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Animal Studies

Selected Works

Referential communication

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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Human-Directed Behaviour In Goats Is Not Affected By Short-Term Positive Handling, Jan Langbein, Annika Krause, Christian Nawroth Apr 2019

Human-Directed Behaviour In Goats Is Not Affected By Short-Term Positive Handling, Jan Langbein, Annika Krause, Christian Nawroth

Christian Nawroth, PhD

In addition to domestication, interactions with humans or task-specific training during ontogeny have been proposed to play a key role in explaining differences in human–animal communication across species. In livestock, even short-term positive interactions with caretakers or other reference persons can influence human–animal interaction at different levels and over different periods of time. In this study, we investigated human-directed behaviour in the ‘unsolvable task’ paradigm in two groups of domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). One group was positively handled and habituated to a plastic box by the experimenter to retrieve a food reward, while the other group only received standard …


Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott Nov 2017

Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott

Alan G. McElligott, Ph.D.

Domestication is an important factor driving changes in animal cognition and behaviour. In particular, the capacity of dogs to communicate in a referential and intentional way with humans is considered a key outcome of how domestication as a companion animal shaped the canid brain. However, the lack of comparison with other domestic animals makes general conclusions about how domestication has affected these important cognitive features difficult. We investigated human-directed behaviour in an ‘unsolvable problem’ task in a domestic, but non-companion species: goats. During the test, goats experienced a forward-facing or an away-facing person. They gazed towards the forward-facing person earlier …


Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott Nov 2017

Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott

Alan G. McElligott, PhD

Domestication is an important factor driving changes in animal cognition and behaviour. In particular, the capacity of dogs to communicate in a referential and intentional way with humans is considered a key outcome of how domestication as a companion animal shaped the canid brain. However, the lack of comparison with other domestic animals makes general conclusions about how domestication has affected these important cognitive features difficult. We investigated human-directed behaviour in an ‘unsolvable problem’ task in a domestic, but non-companion species: goats. During the test, goats experienced a forward facing or an away facing person. They gazed towards the forward …


Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott Jul 2017

Goats Display Audience-Dependent Human-Directed Gazing Behaviour In A Problem-Solving Task, Christian Nawroth, Jemma M. Brett, Alan G. Mcelligott

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Domestication is an important factor driving changes in animal cognition and behaviour. In particular, the capacity of dogs to communicate in a referential and intentional way with humans is considered a key outcome of how domestication as a companion animal shaped the canid brain. However, the lack of comparison with other domestic animals makes general conclusions about how domestication has affected these important cognitive features difficult. We investigated human-directed behaviour in an ‘unsolvable problem’ task in a domestic, but non-companion species: goats. During the test, goats experienced a forward facing or an away facing person. They gazed towards the forward …


Size And Shape Information Serve As Labels In The Alarm Calls Of Gunnison’S Prairie Dogs Cynomys Gunnisoni, C. N. Slobodchikoff, William R. Briggs, Patricia A. Dennis, Anne-Marie C. Hodge Jun 2016

Size And Shape Information Serve As Labels In The Alarm Calls Of Gunnison’S Prairie Dogs Cynomys Gunnisoni, C. N. Slobodchikoff, William R. Briggs, Patricia A. Dennis, Anne-Marie C. Hodge

Con Slobodchikoff, PhD

Some animals have the capacity to produce different alarm calls for terrestrial and aerial predators. However, it is not clear what cognitive processes are involved in generating these calls. One possibility is the position of the predator: Anything on the ground receives a terrestrial predator call, and anything in the air receives an aerial predator call. Another possibility is that animals are able to recognize the physical features of predators and incorporate those into their calls. As a way of elucidating which of these mechanisms plays a primary role in generating the structure of different calls, we performed two field …