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Kopsch NT, Geissmann T. A cooperation experiment with white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar). Primates 2023; 64:483-492. [PMID: 37222867 PMCID: PMC10473987 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-023-01068-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Cooperative behaviors among individuals of numerous species play a crucial role in social interactions. There is a special interest in investigating the occurrence of cooperation among apes because this knowledge could also shed light on evolutionary processes and help us understand the origin and development of cooperation in humans and primates in general. Gibbons are phylogenetically intermediate between the great apes and monkeys, and therefore represent a unique opportunity for comparisons. The aim of the present study was to discover whether or not white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) show cooperative behaviors. In order to test for the respective behaviors, the gibbons were presented with a commonly used experimental cooperative rope-pulling task. The gibbons in this study did not exhibit cooperative behaviors during the problem-solving task. However, prior training procedures could not be fully completed, hence this project constitutes only the onset of exploring cooperative behaviors in gibbons. Additional behavioral observations revealed that the gibbons spent significantly more time "out of arm's reach to everyone", suggesting that they are less often involved in social interactions, than other, more cooperative primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora T Kopsch
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
- Department of Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Thomas Geissmann
- Anthropological Department, University Zurich-Irchel, Zurich, Switzerland
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Martínez M, Robinson LM, Brosnan SF, Range F. Dogs take into account the actions of a human partner in a cooperative task. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222189. [PMID: 36787798 PMCID: PMC9928525 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans stand out for their capacity to flexibly cooperate, possibly because they understand their partners' role. Researchers have explored if such understanding is unique to humans by assessing whether non-human species wait to manipulate a cooperative apparatus until a delayed partner arrives. If animals do wait, then it is assumed that they recognize the need for a partner. However, success in these tasks may be the result of social facilitation, while failure may be due to poor inhibitory control. Moreover, this approach does not test if animals take their partners' actions into account. Here we trained dogs to press a button simultaneously with their human partner. Afterwards, we tested them in several conditions to disentangle which elements of their partner's behaviour they take into account. Dogs waited to press the button until the delayed partner arrived, the button was available to the partner and the partner acted (pressed the button). We found no relationship between inhibitory control and success. We conclude that dogs are not merely reacting to the presence of their human partners, but are also taking their actions into account when coordinating with them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayte Martínez
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160 Vienna, Austria.,Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Lauren M Robinson
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160 Vienna, Austria.,Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Sarah F Brosnan
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA.,Departments of Psychology and Philosophy, Neuroscience Institute, Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Friederike Range
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160 Vienna, Austria
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Congratulations to Animal Cognition on its 50th birthday! Some thoughts on the last 50 years of animal cognition research. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:13-23. [PMID: 36264405 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01706-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
In this article, the author reflects on some of the key issues that have arisen in comparative cognition and the role and impact of the journal Animal Cognition through its first 25 years by pretending to look back at this period from the year 2047. Successes within comparative cognition are described and the role that Animal Cognition has played in the growth of comparative cognition are discussed. Concerns are presented about issues that affect the opportunities that researchers have to work with nonhuman species and to produce good comparative cognitive science. Prescriptions for what the author hopes will happen next also are offered all in the lens of a prospectively imagined retrospective on this field.
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Torres Ortiz S, Smeele SQ, Champenois J, von Bayern AMP. Memory for own actions in parrots. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20561. [PMID: 36446997 PMCID: PMC9709151 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25199-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Accepted: 11/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to recall one's past actions is a crucial prerequisite for mental self-representation and episodic memory. We studied whether blue-throated macaws, a social macaw species, can remember their previous actions. The parrots were trained to repeat four previously learned actions upon command. Test sessions included repeat trials, double repeat trials and trials without repeat intermixed to test if the parrots repeated correctly, only when requested and not relying on a representation of the last behavioral command. Following their success, the parrots also received sessions with increasing time delays preceding the repeat command and successfully mastered 12-15 s delays. The parrots successfully transferred the repeat command spontaneously at first trial to three newly trained behaviors they had never repeated before, and also succeeded in a second trial intermixed with already trained actions (untrained repeat tests). This corroborates that successful repeating is not just an artifact of intense training but that blue-throated macaws can transfer the abstract "repeat rule" to untrained action. It also implies that an important aspect of self-representation has evolved in this avian group and might be adaptive, which is consistent with the complex socio-ecological environment of parrots and previous demonstrations of their complex cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Torres Ortiz
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in Foundation, Seewiesen Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, 82319 Starnberg, Germany ,Max-Planck Comparative Cognition Research Station, Loro Parque Fundación, Av. Loro Parque, 38400 Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife Spain
| | - Simeon Q. Smeele
- grid.507516.00000 0004 7661 536XMax Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell Am Bodensee, Germany ,grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany ,grid.9811.10000 0001 0658 7699Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Juliette Champenois
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in Foundation, Seewiesen Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, 82319 Starnberg, Germany ,Max-Planck Comparative Cognition Research Station, Loro Parque Fundación, Av. Loro Parque, 38400 Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife Spain
| | - Auguste M. P. von Bayern
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in Foundation, Seewiesen Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, 82319 Starnberg, Germany ,Max-Planck Comparative Cognition Research Station, Loro Parque Fundación, Av. Loro Parque, 38400 Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife Spain
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Effects of early-life experience on innovation and problem-solving in captive coyotes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03251-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Rault JL, Camerlink I, Goumon S, Mundry R, Špinka M. The Joint Log-Lift Task: A Social Foraging Paradigm. Front Vet Sci 2021; 8:745627. [PMID: 34708104 PMCID: PMC8542970 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2021.745627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioural cooperation is under intense research. Yet, popular experimental paradigms often employ artificial tasks, require training, or do not permit partner choice, possibly limiting their biological relevance. We developed the joint log-lift task, a social foraging paradigm in which animals have to jointly lift a log to each obtain a food reward. The task relies on an obligate strategy, meaning that the only way to benefit is to work jointly. We hypothesised that (1) animals learn to spontaneously solve the task, and that (2) kin and (3) more sociable individuals would engage more often together in the task and achieve greater success than non-kin and less sociable individuals, respectively. We presented the task to 8 groups of juvenile domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) in their home pen for 30 min daily. Over the course of 9 days, the pigs showed evidence of learning by progressively switching from individual to joint behaviours, leading to 68% (62 out of 91 pigs) spontaneously solving the task. Success was influenced by sociability, but not kinship. There were large differences in success among dyads, hinting at the possible role of social dynamics and inter-individual differences in the ability and/or motivation to solve the task. The joint log-lift task allows researchers to investigate spontaneous cooperative tendencies of individuals, dyads and groups in the home environment through ad libitum engagement with the apparatus. This ecologically relevant paradigm opens the way to investigate social foraging experimentally at large scale, by giving animals free choice about when and with whom to work jointly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Loup Rault
- Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Irene Camerlink
- Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sébastien Goumon
- ETH Zürich, Animal Physiology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Roger Mundry
- Platform Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marek Špinka
- Department of Ethology and Companion Animal Science, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czechia.,Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czechia
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Follow the leader? Orange-fronted conures eavesdrop on conspecific vocal performance and utilise it in social decisions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0252374. [PMID: 34106975 PMCID: PMC8189466 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals regularly use social information to make fitness-relevant decisions. Particularly in social interactions, social information can reduce uncertainty about the relative quality of conspecifics, thus optimising decisions on with whom and how to interact. One important resource for individuals living in social environments is the production of information by signalling conspecifics. Recent research has suggested that some species of parrots engage in affiliative contact call matching and that these interactions may be available to conspecific unintended receivers. However, it remains unclear what information third parties may gain from contact call matching and how it can be utilised during flock decisions. Here, using a combined choice and playback experiment, we investigated the flock fusion choices and vocal behaviour of a social parrot species, the orange-fronted conure (Eupsittula canicularis), to a contact call matching interaction between two individuals of different sexes and with different vocal roles. Our results revealed that orange-fronted conures chose to follow vocal leaders more often than vocal followers during fusions. Furthermore, flocks responded with higher call rates and matched the stimulus calls closer when subsequently choosing a vocal leader. Interestingly, orange-fronted conures also showed higher contact call rates and closer matches when choosing males over females. These results suggest that paying attention to conspecific contact call interactions can provide individuals with social information that can be utilised during fission and fusion events, significantly influencing the social dynamics of orange-fronted conures.
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Sigmundson R, Stribos MS, Hammer R, Herzele J, Pflüger LS, Massen JJM. Exploring the Cognitive Capacities of Japanese Macaques in a Cooperation Game. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11061497. [PMID: 34064235 PMCID: PMC8224363 DOI: 10.3390/ani11061497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Experiments using animal models are often conducted to explore the cognitive capacities of different species and to shed light upon the evolution of behavior and the mind that shapes it. Investigating the cognitions and motivations involved in cooperation is one such area that has attracted attention in recent years. As experiments examining these abilities in natural settings are underrepresented in the literature, our study was conducted in a setting closely resembling the natural environment of the study species so as to retain the social factors that help shape these behaviors. In our experiments, Japanese macaques needed to work together to simultaneously pull two loops in order to release food rewards onto a central platform. Over the course of the experiment, the macaques in our study came to make fewer attempts at the cooperative task when no potential partner was present. Furthermore, following an unequal division of the rewards, macaques receiving lesser rewards were more likely to express stress-related and aggressive behavior. Together, these results suggest that the Japanese macaques in our study understood the importance of having a partner in the cooperative task, paid attention to the relative value of the reward they received from the task and became distressed if their reward was inferior to that of another. Abstract Cooperation occurs amongst individuals embedded in a social environment. Consequently, cooperative interactions involve a variety of persistent social influences such as the dynamics of partner choice and reward division. To test for the effects of such dynamics, we conducted cooperation experiments in a captive population of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata, N = 164) using a modified version of the loose-string paradigm in an open-experiment design. We show that in addition to becoming more proficient cooperators over the course of the experiments, some of the macaques showed sensitivity to the presence of potential partners and adjusted their behavior accordingly. Furthermore, following an unequal reward division, individuals receiving a lesser reward were more likely to display aggressive and stress-related behaviors. Our experiments demonstrate that Japanese macaques have some understanding of the contingencies involved in cooperation as well as a sensitivity to the subsequent reward division suggestive of an aversion to inequity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Sigmundson
- Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria;
| | - Mathieu S. Stribos
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands; (M.S.S.); (R.H.)
| | - Roy Hammer
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands; (M.S.S.); (R.H.)
| | - Julia Herzele
- Austrian Research Center for Primatology, 9570 Ossiach, Austria; (J.H.); (L.S.P.)
| | - Lena S. Pflüger
- Austrian Research Center for Primatology, 9570 Ossiach, Austria; (J.H.); (L.S.P.)
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Jorg J. M. Massen
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands; (M.S.S.); (R.H.)
- Austrian Research Center for Primatology, 9570 Ossiach, Austria; (J.H.); (L.S.P.)
- Correspondence:
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King SL, Guarino E, Donegan K, McMullen C, Jaakkola K. Evidence that bottlenose dolphins can communicate with vocal signals to solve a cooperative task. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:202073. [PMID: 33959360 PMCID: PMC8074934 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.202073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Cooperation experiments have long been used to explore the cognition underlying animals' coordination towards a shared goal. While the ability to understand the need for a partner in a cooperative task has been demonstrated in a number of species, there has been far less focus on cooperation experiments that address the role of communication. In humans, cooperative efforts can be enhanced by physical synchrony, and coordination problems can be solved using spoken language. Indeed, human children adapt to complex coordination problems by communicating with vocal signals. Here, we investigate whether bottlenose dolphins can use vocal signals to coordinate their behaviour in a cooperative button-pressing task. The two dolphin dyads used in this study were significantly more likely to cooperate successfully when they used whistles prior to pressing their buttons, with whistling leading to shorter button press intervals and more successful trials. Whistle timing was important as the dolphins were significantly more likely to succeed if they pushed their buttons together after the last whistle, rather than pushing independently of whistle production. Bottlenose dolphins are well known for cooperating extensively in the wild, and while it remains to be seen how wild dolphins use communication to coordinate cooperation, our results reveal that at least some dolphins are capable of using vocal signals to facilitate the successful execution of coordinated, cooperative actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie L. King
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Emily Guarino
- Dolphin Research Center, 58901 Overseas Highway, Grassy Key, FL 33050, USA
| | - Katy Donegan
- Dolphin Research Center, 58901 Overseas Highway, Grassy Key, FL 33050, USA
| | - Christina McMullen
- Dolphin Research Center, 58901 Overseas Highway, Grassy Key, FL 33050, USA
| | - Kelly Jaakkola
- Dolphin Research Center, 58901 Overseas Highway, Grassy Key, FL 33050, USA
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