 and 8, 28 different pairs were presented repeatedly, and accuracy scores were analyzed to explore which cues the chimpanzee subjects utilized to perform the task. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the subjects' performance was (1) not simply controlled by the “numerical” difference between arrays, but that it was (2) best described by Fechner's Law-that is accuracy increased linearly with the logarithmic value of the numerical difference between arrays divided by the number in the larger of the two arrays. This relationship was maintained when using much larger numerosities (Experiment 3). In Experiment 2, the chimpanzees were tested on the effects of total area and density by manipulating dot size and presentation area. The results revealed that these factors clearly affected the subjects' performance but that they could not alone explain the results, suggesting that the chimpanzees did use relative numerosity difference as a discriminative cue.  
  Address Section of Language and Intelligence, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan, tomonaga@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17443355 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2402  
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Author Lyn, H. doi  openurl
  Title Mental representation of symbols as revealed by vocabulary errors in two bonobos (Pan paniscus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract Error analysis has been used in humans to detect implicit representations and categories in language use. The present study utilizes the same technique to report on mental representations and categories in symbol use from two bonobos (Pan paniscus). These bonobos have been shown in published reports to comprehend English at the level of a two-and-a-half year old child and to use a keyboard with over 200 visuographic symbols (lexigrams). In this study, vocabulary test errors from over 10 years of data revealed auditory, visual, and spatio-temporal generalizations (errors were more likely items that looked like sounded like, or were frequently associated with the sample item in space or in time), as well as hierarchical and conceptual categorizations. These error data, like those of humans, are a result of spontaneous responding rather than specific training and do not solely depend upon the sample mode (e.g. auditory similarity errors are not universally more frequent with an English sample, nor were visual similarity errors universally more frequent with a photograph sample). However, unlike humans, these bonobos do not make errors based on syntactical confusions (e.g. confusing semantically unrelated nouns), suggesting that they may not separate syntactical and semantic information. These data suggest that apes spontaneously create a complex, hierarchical, web of representations when exposed to a symbol system.  
  Address Language Research Center, Georgia State University, 3401 Panthersville Rd, Atlanta, GA, 30034, USA  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17436026 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2406  
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Author Hvorecny, L.M.; Grudowski, J.L.; Blakeslee, C.J.; Simmons, T.L.; Roy, P.R.; Brooks, J.A.; Hanner, R.M.; Beigel, M.E.; Karson, M.A.; Nichols, R.H.; Holm, J.B.; Boal, J.G. doi  openurl
  Title Octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides) and cuttlefishes (Sepia pharaonis, S. officinalis) can conditionally discriminate Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
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  Abstract In complex navigation using landmarks, an animal must discriminate between potential cues and show context (condition) sensitivity. Such conditional discrimination is considered a form of complex learning and has been associated primarily with vertebrates. We tested the hypothesis that octopuses and cuttlefish are capable of conditional discrimination. Subjects were trained in two maze configurations (the conditions) in which they were required to select one of two particular escape routes within each maze (the discrimination). Conditional discrimination could be demonstrated by selecting the correct escape route in each maze. Six of ten mud-flat octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides), 6 of 13 pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis), and one of four common cuttlefish (S. officinalis) demonstrated conditional discrimination by successfully solving both mazes. These experiments demonstrate that cephalopods are capable of conditional discrimination and extend the limits of invertebrate complex learning.  
  Address Department of Biology, Millersville University, 50 East Frederick Street, Millersville, PA, 17551-0302, USA, jean.boal@millersville.edu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17437139 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2405  
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