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Ibáñez de Aldecoa P, Auersperg AMI, Griffin AS, Tebbich S. Ratcheting up tool innovation in Goffin's cockatoos ( Cacatua goffiniana): The effect of contextually diverse prior experience. Ethology 2023; 129:133-145. [PMID: 37082334 PMCID: PMC10108129 DOI: 10.1111/eth.13351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The ability to gain information from one situation, acquire new skills and/or perfect existing ones, and subsequently apply them to a new situation is a key element in behavioural flexibility and a hallmark of innovation. A flexible agent is expected to store these skills and apply them to contexts different from that in which learning occurred. Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) are highly innovative parrots renowned for their problem-solving and tool-using skills and are thus excellent candidates to study this phenomenon. We hypothesized that birds allowed to use a tool in a larger variety of contingencies would acquire a broader expertise in handling it, facilitating its transfer to new tasks. In our study, we compared the performance of two groups of captive Goffin's cockatoos (N = 13): A test group received more diverse learning and motor experiences on multiple applications of a hook-type tool, while a control group received intensive, total trial-matched, experience with a single application of the same tool. Then, both groups were tested on two novel tasks to determine whether experience with the tool in multiple contexts would facilitate performance during transfer. While both groups transferred to both novel tasks, group differences in performance were apparent, particularly in the second transfer task, where test birds achieved a higher success rate and reached criteria within fewer trials than control birds. These results provide support for the prediction that experiencing a diverse range of contingencies with a tool appears to allow birds to acquire generalizable knowledge and transferrable skills to tackle an untrained problem more efficiently. In contrast, intensive experience with the tool in a single context might have made control birds less flexible and more fixated on previously learned tool-dependent instances.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alice M. I. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Andrea S. Griffin
- School of Psychology, University of NewcastleCallaghanNew South WalesAustralia
| | - Sabine Tebbich
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive BiologyUniversity of ViennaViennaAustria
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Garcia-Nisa I, Evans C, Kendal RL. The influence of task difficulty, social tolerance and model success on social learning in Barbary macaques. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1176. [PMID: 36670123 PMCID: PMC9860066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26699-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite playing a pivotal role in the inception of animal culture studies, macaque social learning is surprisingly understudied. Social learning is important to survival and influenced by dominance and affiliation in social animals. Individuals generally rely on social learning when individual learning is costly, and selectively use social learning strategies influencing what is learned and from whom. Here, we combined social learning experiments, using extractive foraging tasks, with network-based diffusion analysis (using various social relationships) to investigate the transmission of social information in free-ranging Barbary macaques. We also investigated the influence of task difficulty on reliance on social information and evidence for social learning strategies. Social learning was detected for the most difficult tasks only, with huddling relations outside task introductions, and observation networks during task introductions, predicting social transmission. For the most difficult task only, individuals appeared to employ a social learning strategy of copying the most successful demonstrator observed. Results indicate that high social tolerance represents social learning opportunities and influences social learning processes. The reliance of Barbary macaques on social learning, and cues of model-success supports the costly information hypothesis. Our study provides more statistical evidence to the previous claims indicative of culture in macaques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Garcia-Nisa
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Cara Evans
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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3
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Orban GA, Sepe A, Bonini L. Parietal maps of visual signals for bodily action planning. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:2967-2988. [PMID: 34508272 PMCID: PMC8541987 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02378-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has long been understood as a high-level integrative station for computing motor commands for the body based on sensory (i.e., mostly tactile and visual) input from the outside world. In the last decade, accumulating evidence has shown that the parietal areas not only extract the pragmatic features of manipulable objects, but also subserve sensorimotor processing of others’ actions. A paradigmatic case is that of the anterior intraparietal area (AIP), which encodes the identity of observed manipulative actions that afford potential motor actions the observer could perform in response to them. On these bases, we propose an AIP manipulative action-based template of the general planning functions of the PPC and review existing evidence supporting the extension of this model to other PPC regions and to a wider set of actions: defensive and locomotor actions. In our model, a hallmark of PPC functioning is the processing of information about the physical and social world to encode potential bodily actions appropriate for the current context. We further extend the model to actions performed with man-made objects (e.g., tools) and artifacts, because they become integral parts of the subject’s body schema and motor repertoire. Finally, we conclude that existing evidence supports a generally conserved neural circuitry that transforms integrated sensory signals into the variety of bodily actions that primates are capable of preparing and performing to interact with their physical and social world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guy A Orban
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy.
| | - Alessia Sepe
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy
| | - Luca Bonini
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy.
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Yan Z. The origins of children's understanding of technologies: A focused rapid review of three approaches. HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Yan
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology University at Albany Albany New York USA
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Tia B, Viaro R, Fadiga L. Tool-use training temporarily enhances cognitive performance in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Anim Cogn 2018; 21:365-378. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-018-1173-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2017] [Revised: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 02/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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6
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Fujii JA, Ralls K, Tinker MT. Food abundance, prey morphology, and diet specialization influence individual sea otter tool use. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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How to stay perfect: the role of memory and behavioural traits in an experienced problem and a similar problem. Anim Cogn 2017; 20:941-952. [PMID: 28698931 PMCID: PMC5559565 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1113-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2016] [Revised: 06/23/2017] [Accepted: 07/05/2017] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
When animals encounter a task they have solved previously, or the same problem appears in a different apparatus, how does memory, alongside behavioural traits such as persistence, selectivity and flexibility, enhance problem-solving efficiency? We examined this question by first presenting grey squirrels with a puzzle 22 months after their last experience of it (the recall task). Squirrels were then given the same problem presented in a physically different apparatus (the generalisation task) to test whether they would apply the previously learnt tactics to solve the same problem but in a different apparatus. The mean latency to success in the first trial of the recall task was significantly different from the first exposure but not different from the last exposure of the original task, showing retention of the task. A neophobia test in the generalisation task suggested squirrels perceived the different apparatus as a different problem, but they quickly came to apply the same effective tactics as before to solve the task. Greater selectivity (the proportion of effective behaviours) and flexibility (the rate of switching between tactics) both enhanced efficiency in the recall task, but only selectivity enhanced efficiency in the generalisation task. These results support the interaction between memory and behavioural traits in problem-solving, in particular memory of task-specific tactics that could enhance efficiency. Squirrels remembered and emitted task-effective tactics more than ineffective tactics. As a result, they consistently changed from ineffective to effective behaviours after failed attempts at problem-solving.
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Prime JM, Ford SM. Hand Manipulation Skills in Hylobatids. DEVELOPMENTS IN PRIMATOLOGY: PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-5614-2_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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9
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Fujii JA, Ralls K, Tinker MT. Ecological drivers of variation in tool-use frequency across sea otter populations. Behav Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/aru220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Zander SL, Weiss DJ, Judge PG. The interface between morphology and action planning: a comparison of two species of New World monkeys. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.09.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Abstract
Tool-use research has focused primarily on land-based animals, with less consideration given to aquatic animals and the environmental challenges and conditions they face. Here, we review aquatic tool use and examine the contributing ecological, physiological, cognitive and social factors. Tool use among aquatic animals is rare but taxonomically diverse, occurring in fish, cephalopods, mammals, crabs, urchins and possibly gastropods. While additional research is required, the scarcity of tool use can likely be attributable to the characteristics of aquatic habitats, which are generally not conducive to tool use. Nonetheless, studying tool use by aquatic animals provides insights into the conditions that promote and inhibit tool-use behaviour across biomes. Like land-based tool users, aquatic animals tend to find tools on the substrate and use tools during foraging. However, unlike on land, tool users in water often use other animals (and their products) and water itself as a tool. Among sea otters and dolphins, the two aquatic tool users studied in greatest detail, some individuals specialize in tool use, which is vertically socially transmitted possibly because of their long dependency periods. In all, the contrasts between aquatic- and land-based tool users enlighten our understanding of the adaptive value of tool-use behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janet Mann
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, , Washington DC, 20057-1229, USA
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Steele J, Ferrari PF, Fogassi L. From action to language: comparative perspectives on primate tool use, gesture and the evolution of human language. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:4-9. [PMID: 22106422 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The papers in this Special Issue examine tool use and manual gestures in primates as a window on the evolution of the human capacity for language. Neurophysiological research has supported the hypothesis of a close association between some aspects of human action organization and of language representation, in both phonology and semantics. Tool use provides an excellent experimental context to investigate analogies between action organization and linguistic syntax. Contributors report and contextualize experimental evidence from monkeys, great apes, humans and fossil hominins, and consider the nature and the extent of overlaps between the neural representations of tool use, manual gestures and linguistic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Steele
- AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK.
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Bril B, Smaers J, Steele J, Rein R, Nonaka T, Dietrich G, Biryukova E, Hirata S, Roux V. Functional mastery of percussive technology in nut-cracking and stone-flaking actions: experimental comparison and implications for the evolution of the human brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:59-74. [PMID: 22106427 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Various authors have suggested behavioural similarities between tool use in early hominins and chimpanzee nut cracking, where nut cracking might be interpreted as a precursor of more complex stone flaking. In this paper, we bring together and review two separate strands of research on chimpanzee and human tool use and cognitive abilities. Firstly, and in the greatest detail, we review our recent experimental work on behavioural organization and skill acquisition in nut-cracking and stone-knapping tasks, highlighting similarities and differences between the two tasks that may be informative for the interpretation of stone tools in the early archaeological record. Secondly, and more briefly, we outline a model of the comparative neuropsychology of primate tool use and discuss recent descriptive anatomical and statistical analyses of anthropoid primate brain evolution, focusing on cortico-cerebellar systems. By juxtaposing these two strands of research, we are able to identify unsolved problems that can usefully be addressed by future research in each of these two research areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blandine Bril
- École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales-Groupe de recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, 190 Avenue de France, 75013 Paris, France.
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Grab an object with a tool and change your body: tool-use-dependent changes of body representation for action. Exp Brain Res 2012; 218:259-71. [PMID: 22349501 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3028-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2011] [Accepted: 02/01/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Aboitiz F. Gestures, vocalizations, and memory in language origins. FRONTIERS IN EVOLUTIONARY NEUROSCIENCE 2012; 4:2. [PMID: 22347184 PMCID: PMC3269654 DOI: 10.3389/fnevo.2012.00002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2011] [Accepted: 01/11/2012] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES THE POSSIBLE HOMOLOGIES BETWEEN THE HUMAN LANGUAGE NETWORKS AND COMPARABLE AUDITORY PROJECTION SYSTEMS IN THE MACAQUE BRAIN, IN AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE TWO EXISTING VIEWS ON LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: one that emphasizes hand control and gestures, and the other that emphasizes auditory-vocal mechanisms. The capacity for language is based on relatively well defined neural substrates whose rudiments have been traced in the non-human primate brain. At its core, this circuit constitutes an auditory-vocal sensorimotor circuit with two main components, a "ventral pathway" connecting anterior auditory regions with anterior ventrolateral prefrontal areas, and a "dorsal pathway" connecting auditory areas with parietal areas and with posterior ventrolateral prefrontal areas via the arcuate fasciculus and the superior longitudinal fasciculus. In humans, the dorsal circuit is especially important for phonological processing and phonological working memory, capacities that are critical for language acquisition and for complex syntax processing. In the macaque, the homolog of the dorsal circuit overlaps with an inferior parietal-premotor network for hand and gesture selection that is under voluntary control, while vocalizations are largely fixed and involuntary. The recruitment of the dorsal component for vocalization behavior in the human lineage, together with a direct cortical control of the subcortical vocalizing system, are proposed to represent a fundamental innovation in human evolution, generating an inflection point that permitted the explosion of vocal language and human communication. In this context, vocal communication and gesturing have a common history in primate communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Aboitiz
- Departamento de Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina y Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChileSantiago, Chile
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