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Comparative Psychology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Comparative Psychology

Vocal Expression Of Emotions In Mammals: Mechanisms Of Production And Evidence, Elodie Briefer Sep 2012

Vocal Expression Of Emotions In Mammals: Mechanisms Of Production And Evidence, Elodie Briefer

Communication Skills Collection

Emotions play a crucial role in an animal’s life because they facilitate responses to external or internal events of significance for the organism. In social species, one of the main functions of emotional expression is to regulate social interactions. There has recently been a surge of interest in animal emotions in several disciplines, ranging from neuroscience to evolutionary zoology. Because measurements of subjective emotional experiences are not possible in animals, researchers use neurophysiological, behavioural and cognitive indicators. However, good indicators, particularly of positive emotions, are still lacking. Vocalizations are linked to the inner state of the caller. The emotional state …


Blood Cortisol Concentrations Predict Boldness In Juvenile Mulloway (Argyosomus Japonicus), Vincent Raoult, Culum Brown, Amina Zuberi, Jane E. Williamson May 2012

Blood Cortisol Concentrations Predict Boldness In Juvenile Mulloway (Argyosomus Japonicus), Vincent Raoult, Culum Brown, Amina Zuberi, Jane E. Williamson

Sentience Collection

There is a growing interest in animal personality because individual variation is the substrate of the evolutionary process. Despite revelations that personality traits affect key fitness variables, little is known about the proximate mechanisms generating consistent behavioural differences between individuals. Boldness, the propensity to take risks, is one of the most widely studied aspects of personality in fishes. We assessed the position of juvenile Argyosomus japonicus on the ‘‘boldness–shyness’’ continuum by repeatedly recording the time taken to exit a refuge and explore a novel environment. Stress-related hormone concentrations after exposure to a mild stressor were analysed 1 month before behavioural …