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Grinde B. Consciousness makes sense in the light of evolution. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 164:105824. [PMID: 39047928 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2024] [Revised: 07/18/2024] [Accepted: 07/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
I believe consciousness is a property of advanced nervous systems, and as such a product of evolution. Thus, to understand consciousness we need to describe the trajectory leading to its evolution and the selective advantages conferred. A deeper understanding of the neurology would be a significant contribution, but other advanced functions, such as hearing and vision, are explained with a comparable lack of detailed knowledge of the brain processes responsible. In this paper, I try to add details and credence to a previously suggested, evolution-based model of consciousness. According to this model, the feature started to evolve in early amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) some 320 million years ago. The reason was the introduction of feelings as a strategy for making behavioral decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bjørn Grinde
- Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo, Problemveien 11, Oslo 0313, Norway.
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2
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Godfrey EJ, Cameron EZ, Hickling GJ. Social learning in a nocturnal marsupial: is it a possum-ability? Biol Lett 2023; 19:20220460. [PMID: 36651032 PMCID: PMC9845967 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0460] [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: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Social learning can reduce the costs associated with trial-and-error learning. There is speculation that social learning could contribute to trap and bait avoidance in invasive species like the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)-a marsupial for which social learning has not previously been investigated. In large outdoor pens, we presented wild-caught 'demonstrator' possums with puzzle devices containing an attractive food reward; 2 of 8 demonstrators accessed the reward the first night the puzzle was presented and another three succeeded on later nights. Meanwhile, 'observer' possums in adjacent pens watched the demonstrators for five nights and then were given the opportunity to solve the puzzle themselves; 15 of 15 succeeded on their first night (a highly significant improvement). This experiment thus provides strong evidence of social learning by common brushtail possums. Future research should investigate whether information about aversive stimuli (such as traps and toxic baits) can similarly be transmitted between possums by social learning; if so, this could have important implications for possum pest control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma J. Godfrey
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
| | - Elissa Z. Cameron
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
| | - Graham J. Hickling
- Wildlife Ecology and Management, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand
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Vincent JL, Vonk J. Aroma-dillo or Area-dillo? An examination of armadillos' sensory modality bias. Behav Processes 2022; 202:104751. [PMID: 36075536 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 08/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Many species of armadillo demonstrate impressive navigation abilities and may compensate for poor eyesight with a strong sense of smell. We examined which modality four three-banded armadillos and one hairy armadillo prioritized when two cues (olfactory or spatial) previously associated with reward were put in conflict. The armadillos learned to approach one of two locations - each paired with a distinctive scent - for reward. When the scent cues were reversed, the armadillos demonstrated a strong bias for attending to the location cue over the scent cue. Therefore, a follow-up test presented them with the same scents and assessed their spontaneous preferences. Although the armadillos did not show an immediate preference for the previously rewarded scent, they did learn to discriminate two novel scents when they were placed in a circular arena containing two tins - each scented with a unique scent. They learned to selectively open the tins containing reward based on scent. This result indicates that their bias towards location cues was not due to an inability to discriminate between scents. Armadillos may attend to either location or scent but may prioritize location when both cues are equally predictive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joy L Vincent
- Oakland University, Department of Psychology, 654 Pioneer Drive, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.
| | - Jennifer Vonk
- Oakland University, Department of Psychology, 654 Pioneer Drive, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.
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McElligott AG, O'Keeffe KH, Green AC. Kangaroos display gazing and gaze alternations during an unsolvable problem task. Biol Lett 2020; 16:20200607. [PMID: 33321066 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Domestication is generally assumed to have resulted in enhanced communication abilities between non-primate mammals and humans, although the number of species studied is very limited (e.g. cats, Felis catus; dogs, Canis familiaris; wolves, Canis lupus; goats, Capra hircus; horses, Equus caballus). In species without hands for pointing, gazing at humans when dealing with inaccessible food during an unsolvable task, and in particular gaze alternations between a human and the unsolvable task (considered forms of showing), are often interpreted as attempts at referential intentional communication. We report that kangaroos, marsupial mammals that have never been domesticated, actively gazed at an experimenter during an unsolvable problem task (10/11 kangaroos tested), thus challenging the notion that this behaviour results from domestication. Nine of the 10 kangaroos additionally showed gaze alternations between the unsolvable task and experimenter. We propose that the potential occurrence of these behaviours displayed towards humans has been underestimated, owing to a narrow focus on domestic animals, as well as a more general eutherian research bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan G McElligott
- Centre for Research in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK
| | - Kristine H O'Keeffe
- Underwater Research Group of New South Wales, PO Box A630, Sydney South, NSW 1235, Australia
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Steindler LA, Blumstein DT, West R, Moseby KE, Letnic M. Exposure to a novel predator induces visual predator recognition by naïve prey. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-020-02884-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Cause and Effect. Anim Cogn 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-36729-7_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Osugi M, Foster TM, Temple W, Poling A. Behavior-based assessment of the auditory abilities of brushtail possums. J Exp Anal Behav 2011; 96:123-38. [PMID: 21765549 DOI: 10.1901/jeab.2011.96-123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2010] [Accepted: 03/05/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were trained to press a right lever when a tone was presented (a tone-on trial) and a left lever when a tone was not presented (a tone-off trial) to gain access to food. During training the tone was set at 80 dB(A), with a frequency of 0.88 kH for 3 possums and of 4 kH for the other 2. Once accuracy was over 90% correct across five consecutive sessions, a test session was conducted where the intensity of the tone was reduced by 8 dB(A) over blocks of 20 trials until accuracy over a block fell below 60%. After each test session, training sessions were reintroduced and continued until accuracy was again over 90%, when another test session was conducted. This process continued until there were at least five test sessions at that tone frequency. The same procedure was then used with frequencies of 0.20, 0.88, 2, 4, 10, 12.5, 15, 20, 30, and 35 kHz. Percentage correct and d' decreased approximately linearly for all possums as tone intensity reduced. Both sets of lines were shallowest at the higher frequencies and steepest at the lower frequencies. Hit and false alarm rates mirrored each other at high frequencies but were asymmetric at lower frequencies. Equal d' contours showed that sensitivity increased from 2 to 15 kHz and continued to be high over 20 to 35 kHz. The possums remained sensitive to the 20 to 35 kHz tones even at low intensities. The present study is the first to report the abilities of possum to detect tones over this range of frequencies and its results support the findings of a microelectrode mapping survey of possums' auditory cortex.
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LLEWELYN JOHN, WEBB JONATHANK, SCHWARZKOPF LIN, ALFORD ROSS, SHINE RICHARD. Behavioural responses of carnivorous marsupials (Planigale maculata) to toxic invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus). AUSTRAL ECOL 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02067.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Abstract
AbstractThe prevailing view that there is significant cognitive continuity between humans and other animals is a result of misinterpretations of the role of evolution, combined with anthropomorphism. This combination has often resulted in an over-interpretation of data from animal experiments. Comparative psychology should do what the name indicates: study the cognitive capacities of different species empirically, without naive evolutionary presuppositions.
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Signal TD, Temple W, Foster TM. Visual discrimination in the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/00049530108255138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- T. D. Signal
- University of Waikato, New Zealand
- Psychology Department, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand,
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Signal TD, Foster TM, Temple W, Chandler J. Establishing and maintaining an operant research facility with brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). Behav Res Methods 2005; 37:182-5. [PMID: 16097359 DOI: 10.3758/bf03206413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is a readily accessible marsupial that has been shown to adapt relatively well to captivity. The aim of this paper is to outline the husbandry procedures, experimental equipment, and methodologies used successfully within our possum colony since 1995.
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Affiliation(s)
- T D Signal
- School of Psychology and Sociology, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia.
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Bonney KR, Wynne CDL. Configural learning in two species of marsupial (Setonix brachyurus and Sminthopsis crassicaudata). J Comp Psychol 2003; 117:188-99. [PMID: 12856789 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.117.2.188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Four experiments examined the ability of quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) and fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) to solve 2 configural tasks: transverse and negative patterning. Transverse patterning requires the simultaneous solution of 3 overlapping discrimination problems (A+ B-, B+ C-, C+ A-). Both species could solve the nonoverlapping (elemental) version of this task (U+ V-, W+ X-, Y+ Z-), but only dunnarts solved the transverse patterning task. Negative patterning requires conditioned responses to 2 stimuli when presented separately but not together (A+, B+, AB-). Both species formed a selective conditioned response to A+ and B+ stimuli and inhibited responding to a simple nonreinforced stimulus (C-), but only dunnarts successfully inhibited responding to the AB- compound to solve the negative patterning task. These experiments are the first to demonstrate configural learning in a marsupial.
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Affiliation(s)
- K R Bonney
- Department of Psychology, Nedlands, Australia.
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Bron A, Sumpter CE, Foster TM, Temple W. Contingency discriminability, matching, and bias in the concurrent-schedule responding of possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). J Exp Anal Behav 2003; 79:289-306. [PMID: 12908759 PMCID: PMC1284936 DOI: 10.1901/jeab.2003.79-289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Six possums (Trichosuruus vulpecula) responded under dependent concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules of reinforcement. Over 15 conditions, barley-carob was one reinforcer with the other reinforcer consisting of Coco Pops, coconut, or a barley-carob mixture with 0%, 2%, 4%, or 6% salt added to the barley. The schedules were both variable-interval 40 s. As has been found with other species, behavior on the concurrent schedules was biased by the type of feed, with the 6% salt and the coconut giving the greatest biases towards the barley-carob mixture. The schedules were varied over 17 conditions using the barley-carob mixture alone or the barley-carob mixture versus the mixture with 4% or 6% salt. Both the contingency-discriminability model (Davison & Jenkins, 1985) and the generalized matching law described the data from the three sets of conditions equally well. Both gave similar measures of bias; however, some of the parameter values found with the contingency discriminability model were uninterpretable. Thus, any argument for this model based on the interpretability of the parameter values becomes weak. It is worth retaining the generalized matching law as a descriptor of such data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Bron
- University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
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Bonney KR, Wynne CDL. Quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) demonstrate tactile discrimination learning and serial-reversal learning. J Comp Psychol 2002; 116:51-4. [PMID: 11930935 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.116.1.51] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Two male quokkas (Setonix brachyurus: a herbivorous macropod marsupial) were trained to discriminate pairs of stimuli in the laboratory. Quokkas indicated their choice by pulling on 1 of 2 simultaneously presented cords. The quokkas' discrimination abilities were tested on 6 tactile and 6 visual discrimination tasks. Correct responses were rewarded with food. For both quokkas, all tactile tasks were learned to a criterion of 75% correct in up to 4 20-trial sessions. No visual task maintained criterion performance in 4 sessions. One tactile discrimination was reversed 10 times. After the 1st reversal, the error rate declined sharply and fell to a level well below the initial discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- K R Bonney
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
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Bonney KR, Wynne CDL. Visual discrimination learning and strategy behavior in the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata). J Comp Psychol 2002; 116:55-62. [PMID: 11930936 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.116.1.55] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) were trained on visual discrimination learning-set, reversal-set, and spatial delayed-alternation tasks. The learning set involved 36 2-way black-and-white pattern discriminations and 5 probe reversals. Ten reversals of a black-and-white pattern discrimination were followed by 5 novel tasks. Spatial alternation was tested at delays up to 20 s. Learning-set and reversal-set formation, including 1-trial learning and spontaneous transfer from learning set to reversals and vice versa, was found. Learning-set-experienced dunnarts showed no retention of previously learned tasks 1 week after testing but demonstrated consistently high Trial 2 performance, indicating the retention of a response strategy. Delayed-alternation tasks were learned up to 10-s delays. These results provide the first evidence of a visually guided "win-stay, lose-shift" strategy in a marsupial.
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Affiliation(s)
- K R Bonney
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
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