| Records |
| Author |
Gentner, T.Q.; Fenn, K.M.; Margoliash, D.; Nusbaum, H.C. |
| Title |
Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
440 |
Issue |
7088 |
Pages |
1204-1207 |
| Keywords |
Acoustic Stimulation; *Animal Communication; Animals; Auditory Perception/*physiology; Humans; *Language; Learning/*physiology; Linguistics; Models, Neurological; Semantics; Starlings/*physiology; Stochastic Processes |
| Abstract |
Humans regularly produce new utterances that are understood by other members of the same language community. Linguistic theories account for this ability through the use of syntactic rules (or generative grammars) that describe the acceptable structure of utterances. The recursive, hierarchical embedding of language units (for example, words or phrases within shorter sentences) that is part of the ability to construct new utterances minimally requires a 'context-free' grammar that is more complex than the 'finite-state' grammars thought sufficient to specify the structure of all non-human communication signals. Recent hypotheses make the central claim that the capacity for syntactic recursion forms the computational core of a uniquely human language faculty. Here we show that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) accurately recognize acoustic patterns defined by a recursive, self-embedding, context-free grammar. They are also able to classify new patterns defined by the grammar and reliably exclude agrammatical patterns. Thus, the capacity to classify sequences from recursive, centre-embedded grammars is not uniquely human. This finding opens a new range of complex syntactic processing mechanisms to physiological investigation. |
| Address |
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. tgentner@ucsd.edu |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
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Notes  |
PMID:16641998 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
353 |
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| Author |
Arnold, K.; Zuberbuhler, K. |
| Title |
Language evolution: semantic combinations in primate calls |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
441 |
Issue |
7091 |
Pages |
303 |
| Keywords |
Animal Migration; Animals; Eagles/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Haplorhini/*physiology; Male; Predatory Behavior; *Semantics; *Vocalization, Animal |
| Abstract |
Syntax sets human language apart from other natural communication systems, although its evolutionary origins are obscure. Here we show that free-ranging putty-nosed monkeys combine two vocalizations into different call sequences that are linked to specific external events, such as the presence of a predator and the imminent movement of the group. Our findings indicate that non-human primates can combine calls into higher-order sequences that have a particular meaning. |
| Address |
School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16710411 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
354 |
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| Author |
Grosenick, L.; Clement, T.S.; Fernald, R.D. |
| Title |
Fish can infer social rank by observation alone |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
445 |
Issue |
7126 |
Pages |
429-432 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/physiology; Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Fishes/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Dominance; Territoriality |
| Abstract |
Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as 'bystanders'), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives. |
| Address |
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA. logang@stanford.edu |
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English |
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1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17251980 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
600 |
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| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Animal behaviour: planning for breakfast |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
445 |
Issue |
7130 |
Pages |
825-826 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; *Food; Haplorhini/physiology; Memory/physiology; Songbirds/*physiology; Thinking/*physiology |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17314961 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
356 |
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| Author |
Bell, A.M. |
| Title |
Evolutionary biology: animal personalities |
Type |
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| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
447 |
Issue |
7144 |
Pages |
539-540 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/physiology/psychology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; *Models, Biological; Personality/genetics/*physiology; Reproduction/genetics/physiology; Risk-Taking; Selection (Genetics) |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:17538607 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4099 |
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| Author |
Wolf, M.; van Doorn, G.S.; Leimar, O.; Weissing, F.J. |
| Title |
Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
447 |
Issue |
7144 |
Pages |
581-584 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/physiology/psychology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Evolution; Exploratory Behavior/physiology; Models, Biological; Personality/*physiology; Predatory Behavior/physiology; Reproduction/physiology; Risk-Taking; Selection (Genetics) |
| Abstract |
In recent years evidence has been accumulating that personalities are not only found in humans but also in a wide range of other animal species. Individuals differ consistently in their behavioural tendencies and the behaviour in one context is correlated with the behaviour in multiple other contexts. From an adaptive perspective, the evolution of animal personalities is still a mystery, because a more flexible structure of behaviour should provide a selective advantage. Accordingly, many researchers view personalities as resulting from constraints imposed by the architecture of behaviour (but see ref. 12). In contrast, we show here that animal personalities can be given an adaptive explanation. Our argument is based on the insight that the trade-off between current and future reproduction often results in polymorphic populations in which some individuals put more emphasis on future fitness returns than others. Life-history theory predicts that such differences in fitness expectations should result in systematic differences in risk-taking behaviour. Individuals with high future expectations (who have much to lose) should be more risk-averse than individuals with low expectations. This applies to all kinds of risky situations, so individuals should consistently differ in their behaviour. By means of an evolutionary model we demonstrate that this basic principle results in the evolution of animal personalities. It simultaneously explains the coexistence of behavioural types, the consistency of behaviour through time and the structure of behavioural correlations across contexts. Moreover, it explains the common finding that explorative behaviour and risk-related traits like boldness and aggressiveness are common characteristics of animal personalities. |
| Address |
Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Kerklaan 30, 9751 NN Haren, The Netherlands |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:17538618 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4098 |
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| Author |
Terrace, H.S. |
| Title |
Chunking by a pigeon in a serial learning task |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1987 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
325 |
Issue |
7000 |
Pages |
149-151 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; Feedback; Learning/*physiology; Male |
| Abstract |
A basic principle of human memory is that lists that can be organized into memorable 'chunks' are easier to remember. Memory span is limited to a roughly constant number of chunks and is to a large extent independent of the amount of informaton contained in each chunk. Depending on the ingenuity of the code used to integrate discrete items into chunks, one can substantially increase the number of items that can be recalled correctly. Newly developed paradigms for studying memory in non-verbal organisms allow comparison of the abilities of human and non-human subjects to memorize lists. Here I present two types of evidence that pigeons 'chunk' 5-element lists whose components (colours and achromatic geometric forms) are clustered into distinct groups. Those lists were learned twice as rapidly as a homogeneous list of colours or heterogeneous lists in which the elements are not clustered. The pigeons were also tested for knowledge of the order of two elements drawn from the 5-element lists. They responded in the correct order only to those subsets that contained a chunk boundary. Thus chunking can be studied profitably in animal subjects; the cognitive processes that allow an organism to form chunks do no presuppose linguistic competence. |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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| ISSN |
0028-0836 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:3808071 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2792 |
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| Author |
McGonigle, B. |
| Title |
Can apes learn to count? |
Type |
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| Year |
1985 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
315 |
Issue |
6014 |
Pages |
16-17 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cognition; Pan troglodytes/*physiology |
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English |
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Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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| ISSN |
0028-0836 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:3990806 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2794 |
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| Author |
Matsuzawa, T. |
| Title |
Use of numbers by a chimpanzee |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1985 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
315 |
Issue |
6014 |
Pages |
57-59 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cognition; Female; Mathematics; Pan troglodytes/*physiology |
| Abstract |
Recent studies have examined linguistic abilities in apes. However, although human mathematical abilities seem to be derived from the same foundation as those in language, we have little evidence for mathematical abilities in apes (but for exceptions see refs 7-10). In the present study, a 5-yr-old female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), 'Ai', was trained to use Arabic numerals to name the number of items in a display. Ai mastered numerical naming from one to six and was able to name the number, colour and object of 300 types of samples. Although no particular sequence of describing samples was required, the chimpanzee favoured two sequences (colour/object/number and object/colour/number). The present study demonstrates that the chimpanzee was able to describe the three attributes of the sample items and spontaneously organized the 'word order'. |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0028-0836 |
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| Notes |
PMID:3990808 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2793 |
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| Author |
Buttiker, W. |
| Title |
[Preliminary report on eye-frequenting butterflies in the Ivory Coast] |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1973 |
Publication |
Revue Suisse de Zoologie; Annales de la Societe Zoologique Suisse et du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve |
Abbreviated Journal |
Rev Suisse Zool |
| Volume |
80 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-43 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cattle; Cote d'Ivoire; Ecology; Ectoparasitic Infestations/*veterinary; *Eye; Horses; *Insects; *Parasites; Sheep |
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German |
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Original Title |
Vorlaufige Beobachtungen an augenbesuchenden Schmetterlingen in der Elfenbeinkuste |
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| ISSN |
0035-418X |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:4354354 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2716 |
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