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Barrett, L., & Henzi, P. (2005). The social nature of primate cognition. Proc Biol Sci, 272(1575), 1865–1875.
Abstract: The hypothesis that the enlarged brain size of the primates was selected for by social, rather than purely ecological, factors has been strongly influential in studies of primate cognition and behaviour over the past two decades. However, the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis, also known as the social brain hypothesis, tends to emphasize certain traits and behaviours, like exploitation and deception, at the expense of others, such as tolerance and behavioural coordination, and therefore presents only one view of how social life may shape cognition. This review outlines work from other relevant disciplines, including evolutionary economics, cognitive science and neurophysiology, to illustrate how these can be used to build a more general theoretical framework, incorporating notions of embodied and distributed cognition, in which to situate questions concerning the evolution of primate social cognition.
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Kerr, R. A. (2006). PALEOCLIMATOLOGY. Atlantic mud shows how melting ice triggered an ancient chill. Science, 312(5782), 1860.
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Miller, G. (2006). Animal behavior. Signs of empathy seen in mice. Science, 312(5782), 1860–1861.
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Li, W., Howard, J. D., Parrish, T. B., & Gottfried, J. A. (2008). Aversive Learning Enhances Perceptual and Cortical Discrimination of Indiscriminable Odor Cues. Science, 319(5871), 1842–1845.
Abstract: Learning to associate sensory cues with threats is critical for minimizing aversive experience. The ecological benefit of associative learning relies on accurate perception of predictive cues, but how aversive learning enhances perceptual acuity of sensory signals, particularly in humans, is unclear. We combined multivariate functional magnetic resonance imaging with olfactory psychophysics to show that initially indistinguishable odor enantiomers (mirror-image molecules) become discriminable after aversive conditioning, paralleling the spatial divergence of ensemble activity patterns in primary olfactory (piriform) cortex. Our findings indicate that aversive learning induces piriform plasticity with corresponding gains in odor enantiomer discrimination, underscoring the capacity of fear conditioning to update perceptual representation of predictive cues, over and above its well-recognized role in the acquisition of conditioned responses. That completely indiscriminable sensations can be transformed into discriminable percepts further accentuates the potency of associative learning to enhance sensory cue perception and support adaptive behavior.
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Li, W., Howard, J. D., Parrish, T. B., & Gottfried, J. A. (2008). Supporting Online Material to: Aversive Learning Enhances Perceptual and Cortical Discrimination of Indiscriminable Odor Cues (Vol. 319).
Abstract: Learning to associate sensory cues with threats is critical for minimizing aversive experience. The ecological benefit of associative learning relies on accurate perception of predictive cues, but how aversive learning enhances perceptual acuity of sensory signals, particularly in humans, is unclear. We combined multivariate functional magnetic resonance imaging with olfactory psychophysics to show that initially indistinguishable odor enantiomers (mirror-image molecules) become discriminable after aversive conditioning, paralleling the spatial divergence of ensemble activity patterns in primary olfactory (piriform) cortex. Our findings indicate that aversive learning induces piriform plasticity with corresponding gains in odor enantiomer discrimination, underscoring the capacity of fear conditioning to update perceptual representation of predictive cues, over and above its well-recognized role in the acquisition of conditioned responses. That completely indiscriminable sensations can be transformed into discriminable percepts further accentuates the potency of associative learning to enhance sensory cue perception and support adaptive behavior.
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Pfister, J. A., Stegelmeier, B. L., Cheney, C. D., & Gardner, D. R. (2007). Effect of previous locoweed (Astragalus and Oxytropis species) intoxication on conditioned taste aversions in horses and sheep. J. Anim. Sci., 85(7), 1836–1841.
Abstract: Locoweed species (Astragalus and Oxytropis spp.) are a serious toxic plant problem for grazing livestock. Horses and sheep have been conditioned to avoid eating locoweed using the aversive agent LiCl. The objective of this study was to determine if previous locoweed intoxication affects food aversion learning in horses and sheep. Horses and sheep were divided into 3 treatment groups: control (not fed locoweed and not averted to a novel feed); locoweed-novel feed averted (fed locoweed and averted to a novel feed); and averted (not fed locoweed and averted to a novel feed). Animals in the locoweed-novel feed averted groups were fed locoweed during 2 periods of 21 and 14 d, respectively, with each feeding period followed by a 14-d recovery period. Animals were averted to a novel test feed at the end of the first locoweed-feeding period, and periodically evaluated for the strength and persistence of the aversion. During the first recovery period, locoweed-novel feed averted horses ate less (9.5% of amount offered) of the test feed than did control horses (99.8%) and did not generally differ from averted horses (0%). During recovery period 2, locoweed-novel feed averted horses (4.3%) differed (P = 0.001) in consumption (% of offered) of the test feed from controls (100%) and the averted group (0%). Locoweed-novel feed averted sheep differed (P = 0.001) from controls (14.4 vs. 99.5%, respectively, during recovery period 1), whereas locoweed-novel feed averted sheep did not differ (P > 0.50) from averted sheep (0.6%). During the second recovery period, control sheep (100%) differed (P < 0.05) from averted (0%) and locoweed-novel feed averted (12.2%) groups. Two intoxicated sheep (locoweed-novel feed averted) partially extinguished the aversion during the first recovery period, but an additional dose of LiCl restored the aversion. Two of 3 intoxicated horses had strong aversions that persisted without extinction; 1 horse in the locoweed-novel feed averted group had a weaker aversion. These findings suggest that horses and sheep previously intoxicated by locoweeds can form strong and persistent aversions to a novel feed, but in some animals, those aversions may not be as strong as in animals that were never intoxicated.
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Bracke, M. B. M., Spruijt, B. M., Metz, J. H. M., & Schouten, W. G. P. (2002). Decision support system for overall welfare assessment in pregnant sows A: Model structure and weighting procedure. J. Anim Sci., 80(7), 1819–1834.
Abstract: The problem of how to objectively assess the overall welfare status of animals under farming conditions has contributed to an ongoing debate that has hampered actual decision making on animal welfare. For this reason we constructed a model based on the assumed hierarchical organization of the animals' needs for overall welfare assessment in the case of pregnant sows. This model is implemented in a computer-based decision support system that takes a description of a housing and management system as input and produces a welfare score as output. A formalized procedure was used to construct the model for welfare assessment in pregnant sows on the basis of available scientific knowledge. This SOWEL (from SOw WELfare) model contains 37 attributes that describe the welfare-relevant properties of housing and management systems. In the decision support system these attributes are linked to scientific statements and a list of needs to provide a scientific basis for welfare assessment. Weighting factors that represent the relative importance of the attributes are derived from the scientific statements about the various welfare performance criteria that have been measured by scientists. The welfare score is calculated as the weighted average score. All information in the decision support system is stored in tables in a relational database such that newly available knowledge and insights can be incorporated to refine the model. The model has been developed in line with several existing models but it differs from these models in that it is the first to provide a formalized procedure to explicate the reasoning steps involved in welfare assessment based on available scientific knowledge. N1 -
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Pennisi, E. (2006). Animal cognition. Man's best friend(s) reveal the possible roots of social intelligence (Vol. 312).
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Pennisi, E. (2006). Animal cognition. Social animals prove their smarts (Vol. 312).
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Macfadden, B. J. (2005). Evolution. Fossil horses--evidence for evolution. Science, 307(5716), 1728–1730.
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