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A comparative perspective on the human sense of justice. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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Rössler T, Auersperg AM. Recent developments in parrot cognition: a quadrennial update. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:199-228. [PMID: 36547738 PMCID: PMC9877086 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01733-2] [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: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Psittacines, along with corvids, are commonly referred to as 'feathered apes' due to their advanced cognitive abilities. Until rather recently, the research effort on parrot cognition was lagging behind that on corvids, however current developments show that the number of parrot studies is steadily increasing. In 2018, M. L. Lambert et al. provided a comprehensive review on the status of the most important work done so far in parrot and corvid cognition. Nevertheless, only a little more than 4 years after this publication, more than 50 new parrot studies have been published, some of them chartering completely new territory. On the 25th anniversary of Animal Cognition we think this warrants a detailed review of parrot cognition research over the last 4 years. We aim to capture recent developments and current trends in this rapidly expanding and diversifying field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa Rössler
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria ,grid.10420.370000 0001 2286 1424Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alice M. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Sosnowski MJ, Drayton LA, Prétôt L, Carrigan J, Stoinski TS, Brosnan SF. Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) do not show an aversion to inequity in a token exchange task. Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23326. [PMID: 34478153 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23326] [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: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 08/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Although individuals in some species refuse foods they normally accept if their partner receives a more preferred one, this is not true across all species. The cooperation hypothesis proposes that this species-level variability evolved because inequity aversion is a mechanism to identify situations in which cooperation is not paying off, and that species regularly observed cooperating should be more likely to be averse to inequity. To rule out other potential explanations of inequity aversion, we need to test the converse as well: species rarely observed cooperating, especially those phylogenetically close to more cooperative species, should be less likely to be inequity averse. To this end, we tested eight zoo-housed Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) on a token exchange task in which subjects received either the same food reward or a less-preferred reward for the same or more effort than their partner, recording both refusals to participate in the exchange and refusals to accept the reward. Supporting the cooperation hypothesis, even with procedural differences across sessions, gorillas were significantly more likely to refuse in all conditions in which they received a low-value food reward after completing an exchange, regardless of what their partner received, suggesting that gorillas were not inequity averse, but instead would not work for a low-value reward. Additionally, gorillas were more likely to refuse later in the session; while the pattern of refusals remained unchanged after accounting for this, this suggests that species should be tested on as many trials as is practical.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan J Sosnowski
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | | | - Laurent Prétôt
- Department of Psychology and Counseling, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas, USA
| | | | - Tara S Stoinski
- Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Sarah F Brosnan
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Laumer IB, Massen JJM, Boehm PM, Boehm A, Geisler A, Auersperg AMI. Individual Goffin´s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) show flexible targeted helping in a tool transfer task. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253416. [PMID: 34185776 PMCID: PMC8241052 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Flexible targeted helping is considered an advanced form of prosocial behavior in hominoids, as it requires the actor to assess different situations that a conspecific may be in, and to subsequently flexibly satisfy different needs of that partner depending on the nature of those situations. So far, apart from humans such behaviour has only been experimentally shown in chimpanzees and in Eurasian jays. Recent studies highlight the prosocial tendencies of several bird species, yet flexible targeted helping remained untested, largely due to methodological issues as such tasks are generally designed around tool-use, and very few bird species are capable of tool-use. Here, we tested Goffin's cockatoos, which proved to be skilled tool innovators in captivity, in a tool transfer task in which an actor had access to four different objects/tools and a partner to one of two different apparatuses that each required one of these tools to retrieve a reward. As expected from this species, we recorded playful object transfers across all conditions. Yet, importantly and similar to apes, three out of eight birds transferred the correct tool more often in the test condition than in a condition that also featured an apparatus but no partner. Furthermore, one of these birds transferred that correct tool first more often before transferring any other object in the test condition than in the no-partner condition, while the other two cockatoos were marginally non-significantly more likely to do so. Additionally, there was no difference in the likelihood of the correct tool being transferred first for either of the two apparatuses, suggesting that these birds flexibly adjusted what to transfer based on their partner´s need. Future studies should focus on explanations for the intra-specific variation of this behaviour, and should test other parrots and other large-brained birds to see how this can be generalized across the class and to investigate the evolutionary history of this trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- I. B. Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - J. J. M. Massen
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - P. M. Boehm
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. Boehm
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. Geisler
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. M. I. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
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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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Williams LA, Brosnan SF, Clay Z. Anthropomorphism in comparative affective science: Advocating a mindful approach. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 115:299-307. [PMID: 32497569 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2019] [Revised: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human-like capacities and traits to non-human entities. Anthropomorphism is ubiquitous in everyday life and in scientific domains, operating both implicitly and explicitly as a function of the human lens through which we view the world. A rich history of work in psychology, animal behavior, cognitive science, and philosophy has highlighted the negative and, to a lesser degree, the positive implications of anthropomorphism. In this article, we aim to provide a nuanced perspective of how anthropomorphism impacts the work of comparative affective science. Specifically, we discuss three domains of empirical inquiry in which lessons can be drawn about the benefits and pitfalls of anthropomorphism: responses to death, inequity aversion, and prosocial behavior. On balance, we advocate a mindful approach to anthropomorphizing in comparative affective science, and comparative science more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa A Williams
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia.
| | - Sarah F Brosnan
- Department of Psychology, Language Research Center, Department of Philosophy, and Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, PO Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010 United States
| | - Zanna Clay
- Psychology Department, Durham University, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
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Duque JF, Rasmussen T, Rodriguez A, Stevens JR. The role of mesotocin on social bonding in pinyon jays. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Juan F. Duque
- University of Nebraska‐Lincoln Lincoln Nebraska
- Arcadia University Glenside Pennsylvania
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorg J. M. Massen
- Animal Ecology Group Department of Biology Institute of Environmental Biology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Biology University of Vienna Vienna Austria
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Massen JJ, Behrens F, Martin JS, Stocker M, Brosnan SF. A comparative approach to affect and cooperation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:370-387. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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