Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Keyword
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Animal Studies
Chimpanzee Theory Of Mind: Looking In All The Wrong Places?, Kristin Andrews
Chimpanzee Theory Of Mind: Looking In All The Wrong Places?, Kristin Andrews
Sentience Collection
I respond to an argument presented by Daniel Povinelli and Jennifer Vonk that the current generation of experiments on chimpanzee theory of mind cannot decide whether chimpanzees have the ability to reason about mental states. I argue that Povinelli and Vonk’s proposed experiment is subject to their own criticisms and that there should be a more radical shift away from experiments that ask subjects to predict behavior. Further, I argue that Povinelli and Vonk’s theoretical commitments should lead them to accept this new approach, and that experiments which offer subjects the opportunity to look for explanations for anomalous behavior should …
In Situ Examination Of Boldness–Shyness Traits In The Tropical Poeciliid, Brachyraphis Episcopi, Culum Brown, Felicity Jones, Victoria Braithwaite
In Situ Examination Of Boldness–Shyness Traits In The Tropical Poeciliid, Brachyraphis Episcopi, Culum Brown, Felicity Jones, Victoria Braithwaite
Sentience Collection
Explaining consistent variation in the behaviour of individuals in terms of personality differences is one of the cornerstones of understanding human behaviour but is seldom discussed in behavioural ecology for fear of invoking anthropomorphism. Recently, however, interest has begun to focus on identifying personality traits in animals and examining their possible evolutionary consequences. One major axis used to define personality traits is the shyness–boldness continuum. We examined boldness in an in situ experiment using fish from eight populations of the poeciliid Brachyraphis episcopi (also referred to as Brachyrhaphis episcopi). Fish from high- and low-predation regions within four streams that run …
K-Means Clustering With Multiresolution Peak Detection, Guanshan Yu, Leen-Kiat Soh, Alan B. Bond
K-Means Clustering With Multiresolution Peak Detection, Guanshan Yu, Leen-Kiat Soh, Alan B. Bond
Avian Cognition Papers
Clustering is a practical data mining approach of pattern detection. Because of the sensitivity of initial conditions, k-means clustering often suffers from low clustering performance. We present a procedure to refine initial conditions of k-means clustering by analyzing density distributions of a data set before estimating the number of clusters k necessary for the data set, as well as the positions of the initial centroids of the clusters. We demonstrate that this approach indeed improves the accuracy and performance of k-means clustering measured by average intra to interclustering error ratio. This method is applied to the virtual ecology project to …
Number Comprehension By A Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Including A Zero-Like Concept, Irene M. Pepperberg, Jesse D. Gordon
Number Comprehension By A Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Including A Zero-Like Concept, Irene M. Pepperberg, Jesse D. Gordon
Sentience Collection
A Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) that was able to quantify 6 item sets (including subsets of heterogeneous groups, e.g., blue blocks within groupings of blue and green blocks and balls) using English labels (I. M. Pepperberg, 1994a) was tested on comprehension of these labels, which is crucial for numerical competence (K. C. Fuson, 1988). He was, without training, asked “What color/object [number]?” for collections of various simultaneously presented quantities (e.g., subsets of 4, 5, and 6 blocks of 3 different colors; subsets of 2, 4, and 6 keys, corks, and sticks). Accuracy was greater than 80% and was unaffected by …
Effects Of Predation Pressure On The Cognitive Ability Of The Poeciliid Brachyraphis Episcopi, Culum Brown, Victoria A. Braithwaite
Effects Of Predation Pressure On The Cognitive Ability Of The Poeciliid Brachyraphis Episcopi, Culum Brown, Victoria A. Braithwaite
Sentience Collection
Variable levels of predation pressure are known to have significant impacts on the evolutionary ecology of different populations and can affect life-history traits, behavior, and morphology. To date, no studies have directly investigated the impact of predation pressure on cognitive ability. Here we use a system of replicate rivers, each with sites of high- and low-predation pressure, to investigate how this ecological variable affects learning ability in a tropical poeciliid, Brachyraphis episcopi. We used a spatial task to assess the cognitive ability of eight populations from four independent streams (four high- and four low- predation populations). The fish were required …
Indoor Cats, Scratching, And The Debate Over Declawing: When Normal Pet Behavior Becomes A Problem, Katherine C. (Kasey) Grier, Nancy Peterson
Indoor Cats, Scratching, And The Debate Over Declawing: When Normal Pet Behavior Becomes A Problem, Katherine C. (Kasey) Grier, Nancy Peterson
State of the Animals 2005
When pet animals share our living spaces, their needs and natural behaviors sometimes are at odds with the varying standards for household appearance, sanitation, and polite social life that Americans have established over time. How pet owners have resolved these issues provides insight into their changing ideas about the role of animals in their households and suggests how much, or how little, people may actually know about the biological behaviors and psychological needs of the creatures they care for. This essay examines one particular issue associated with the problem of sharing spaces: declawing pet cats as a common solution to …
Humane Education : The Effects Of Animals In The Classroom On Children's Empathy In Japanese Elementary Schools, Mika Maruyama
Humane Education : The Effects Of Animals In The Classroom On Children's Empathy In Japanese Elementary Schools, Mika Maruyama
Dissertations and Theses
Although humane education, promoting children's kindness toward animals, has been evaluated as a factor influencing children's kindness toward humans later in their life, the effect of a classroom pet hasn't been well studied. The current study investigated the influence of intensified daily interactions with living animals in the classroom on the development of empathy among Japanese children. Specifically, the study examined (a) the effect of introducing animals into the classroom on children's empathic behaviors and attitudes, and (b) the generalization of this animal-directed empathy to humans.