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Morton, F. B., Lee, P. C., & Buchanan-Smith, H. M. (2013). Taking personality selection bias seriously in animal cognition research: a case study in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella). Animal Cognition, 16(4), 677–684.
Abstract: In most experimental work on animal cognition, researchers attempt to control for multiple interacting variables by training subjects prior to testing, allowing subjects to participate voluntarily, and providing subjects with food rewards. However, do such methods encourage selection bias from subjects’ personalities? In this study, we trained eighteen zoo-housed capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) for two experiments, under conditions of positive reinforcement (i.e. food rewards) and free-choice participation. Using a combination of behavioral and rater-based methods, we identified and validated five personality dimensions in these capuchins (Assertiveness, Openness, Neuroticism, Sociability, and Attentiveness). Scores on Openness were positively related to individual differences in monkey task participation, reflecting previous work showing that such individuals are often more active, curious, and willing to engage in testing. We also found a negative relationship between scores on Assertiveness and performance on tasks, which may reflect the trade-offs between speed and accuracy in these animals’ decision-making. Highly Assertive individuals (the most sociable within monkey groups) may also prioritize social interactions over engaging in research. Lastly, monkeys that consistently participated and performed well on both tasks showed significantly higher Openness and lower Assertiveness compared to others, mirroring relationships found between personality, participation, and performance among all participants. Participation and performance during training was clearly biased toward individuals with particular personalities (i.e. high Openness, low Assertiveness). Results are discussed in light of the need for careful interpretation of comparative data on animal cognition and the need for researchers to take personality selection bias more seriously.
Animal Cognition Animal Cognition Look Inside |
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Coleman, K., Tully, L. A., & McMillan, J. L. (2005). Temperament correlates with training success in adult rhesus macaques. Am. J. Primatol., 65(1), 63–71.
Abstract: In recent years there has been a marked increase in awareness of issues involving the psychological well-being of nonhuman primates (NHPs) used in biomedical research. As a result, many facilities are starting to train primates to voluntarily cooperate with veterinary, husbandry, and research procedures, such as remaining still for blood draws or injections. Such training generally reduces the stress associated with these procedures, resulting in calmer animals and, ultimately, better research models. However, such training requires great investments in time, and there can be vast individual differences in training success. Some animals learn tasks quickly, while others make slower progress in training. In this study, we examined whether temperament, as measured by response to a novel food object, correlated with the amount of time it took to train 20 adult female rhesus macaques to perform a simple task. The monkeys were categorized as “exploratory” (i.e., inspected a novel object placed in the home cage within 10 sec), “moderate” (i.e., inspected the object within 10-180 sec), or “inhibited” (i.e., did not inspect the object within 3 min). We utilized positive reinforcement techniques to train the monkeys to touch a target (PVC pipe shaped like an elbow) hung on their cage. Temperament correlated with training success in this study (Pearson chi2=7.22, df=2, P=0.03). We easily trained over 75% of the animals that inspected the novel food (i.e., exploratory or moderate individuals) to touch the target. However, only 22% of the inhibited monkeys performed the task. By knowing which animals may not respond to conventional training methods, we may be able to develop alternate training techniques to address their specific needs. In addition, these results will allow us to screen monkeys to be assigned to research projects in which they will be trained, with the goal of obtaining the best candidates for those studies.
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Heath-Lange, S., Ha, J. C., & Sackett, G. P. (1999). Behavioral measurement of temperament in male nursery-raised infant macaques and baboons. Am. J. Primatol., 47(1), 43–50.
Abstract: We define temperament as an individual's set of characteristic behavioral responses to novel or challenging stimuli. This study adapted a temperament scale used with rhesus macaques by Schneider and colleagues [American Journal of Primatology 25:137-155, 1991] for use with male pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina, n = 7), longtailed macaque (M. fascicularis, n = 3), and baboon infants (Papio cynocephalus anubis, n = 4). Subjects were evaluated twice weekly for the first 5 months of age during routine removal from their cages for weighing. Behavioral measures were based on the subject's interactions with a familiar human caretaker and included predominant state before capture, response to capture, contact latency, resistance to tester's hold, degree of clinging, attention to environment, defecation/urination, consolability, facial expression, vocalizations, and irritability. Species differences indicated that baboons were more active than macaques in establishing or terminating contact with the tester. Temperament scores decreased over time for the variables Response to Capture and Contact Latency, indicating that as they grew older, subjects became less reactive and more bold in their interactions with the tester. Temperament scores changed slowly with age, with greater change occurring at younger ages. The retention of variability in reactivity between and within species may be advantageous for primates, reflecting the flexibility necessary to survive in a changing environment.
Keywords: Age Factors; Animal Technicians; Animals; Animals, Newborn/psychology; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Defecation; Facial Expression; Humans; Irritable Mood; Macaca fascicularis/*psychology; Male; Papio/*psychology; Sex Characteristics; Species Specificity; Temperament/*physiology; Urination; Vocalization, Animal; Weaning
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h:, M., Lévy, F., Fortin, M., Leterrier, C., & LansadLansade, L. (2013). Stress and temperament affect working memory performance for disappearing food in horses, Equus caballus. Animal Behaviour, 86(6), 1233–1240.
Abstract: In the present study, we sought to determine the influence of stress and temperament on working memory for disappearing food in horses. After assessment of five dimensions of temperament, we tested working memory of horses using a delayed-response task requiring a choice between two food locations. Delays ranging from 0 to 20 s were tested. The duration of working memory for disappearing food was first characterized without stressors (N = 26). The horses were then divided into two groups and their performance was assessed under stressful (exposure to acute stressors prior to testing, N = 12) or control conditions (N = 12). Results showed that the duration of working memory for disappearing food lasted at least 20 s under nonstressful conditions, and that under stressful conditions this duration lasted less than 12 s. This stress-induced impairment confirms in a nonrodent species that working memory performance is very sensitive to exposure to stressors. In addition, working memory performance in horses is influenced by the temperamental dimension of fearfulness according to the state of stress: fearful horses showed better performance under control conditions and worse performance under stressful conditions than nonfearful horses. These findings are discussed in the context of the Yerkes–Dodson law of stress and performance.
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Momozawa, Y., Takeuchi, Y., Tozaki, T., Kikusui, T., Hasegawa, T., Raudsepp, T., et al. (2007). SNP detection and radiation hybrid mapping in horses of nine candidate genes for temperament. Anim Genet, 38(1), 81–83.
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Fox, N. A. (2004). Temperament and early experience form social behavior. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1038, 171–178.
Abstract: Individual differences in the way persons respond to stimulation can have important consequences for their ability to learn and their choice of vocation. Temperament is the study of such individual differences, being thought of as the behavioral style of an individual. Common to all approaches in the study of temperament are the notions that it can be identified in infancy, is fairly stable across development, and influences adult personality. We have identified a specific temperament type in infancy that involves heightened distress to novel and unfamiliar stimuli. Infants who exhibit this temperament are likely, as they get older, to display behavioral inhibition-wariness and heightened vigilance of the unfamiliar-particularly in social situations. Our work has also described the underlying biology of this temperament and has linked it to neural systems supporting fear responses in animals. Children displaying behavioral inhibition are at-risk for behavioral problems related to anxiety and social withdrawal.
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Kalin, N. H., & Shelton, S. E. (2003). Nonhuman primate models to study anxiety, emotion regulation, and psychopathology. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1008, 189–200.
Abstract: This paper demonstrates that the rhesus monkey provides an excellent model to study mechanisms underlying human anxiety and fear and emotion regulation. In previous studies with rhesus monkeys, stable, brain, endocrine, and behavioral characteristics related to individual differences in anxiety were found. It was suggested that, when extreme, these features characterize an anxious endophenotype and that these findings in the monkey are particularly relevant to understanding adaptive and maladaptive anxiety responses in humans. The monkey model is also relevant to understanding the development of human psychopathology. For example, children with extremely inhibited temperament are at increased risk to develop anxiety disorders, and these children have behavioral and biological alterations that are similar to those described in the monkey anxious endophenotype. It is likely that different aspects of the anxious endophenotype are mediated by the interactions of limbic, brain stem, and cortical regions. To understand the brain mechanisms underlying adaptive anxiety responses and their physiological concomitants, a series of studies in monkeys lesioning components of the neural circuitry (amygdala, central nucleus of the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex) hypothesized to play a role are currently being performed. Initial findings suggest that the central nucleus of the amygdala modulates the expression of behavioral inhibition, a key feature of the endophenotype. In preliminary FDG positron emission tomography (PET) studies, functional linkages were established between the amygdala and prefrontal cortical regions that are associated with the activation of anxiety.
Keywords: Affect/*physiology; Amygdala/blood supply; Animals; Anxiety/genetics/*psychology; Brain/*blood supply; Brain Stem/blood supply; Carrier Proteins/genetics; Electroencephalography; *Inhibition (Psychology); Macaca mulatta; Membrane Glycoproteins/genetics; *Membrane Transport Proteins; *Nerve Tissue Proteins; Prefrontal Cortex/blood supply; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Social Environment; Temperament; Tomography, Emission-Computed
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McBride, S. D., & Wolf, B. (2007). Using multivariate statistical analysis to measure ovine temperament; stability of factor construction over time and between groups of animals. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 103(1-2), 45–58.
Abstract: The ovine arena test in conjunction with multivariate statistical analysis (factor analysis) may be a means of measuring ovine temperament for practical purposes. Stability of factor construction over time and between groups of animals is considered to demonstrate trait consistency and is, therefore, one of the first steps in validating a temperament/personality test from this perspective. The aim of this study, therefore, was to assess the stability of factor construction, as a measure of trait consistency, using arena test data from three groups of animals with one group (Group 1) tested repeatedly over three rounds (twice at 8 months and once at 22 months of age). Group 1 consisted of 193 mule (Bluefaced Leicester Sire x Scottish Blackface/Welsh Speckled Face dam), ewe lambs (8 months old). Groups 2 and 3 consisted of 189 and 185 mules, respectively (14 months old). All animals were tested for 6 min in a 13 m x 3 m arena. Factor analysis (varimax rotation) was performed twice on the behavioural data (latency to bleat, total number of vocalisations, distance travelled, time spent in different areas of the arena and number of times crossing in and out of pertinent areas), initially using all data recorded on a per minute basis (`Per Minute') for all 6 min of the test (10 factors extracted) and then using total values (`Total'), the summation of the 6 min for each behaviour measured (4 factors extracted). Stability of factor loadings between rounds and between groups was tested using Kendall's coefficient of concordance. For the `Per Minute' data, 5 out of the 10 factors showed significant (p < 0.05) concordance between rounds whilst 9 out of 10 factors showed significant (p < 0.05) concordance between groups. All four factors generated from the `Total' data demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) concordance between rounds and between groups. The four factors generated from the `Total' data were considered to be of potential merit for future studies. These factors were named--`conspecific motivation-fear', `conspecific motivation-distress', `activity' and `low conspecific motivation'.
Keywords: Arena test; Factor analysis; Temperament; Sheep
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Visser, E. K., van Reenen, C. G., Hopster, H., Schilder, M. B. H., Knaap, J. H., Barneveld, A., et al. (2001). Quantifying aspects of young horses' temperament: consistency of behavioural variables. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 74(4), 241–258.
Abstract: Performance of horses, whether in sports or in leisure, depends on both physical abilities as well as temperament. The aim of the present work was to measure individual variation and consistency of behavioural variables, related to temperament, in young horses of the same breed and age, and reared under controlled housing conditions and management. A total of 41 Dutch Warmblood horses were tested at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age in two behavioural tests, i.e. the novel object test and the handling test. In the novel object test horses were confronted with an open umbrella that was lowered from the ceiling. In the handling test horses were led by a human to cross a bridge. Per test, behavioural variables in the following behavioural classes were observed: locomotor activity, latency times, postural expressions and vocalisations. Within years, all behavioural variables in the handling test, and all but two in the novel object test were positively correlated (0.36<Rs<0.81, P<0.05). For both tests, at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age, a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to examine whether there were indications for underlying components of these individual behavioural variables that could possibly serve as measures for temperamental traits. The first component in the novel object test could be regarded as `flightiness' and the second as `sensitiveness'. In the handling test, the first component was suggested to relate to `patience', the second component to `willingness to perform'. The temperamental trait `flightiness' (novel object test) as well as the temperamental trait `patience' (handling test) were positively correlated within both years (0.36<Rs<0.65, P<0.05). For the traits `sensitiveness' (novel object test) and `willingness to perform' (handling test) a positive correlation was only found within the first year (0.44<Rs<0.57, P<0.01). A few individual behavioural variables showed consistency over years. Additionally, just one out of four temperamental traits, namely `flightiness', proved to be consistent over years (Rs=0.49, P<0.01). The temperamental trait `patience' showed a trend between years (Rs=0.31, 0.05<P<0.1). It is concluded that the behavioural tests employed in the present study can be used to reliably identify individual behavioural variables and temperamental traits in young horses. Long-term consistency, i.e. between subsequent years, could not be demonstrated convincingly. Nevertheless, future work may indicate that employing the same approach and considering an even longer time period or different phases of the horse's life, long-term consistency does exist.
Keywords: Horses; Temperament; Individual differences; Behavioural variables; Pca
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Seaman, S. C., Davidson, H. P. B., & Waran, N. K. (2002). How reliable is temperament assessment in the domestic horse (Equus caballus)? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 78(2-4), 175–191.
Abstract: Differences in behavioural characteristics between individuals of the same species are often described as being due to the temperament of the individuals. These differences can have enormous implications for welfare with some individuals apparently being able to adapt to environmental challenge more easily than others. Such differences have resulted in animals often being described as either `active' copers, which try to escape from or remove an aversive stimulus, or `passive' copers, which show no outward signs of a situation being aversive, thus, appearing to be unaffected. Tests previously developed to assess the temperament of animals have been criticised for several reasons. Behaviour is often recorded and categorised using methods that are not objective and tests are generally carried out once with no consideration of whether or not behavioural responses are consistent over time. This study takes these factors into account. The behaviour of 33 horses was recorded in three types of test--an arena test, response to a person and response to an object. In order to test whether or not responses were consistent over time, the tests were repeated three times with an average of 9 days between trials. Test results were validated using responses from questionnaires completed by the farm team leader. The data were analysed using an initial principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis. The horses were found to behave consistently over the three trials in their responses in the arena test. The responses to the person test and the object test were similar to each other; however, these responses were not consistent over trials. The behaviour in the arena test was unable to be used to make a prediction of behaviour in the person and object tests and vice versa. The responses shown by the horses did not enable them to be categorised as either active or passive copers. Behavioural responses in the tests were not predictive of the response to a startle test (water spray), nor could they be used to predict status or response to being reintroduced to the group after testing. There was no relationship between the responses in the tests and the ratings given by the farm team leader. It was concluded that horses vary widely in their responses to artificial behavioural tests, with only the responses to an open-field arena test being consistent over time, and therefore, the only type of test which can indicate some core factor of temperament.
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