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McLeod, P. G., & Huntingford, F. A. (1994). Social rank and predator inspection in sticklebacks. Anim. Behav., 47(5), 1238–1240.
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Ord, T. J., Peters, R. A., Evans, C. S., & Taylor, A. J. (2002). Digital video playback and visual communication in lizards. Anim. Behav., 63(5), 879–890.
Abstract: Experimental analyses of dynamic visual signals have to overcome the technical obstacle of reproducing complex motor patterns such as those found in courtship and threat displays. Video playback offers a potential solution to this problem, but it has recently been criticized because of sensory differences between humans and nonhuman animals, which suggest that video stimuli might be perceived as deficient relative to live conspecifics. Quantitative comparisons are therefore necessary to determine whether video sequences reliably evoke natural responses. Male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, compete for territories using complex displays delivered in a rapid stereotyped sequence. We evaluated video playback as a technique for studying this visual signal. Digital video sequences depicting a life-sized displaying male were indistinguishable from live male conspecifics in the rate and structure of aggressive displays evoked. Other measures of social behaviour suggested that video stimuli were more effective in this context. Lizards produced significantly more appeasement displays and had higher rates of substrate licking and locomotor activity in response to video playback than to confined male opponents, which failed to produce aggressive displays. Lizards tracked temporal changes in the display rate of video stimuli and were also sensitive to individual differences in morphology and behaviour between video exemplars. These results show that video stimuli are appropriate for the experimental analysis of Jacky dragon aggressive displays. We compare the potential shortcomings of video playback with those of other techniques and conclude that no approach offers a panacea, but that several have complementary characteristics. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Goncalves, D. M., Oliveira, R. F., Korner, K., Poschadel, J. R., & Schlupp, I. (2000). Using video playbacks to study visual communication in a marine fish, Salaria pavo. Anim. Behav., 60(3), 351–357.
Abstract: Video playbacks have been successfully applied to the study of visual communication in several groups of animals. However, this technique is controversial as video monitors are designed with the human visual system in mind. Differences between the visual capabilities of humans and other animals will lead to perceptually different interpretations of video images. We simultaneously presented males and females of the peacock blenny, Salaria pavo, with a live conspecific male and an online video image of the same individual. Video images failed to elicit appropriate responses. Males were aggressive towards the live male but not towards video images of the same male. Similarly, females courted only the live male and spent more time near this stimulus. In contrast, females of the gynogenetic poecilid Poecilia formosa showed an equal preference for a live and video image of a P. mexicana male, suggesting a response to live animals as strong as to video images. We discuss differences between the species that may explain their opposite reaction to video images.
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Kaminski, J., Riedel, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2005). Domestic goats, Capra hircus, follow gaze direction and use social cues in an object choice task. Anim. Behav., 69(1), 11–18.
Abstract: Gaze following is a basic social cognitive skill with many potential benefits for animals that live in social groups. At least five primate species are known to follow the gaze of conspecifics, but there have been no studies on gaze following in other mammals. We investigated whether domestic goats can use the gaze direction of a conspecific as a cue to find food. They were able to do this, at a level comparable to that of primates. In a second experiment, we tested goats' ability to use gaze and other communicative cues given by a human in a so-called object choice situation. An experimenter hid food out of sight of the subject under one of two cups. After baiting the cup the experimenter indicated the location of the food to the subject by using different cues. The goats used communicative cues (touching and pointing) but not gaze by itself. Since domestic dogs are very skilled in this task, whereas wolves are not, one hypothesis is that the use of communicative cues in the object choice task is a side-effect of domestication.
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Pongrácz, P., Miklósi, Á., Kubinyi, E., Topál, J., & Csányi, V. (2003). Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs. Anim. Behav., 65(3), 595–603.
Abstract: We investigated the interaction between individual experience and social learning in domestic dogs,Canis familiaris . We conducted two experiments using detour tests, where an object or food was placed behind a transparent, V-shaped wire-mesh fence, such that the dogs could get the reward by going around the fence. In some groups, two open doors were offered as an alternative, easier way to reach the reward. In experiment 1 we opened the doors only in trial 1, then closed them for trials 2 and 3. In experiment 2 other dogs were first taught to detour the fence with closed doors after they had observed a detouring human demonstrator, then we opened the doors for three subsequent trials. In experiment 1 all dogs reached the reward by going through the doors in trial 1, but their detouring performance was poor after the doors had been closed, if they had to solve the task on their own. However, dogs in the experimental group that were allowed to watch a detouring human demonstrator after the doors had been closed showed improved detouring ability compared with those that did not receive a demonstration of detouring. In experiment 2 the dogs tended to keep on detouring along the fence even if the doors had been opened, giving up a chance to get behind the fence by a shorter route. These results show that dogs can use information gained by observing a human demonstrator to overcome their own mistakenly preferred solution in a problem situation. In a reversed situation social learning can also contribute to a preference for a less adaptive behaviour. However, only repeated individual and social experience leads to a durable manifestation of maladaptive behaviour. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
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Galef, B. G. (1996). The adaptive value of social learning: a reply to Laland. Anim. Behav., 52(3), 641–644.
Abstract: No abstract
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Templeton, J. J. (1998). Learning from others' mistakes: a paradox revisited. Anim. Behav., 55(1), 79–85.
Abstract: Some researchers have reported the paradoxical finding of enhanced social learning when naive observers learn from unskilled rather than skilled demonstrators, particularly in discrimination tasks. In two experiments with starlings,Sturnus vulgaris, I considered whether this enhanced learning is because the observer (1) sees incorrect responses only, (2) sees both correct and incorrect responses or (3) sees an increase in the proportion of correct responses over trials. In experiment 1, individual starlings observed a demonstrator bird perform multiple simultaneous discrimination tasks. In one group, the demonstrator always picked the correct stimulus; in another group, the demonstrator always picked the incorrect stimulus; in a third group, the demonstrator consistently picked the correct stimulus 50% of the time. Those subjects that observed only incorrect choices performed significantly better than the other two groups, but none of the birds achieved the 90% correct performance criterion. Experiment 2 involved a single discrimination task; thus, a fourth group was added to control for individual learning. Again, subjects that observed only incorrect responses learned the discrimination significantly more quickly than the other three groups. Subjects that observed the demonstrator make both correct and incorrect responses were equally likely to select the same (correct) or opposite (incorrect) stimulus when the demonstrator picked the correct stimulus. When the demonstrator picked the incorrect stimulus, however, these subjects were significantly more likely to pick the opposite (correct) stimulus. These findings suggest that when learning a discrimination problem, observing a foraging companion's lack of success is more informative than observing its success.
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Coussi-Korbel, S., & Fragaszy, D. M. (1995). On the relation between social dynamics and social learning. Anim. Behav., 50(6), 1441–1453.
Abstract: Experimental studies on social learning in animals have commonly centred on the psychological processes responsible for learning, and neglected social processes as potential influences on both the likelihood of social learning and the type of information that can be acquired socially. A model relating social learning to social dynamics among members of a group is presented. Three key hypotheses of the model are (1) behavioural coordination in time and/or space supports the process of social learning; (2) different kinds of coordination differentially support acquisition of different kinds of information; and (3) the various forms of behavioural coordination will be differentially affected by social dynamics. Several predictions relating inter-individual and group differences in social dynamics to social learning that follow from these hypotheses are presented.
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Chalmeau, R., Visalberghi, E., & Gallo, A. (1997). Capuchin monkeys,Cebus apellafail to understand a cooperative task. Anim. Behav., 54(5), 1215–1225.
Abstract: We investigated whether capuchin monkeys cooperate to solve a task and to what extent they take into account the behaviour of another individual when cooperating. Two groups of capuchin monkeys (N=5 and 6) were tested in a task whose solution required simultaneous pulling of two handles which were too far from one another to be pulled by one monkey. Before carrying out the cooperation study, individual monkeys were trained to pull one handle (training phase 1) and to pull two handles simultaneously (training phase 2) for a food reward. Nine subjects were successful in training phase 1, and five in training phase 2. In the cooperation study seven subjects were successful, that is, pulled one handle while a companion pulled the other. Further analyses revealed that capuchins did not increase their pulling actions when a partner was close to or at the other handle, that is, when cooperation might occur. These data suggest that capuchin monkeys acted together at the task and got the reward without understanding the role of the partner and without taking its behaviour into consideration. Social tolerance, as well as their tendency to explore and their manual dexterity, were the major factors accounting for the capuchins' success.
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Griffin, A. S., & Galef, J., Bennett G. (2005). Social learning about predators: does timing matter? Anim. Behav., 69(3), 669–678.
Abstract: In Pavlovian conditioning, animals acquire a response to a previously neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS), such as a light, if that stimulus predicts a biologically important event (unconditioned stimulus, US), such as delivery of food. Learning typically occurs when the CS precedes the US (forward conditioning), and not when the CS follows the US (backward conditioning). In social learning about predators, the predator stimulus is considered to be the CS to which observers acquire avoidance responses after the stimulus has been presented in contiguity with an alarmed demonstrator, the US. We tested the prediction that social learning of response to a predator would occur even if the social alarm cues (the US) appeared before the predatory stimulus (the CS). Carib grackles, Quiscalus lugubris, responded to a familiar predator presented at close range by suppressing alarm calls. Presentation of an unfamiliar avian model (black-and-yellow pigeon) also decreased calling, and this inhibition of calling was enhanced following a training session in which the model stimulus was presented in association with grackle alarm calls. Acquired inhibition of calling was independent of the order of presentation of the model and an alarm chorus. These are the first results to indicate that social acquisition of predator avoidance is not dependent upon a particular temporal relationship between predators and social alarm cues. Evolution may have modified some properties of Pavlovian conditioning to accommodate social learning about potentially dangerous stimuli.
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