Psychology Commons^™

Responses To Quantity: Perceptual Versus Cognitive Mechanisms In Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson

Sentience Collection

Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the …

Play Signals As Punctuation: The Structure Of Social Play In Canids, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Actions called play signals have evolved in many species in which social play has been observed. Despite there being only few empirical demonstrations, it generally is accepted that play signals are important in the initiation ("I want to play") and maintenance ("I still want to play") of ongoing social play. In this study I consider whether a specific and highly stereotyped signal, the bow, is used to maintain social play in adult and infant domestic dogs, infant wolves, and infant coyotes.

To answer this question the temporal placement of bows relative to actions that are also used in other contexts …

Vigilance, Flock Size, And Flock Geometry: Information Gathering By Western Evening Grosbeaks (Aves, Fringillidae), Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Vigilance (scanning) and other behavior patterns were studied in free-ranging Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) at feeders to assess how flock size and flock geometry influenced the behavior of individual birds. The present results indicate that the way in which individual grosbeaks are positioned with respect to one another effects many aspects of their behavior, especially when a flock contains four or more birds. Birds in a linear array who have difficulty seeing one another, when compared to individuals organized in a circle who can easily see one another, are (1) more vigilant, (2) change their head and body positions more …

Calling By Domestic Piglets: Reliable Signals Of Need?, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Communication Skills Collection

Two manipulations were performed on domestic piglets to determine whether differences in calling during periods of separation from the mother can indicate differences in need. In both cases, the aim was to manipulate the piglet's need for the sow's attention. In the first manipulation a 'thriving' piglet (i.e. the piglet with the heaviest weight and most rapid weight gain) and a 'non-thriving' one (lightest and slowest weight gain) were selected from each of 15 litters. The two piglets were removed from the sow and litter and recorded for 13 min in separate isolated enclosures. For the second manipulation, two piglets …

Localization Of Dopamine Receptor Subtypes Occupied By Intra-Accumbens Administration Of Selective Antagonists That Reverse Cocaine-Induced Locomotion., Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Elephants, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Book review for the following title:

Elephants. By Clive Spinage, Kent, UK: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994, 319 pages. £27.45.

Comparison Of The Effects Of Saporin-Igg Injections Into The Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis And Medial Septal Area Of Male Rat As Assessed By The Morris Water Maze Task, Alexander R. V. Mccampbell '95

Honors Projects

Alzheimer's disease currently afflicts approximately 4 million people in the United States, with 100,000 new cases being reported each year. As post mortem examination of AD patientsI brains has revealed a significant decrease in the number of cholinergic neurons, one approach we have taken is to look at the correlation between the depletion of certain cholinergic markers in animals and the resulting behavioral deficits. Two regions of specific interest are the medial septal area (MSA) and the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). These regions are important because they are the major source of cholinergic neurons in the brain, they are selectively …

Food Systems: Community-Shared Agriculture, A Means Of Empowerment And Social Vitality, Godwin Samuel Ashiabi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this thesis I focused on the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) as an alternative form of farming to industrialized agriculture. CSA connects the growers of food directly with the people who eat it, in a way where everyone shares the benefits and risks involved in agriculture. The Huron Community Garden in Goderich is the setting that was selected for this study because of its five-year history as a form of CSA. A naturalistic participant-observation mode of enquiry was employed. As a participant-observer, I was involved in all activities of the Garden—weeding, tilling of the ground, transplanting of seedlings, watering of …

Vocal Learning In Grey Parrots (Psittacus Erithacus): Effects Of Social Interaction, Reference, And Context, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

For many passerines, the extent,timing, and even presence of allospecific vocal learning can be influenced by the form of input that is received. Little data exist, however, on vocal learning in parrots (Psittacidae). I have previously proposed that such vocal learning proceeds most readily when input is (1) referential, (2) contextually applicable, and (3) interactive. The referential aspect demonstrates the meaning of the code to be taught, the contextual aspect demonstrates the use that can be made of the information contained in the code, and the interactive aspect provides explicit training that is constantly adjusted to the level of the …

Numerical Competence In An African Gray Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

An African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus), Alex, trained to label vocally collections of 1-6 simultaneously presented homogeneous objects, correctly identified, without further training, quantities of targeted subsets in heterogeneous collections. For each test trial Alex was shown different collections of 4 groups of items that varied in 2 colors and 2 object categories (e.g., blue and red keys and trucks) and was asked to label the number of items uniquely defined by the conjunction of 1 color and 1 object category (e.g., "How many blue key?"). The collections were designed to provide maximal confounds (or distractions) and thus replicate the …

The Relationship Between Creep Feeding Behavior Of Piglets And Adaptation To Weaning: Effect Of Diet Quality, David Fraser, J. J.R. Feddes, E. A. Pajor

Feeding Behavior Collection

Individual variation in creep feed intake and its relation to adaptation to weaning were studied in piglets weaned at 4 wk of age. The animals received either a "low-complexity" creep-starter diet based on corn, barley and soybean meal (12 litters), or a "high-complexity", medicated, commercial diet without soybean meal (12 litters). Diets were fed as creep feed during the 2 wk before weaning, and as the sole diet during the 2 wk after weaning. Creep feeding behavior of piglets was monitored by video recording. Pigs fed the high-complexity diet consumed more creep feed (P < 0.05), tended to gain more during the week before weaning (P < 0.10), and converted feed more efficiently and gained more weight in the 2 wk after weaning (P < 0.01). Use of creep feed varied greatly among individual littermates. Multiple regression analysis showed that on the high-complexity diet, pigs that used creep feed more than their littermates tended to be those with low gains in weeks 1-3 after birth (P < 0.001), and tended to gain more weight during the week before and during the 2 wk after weaning (P < 0.01). The trends were consistent but weaker with the low-complexity diet. However, predictive power was low, with creep feeding accounting for only 4% of individual variation in post-weaning gain on the high-complexity diet and 1% on the low. Regardless of diet quality, therefore, creep feeding remained highly variable and only weakly related to weight gains during the 2 wk after weaning.

Individual Differences In The Cognitive Abilities Of Chimpanzees, Sarah T. Boysen

Psychology Collection

No abstract provided.

Toward An Understanding Of Alzheimer's Disease: The Effects Of B-Amyloid(1-42) And Ibotenic Acid On The Retention Of A Spatial Learning Task In Rats F:Ollowing Multiple Injections Into The Hippocampus, Jason Pequette '94

Honors Projects

Neuropathologically, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Evidence has suggested that a protein called B-amyloid (BA) is a major component of the neuritic plaques and may playa role in the neurodegeneration seen in AD. The cellular mechanisms by which BA induces neurotoxicity, however, are still unclear. Recent evidence suggests that the aggregational state of BA may be relevant to its neurotoxicity. Whether portions of the BA protein or the entire sequence produces neurotoxicity in neurons, however, remains a controversy. Still another controversy is whether BA is directly neurotoxic to neurons or whether it increases the …

Vocal Perception: Brain Event-Related Potentials In A Chimpanzee, Gary G. Berntson, Sarah T. Boysen, Michael W. Torello

Sentience Collection

We describe the first brain event-related potential (ERP) study of cognitive processes in the chimpanzee. In an extension of our studies on the ontogeny of vocal perception, ERP measures were obtained during the presentation of simple nonsignal stimuli as well as conspecific and human vocalizations. We initially confirmed findings from humans and monkeys of the appearance of a long-latency positivity in the ERP waveform to a rare stimulus in an oddball paradigm. This ERP component is reminiscent of the P3a reported in humans under similar (passive) experimental conditions. We further demonstrated that both conspecific and human vocal stimuli having affective …

Counting In Chimpanzees: Nonhuman Principles And Emergent Properties Of Number, Sarah T. Boysen

Numeracy Collection

No abstract provided.

Ua35/11 Student Honors Research Bulletin, Wku Honors Program

WKU Administration Documents

The WKU Student Honors Research Bulletin is dedicated to scholarly involvement and student research. These papers are representative of work done by students from throughout the university.

• Anderson, R. Scott. Anglo-Italian Relations During the Unification of Italy, 1859-1860
• Clark, Anne. Can Extra Fat Make Healthier Hogs? The Effects of Dietary alpha-Linolenic Acid on Antibody Production in Swine Following Stimulation by Red Blood Cells and by Pasteurella Multocida (Serotype A)
• Gottfried, Victoria. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A New Look at an Old Problem
• Halbert, Christy. The Stereotype of the Female Athlete
• Hannah, Kathleen. Innocence and Corruption in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet …

Effect Of Unilateral Temporal-Lobe Excision On Perception And Imagery Of Songs, Robert J. Zatorre, Andrea R. Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

Auditory imagery for songs was studied in two groups of patients with left or right temporal-lobe excision for control of epilepsy, and a group of matched normal control subjects. Two tasks were used. In the perceptual task, subjects saw the text of a familiar song and simultaneously heard it sung. On each trial they judged if the second of two capitalized lyrics was higher or lower in pitch than the first. The imagery task was identical in all respects except that no song was presented, so that subjects had to generate an auditory image of the song. The results indicated …

Comprehension Of Role Reversal In Chimpanzees: Evidence Of Empathy?, Daniel J. Povinelli, Kurt E. Nelson, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Four chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, were individually trained to cooperate with a human partner on a task that allowed both participants to obtain food rewards. In each chimpanzee-human dyad, one of the participants (the informant) could see which pair of food trays on a four-choice apparatus was baited, but had no means of obtaining it. The other participant (the operator) could pull one of four handles to bring a pair of the trays within reach of both participants, but could not see which choice was correct. Two of the chimpanzees were initially trained as informants and adopted spontaneous gestures to indicate …

Colostrum Intake By Newborn Piglets, David Fraser, Jeffrey Rushen

Feeding Behavior Collection

Colostrum intake by newborn piglets was studied by weighing piglets every 10 min for their first 1-4 h with the sow, and their cumulative weight increases were used as estimates of colostrum intake. In seven litters, four piglets were monitored for 4 h beginning about 2 h after the birth of the first piglet in order to determine if colostrum is available continuously or released in discrete ejections. There was little synchrony between litter-mates in their intake in the first hour, but by the second hour of monitoring (starting about 3 h after farrowing began), much of the colostrum was …

The Energetic Costs Of Rough And Tumble Play In The Juvenile Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Dale M. Atrens

Psychology Faculty Publications

The metabolic costs of rough-and-tumble play behavior were studied in juvenile rats. Using indirect calorimetry, it was determined that energy expenditure during play is increased by 66-104% over the resting metabolic rate, indicating that play accounts for between 2% and 3% of the total daily energy budget of the rat. In a subsequent experiment, food intake and body weight were monitored for three weeks in rats allowed to play for one hour per day and in rats not allowed to play. While the body weights of the two groups did not differ significantly from each other, those rats allowed to …

Extinction Of Fear-Potentiated Startle: Blockade By Infusion Of An Nmda Antagonist Into The Amygdala, Michael Davis, William A. Falls, Mindy Miserendino

Psychology Faculty Publications

Data derived from in vitro preparations indicate that NMDA receptors play a critical role in synaptic plasticity in the CNS. More recently, in vivo pharmacological manipulations have suggested that an NMDA-dependent process may be involved in specific forms of behavioral plasticity. All of the work thus far has focused on the possible role of NMDA receptors in the acquisition of responses. However, there are many examples in the behavioral literature of learning-induced changes that involve the reduction or elimination of a previously acquired response. Experimental extinction is a primary example of the elimination of a learned response. Experimental extinction is …

Vocal Recognition In Mexican Free-Tailed Bats: Do Pups Recognize Mothers?, Jonathan Balcombe, Gary F. Mccracken

Sentience Collection

Mother Mexican free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana, produce 'directive' calls while searching for pups inside cave maternity roosts. These calls consist of highly repetitive pulses of sound uttered in rapid sequence. Calls are sufficiently intense that they are perceptible above the substantial background noise within roosts at distances of at least 1m. Calls are stereotyped within individuals, and statistically discriminable between individuals. These characteristics are expected for vocalizations that function for mother-pup reunions, and are shared with directive calls described previously in other bats. Mother T. b. mexicana directive calls are statistically no less discriminable than are the isolation calls …

Counting As The Chimpanzee Views It, Sarah T. Boysen

Numeracy Collection

No abstract provided.

Consumption Of Solid Food By Suckling Pigs: Individual Variation And Relation To Weight Gain, Edmond A. Pajor, David Fraser, Donald L. Kramer

Feeding Behavior Collection

Individual daily consumption of supplementary solid food ('creep feed') was measured from Day 10 to weaning at Day 28 for 39 piglets in four litters, and its relationship to body weight and weight gain up to Day 42 was investigated. Individual consumption was measured by combining the weight of the feed removed from the dispensers (monitored electronically) and a video image of piglet activity at the feeder. Creep feed consumption varied greatly, both between and within litters. On average, pigs began feeding on Day 12 (range Day 10-28), intake was relatively low (usually < 5 g day ^‒1) until Day 20 but increased …

Kin Recognition In Vertebrates: What Do We Really Know About Adaptive Value?, Andrew R. Blaustein, Marc Bekoff, John A. Byers, Thomas J. Daniels

Sentience Collection

The ability of an animal to discriminate between kin and non-kin (kin recognition) has been the subject of numerous recent investigations. Grafen (Anim. Behav., 1990, 39, 42-54) recently reported that the evidence in support of kin recognition is weak and the data illustrating a preference for kin to associate in the laboratory may be more consistently explained as species recognition. It is suggested here, however, that in many cases it may be impossible to distinguish between species recognition and kin recognition, but in some cases, kin recognition seems apparent. It is also emphasized that very little is known about the …

The Effects Of Bilateral Injections Of Neuropeptide K Into The Medial Preoptic Area On Male Rat Copulatory Behavior, Peter Malen '91

Honors Projects

The first mammalian neuropeptide to be characterized was substance P (sP) , and it is now recognized that sP is a member of a structurally related family of peptides, the tachykinins. Extensive studies have demonstrated. that sP and some related tachykinin peptides play key roles as neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. The synthesis of different members of the tachykinin family is in part due to the modifications' of three sP-encoding preprotachykinin (PPT) mRNA's that are derived from a single sP gene. At least four tachykinin peptides can be synthesized as a result of these differential modifications including sP, neurokinin A, neuropeptide and …

Intracerebral Injections Of Substance P Fragments (5-11) And (1-7) Into The Dorsal Midbrain Central Gray Have No Effects On Lordosis Behavior In The Female Rat, Jodi K. Block '91

Honors Projects

Substance P (sP), a neuroactive peptide, has now been implicated in a wide range of behaviors. One in particular is female rat sexual behavior. Recently, it has been shown that bilateral injections of sP into the dorsal midbrain central gray (dMCG) of estrogen-primed female rats facilitate sexual behavior (lordosis). Uncertainty remains, however, concerning the mode of action of synaptically released sP. Indeed, most of our understanding of sP activity has revealed that its full structural sequence is not needed for biological activity. This has led to speculation that sP may be processed into one or more types of fragments before …

Effect Of Straw On The Behaviour Of Growing Pigs, David Fraser, P. A. Phillips, B. K. Thompson, T. Tennessen

Social Behavior Collection

The effects of straw on the behaviour of young growing pigs were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, group of three pigs, aged about 7 weeks, were housed in raised decks with or without straw bedding. Time-lapse video recording showed no major differences between treatments in the amount or daily pattern of overall activity and feeding. Detailed observations showed that bedding reduced the incidence of rooting and chewing on pen-mates, but had little effect on other social activities such as mounting and aggressive biting. Experiment 2 compared groups of eight growing pigs aged about 10 weeks, housed in floor …

An Assessment Of Behavior Associated With Reproduction And Infant Caretaking In A Captive Family Group Of Saguinus Midas Midas, Melissa Elizabeth Martenson

Dissertations and Theses

The present study gathered both general and specific information about the behavior of a captive family group of Saguinus midas midas [red-handed tamarins] housed at the Washington Park Zoo, Portland, Oregon, USA. Saquinus midas midas is a rarely studied species, and detailed information about the behavior of this species is virtually nonexistent. For this reason, this study collected information about both activity budgets and social grouping within this family group.

The primary focus of this study was, however, the socialization of captive juvenile tamarins with respect to several behaviors relevant to reproductive success among the Callitrichidae. The behaviors assessed were: …

Effects Of Phenobarbital In Combination With Phenytoin Or Valproic Acid On The Delayed-Matching-To-Sample Performance Of Pigeons, Catherine Ann Karas

Masters Theses

The present study examined the effects of phenobarbital (S, 10,20, and 40 mg/kg), phenytoin (2.5, 5, 7.5, and 15 mg/kg), and valproic acid (40, 60, 80, and 120 mg/kg), and those of phenobarbital (10 and 20 mg/kg) in combination with phenytoin (2.5,5, and 7.5 mg/kg) or valproic acid (40, 60, and 80 mg/kg), on the delayed-matching-to-sample performance of pigeons. In general, high doses of each individual drug reduced accuracy. Drug combinations also reduced accuracy relative to control values. Reductions in accuracy produced by drug combinations were very similar in magnitude to those predicted by a response-addition model of drug interaction.