Comparative Psychology Commons^™

Welfare Assessment: Correlations And Integration Between A Qualitative Behavioural Assessment And A Clinical/Health Protocol Applied In Veal Calves Farms, Marta Brscic, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Elena Tessitore, Flaviana Gottardo, Giulio Cozzi, Cornelis G. Van Reenen

Agribusiness Collection

This study is aimed at finding correlations and possible integration among Qualitative Behavioural assessment (QBA) and a specific protocol of clinical/health evaluation. Both welfare assessment methods were based on direct animal observation and were applied in 24 Italian veal calves farms at 3 weeks (wks) of rearing. Principal component analysis (PCA) summarized 20 QBA descriptors on two main components (PC1 and PC2) with eigenvalues above 4 and explaining 29.6 and 20.3% of the variation respectively. PCA on residuals obtained after correcting for housing condition yielded highly similar results, indicating that the rearing environment of the calves was not an important …

Resources, Not Kinship, Determine Social Patterning In The Territorial Gunnison’S Prairie Dog (Cynomys Gunnisoni), J. L. Verdolin, C. N. Slobodchikoff

Sentience Collection

In this study, we describe patterns of relatedness in Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) social groups. Kin selection is often cited as a mechanism for the evolution and maintenance of social groups, and Gunnison’s prairie dog females are occasionally described as being strongly philopatric. Overall, randomization tests revealed that females within territorial groups were not more closely related to each other than expected at random. A similar pattern was found among males and between males and females, indicating that there was no sex-biased dispersal occurring in these populations. Ecological variables measured in this study, such as food abundance and food …

Constructive And Deconstructive Tool Modification By Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Amanda E. Bania, Stephany Harris, Hannah R. Kinsley, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Nine chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were tested for their ability to assemble or disassemble the appropriate tool to obtain a food reward from two different apparatus. In its deconstructed form, the tool functioned as a probe for one apparatus. In its constructed form, the tool functioned as a hook, appropriate for a second apparatus. Each subject completed four test trials with each apparatus type. Tool types were randomized and counter-balanced between the two forms. Results demonstrated that adult and juvenile chimpanzees (N = 7) were successful with both tool types, while two infant chimpanzees performed near chance. Off-line video analyses revealed …

It's In Your Nature: A Pluralistic Folk Psychology, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

I suggest a pluralistic account of folk psychology according to which not all predictions or explanations rely on the attribution of mental states, and not all intentional actions are explained by mental states. This view of folk psychology is supported by research in developmental and social psychology. It is well known that people use personality traits to predict behavior. I argue that trait attribution is not shorthand for mental state attributions, since traits are not identical to beliefs or desires, and an understanding of belief or desire is not necessary for using trait attributions. In addition, we sometimes predict and …

When To Be A Dear Enemy: Flexible Acoustic Relationships Of Neighbouring Skylarks, Alauda Arvensis, Elodie Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Ethology Collection

Numerous territorial species are less aggressive towards neighbours than strangers. This tolerance towards neighbouring conspecifics, termed the ‘dear enemy’ effect, seems to be a flexible feature of the relationship between neighbours, and has been shown to disappear in some species after experimental or natural modifications of the context. However, the maintenance over time of this singular relationship has been poorly studied. In this study, we followed the change of dear enemy relationships during the breeding season in a territorial songbird with a complex song, the skylark. We examined in the field the response of territory owners to playbacks of neighbour …

Visual Attention And Its Relation To Knowledge States In Chimpanzees, Pan Troglodytes, Megan J. Bulloch, Sarah T. Boysen, Ellen E. Furlong

Sentience Collection

Primates rely on visual attention to gather knowledge about their environment. The ability to recognize such knowledge-acquisition activity in another may demonstrate one aspect of Theory of Mind. Using a series of experiments in which chimpanzees were presented with a choice between an experimenter whose visual attention was available and another whose vision was occluded, we asked whether chimpanzees understood the relationship between visual attention and knowledge states. The animals showed sophisticated understanding of attention from the first presentation of each task. Under more complex experimental conditions, the subjects had more difficulty with species-typical processing of attentional cues and those …

A Note On The Effectiveness Of Behavioural Rehabilitation For Reducing Inter-Dog Aggression In Shelter Dogs, Jane S. Orihel, David Fraser

Interactive Behavior Collection

The effectiveness of a rehabilitation program for reducing inter-dog aggression was evaluated at the municipal animal shelter. Sixteen dogs (of 60 examined) met the study criteria of medium inter-dog aggression as determined by an inter-dog aggression test. These dogs received a 10-day treatment of daily rehabilitation for 30 min (rehabilitation group, n = 9) or daily release into an outdoor enclosure for 30 min (control group, n = 7). Rehabilitation consisted of desensitising and counter-conditioning dogs to the approach of other ‘‘stimulus’’ dogs. Most dogs in the rehabilitation group showed a decline in aggression scores when re-tested after the last …

The Qualitative Assessment Of Responsiveness To Environmental Challenge In Horses And Ponies, Fabio Napolitano, Giuseppe De Rosa, Ada Braghieri, Fernando Grasso, Aldo Bordi, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Sentience Collection

The responsiveness of 10 horses and 10 ponies to environmental challenge (represented by an open field test) was assessed using a qualitative approach based on free choice profiling methodology (FCP), which gives observers complete freedom to choose their own descriptive terms. Data were analysed with generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA), a multivariate statistical technique associated with FCP. A cross-validation of the outcomes of this approach to data recorded through quantitative behaviour analysis, and through a questionnaire given to the animals’ owner/riding instructor, was also performed using principal component analysis (PCA). Twelve undergraduate students generated their own descriptive vocabularies, by watching 20 …

Processing Of The Müller-Lyer Illusion By A Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg, Jennifer Vicinay, Patrick Cavanagh

Sentience Collection

Alex, a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) who identifies the bigger or smaller of two objects by reporting its color or matter using a vocal English label and who states "none'' if they do not differ in size, was presented with two-dimensional Müller-Lyer figures (Brentano form) in which the central lines were of contrasting colors. His responses to ``What color bigger/smaller?'' demonstrated that he saw the standard length illusion in the Müller-Lyer figures in 32 of 50 tests where human observers would also see the illusion and reported the reverse direction only twice. He did not report the illusion when (a) …

How To Identify Dear Enemies: The Group Signature In The Complex Song Of The Skylark Alauda Arvensis, Elodie F. Briefer, Thierry Aubin, Katia Lehongre, Fanny Rybak

Ethology Collection

Song geographic variation and Neighbour–Stranger (N–S) discrimination have been intensively but separately studied in bird species, especially in those with small- to medium-sized repertoires. Here, we establish a link between the two phenomena by showing that dialect features are used for N–S recognition in a territorial species with a large repertoire, the skylark Alauda arvensis. In this species, during the breeding season, many pairs settle in stable and adjoining territories gathered in locations spaced by a few kilometres. In a first step, songs produced by males established in different locations were recorded, analyzed and compared to identify possible microgeographic variation …

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger And More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) Males, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Background: Models of honest advertisement predict that sexually selected calls should signal male quality. In most vertebrates, high quality males have larger body sizes that determine higher social status and in turn higher reproductive success. Previous research has emphasised the importance of vocal tract resonances or formant frequencies of calls as cues to body size in mammals. However, the role of the acoustic features of vocalisations as cues to other quality-related phenotypic characteristics of callers has rarely been investigated.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined whether the acoustic structure of fallow deer groans provides reliable information on the quality of the caller, …

Parent-Offspring Resource Allocation In Domestic Pigs, Anna Drake, David Fraser, Daniel M. Weary

Feeding Behavior Collection

Behavioural research on domestic pigs has included parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition, and the use of signals which influence resource allocation. In this paper, we review key sow-piglet behavioural studies and discuss their relevance to resource allocation theory. Sibling competition begins in the uterus and continues after birth, as piglets compete directly for access to the sow's teats. This competition is made more severe by a unique dentition, which newborn piglets use to lacerate the faces of siblings during teat disputes. Competition often leads to the death of some littermates, especially those of low birth weight. Piglets also compete indirectly for …

Heritable And Experiential Effects On Boldness In A Tropical Poeciliid, Culum Brown, Fiona Burgess, Victoria Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

Consistent differences in human behaviour are often explained with reference to personality traits. Recent evidence suggests that similar traits are widespread across the entire animal kingdom and that they may have substantial fitness consequences. One of the major components of personality is the shyness–boldness continuum. Little is known about the relative contributions of genes and the environment in the development of boldness in wild animal populations. Here, we bred wild-caught fish (Brachyraphis episcopi) collected from regions of highand low-predation pressure, reared their offspring in the laboratory under varying conditions and tested boldness utilising an open-field paradigm. First-generation laboratory-reared fish showed …

Correlation Between Boldness And Body Mass In Natural Populations Of The Poeciliid Brachyrhaphis Episcopi, C. Brown, F. Jones, V. Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

The boldness of individual Brachyrhaphis episcopi, collected from regions of high and low predation, was investigated using two independent assays: (1) the time to emerge from cover and (2) the propensity to leave shoal mates and investigate a novel object. A strong correlation between the two assays was revealed such that fish that emerged from shelter sooner were also more likely to approach a novel object. This is indicative of a boldness personality axis acting across both behavioural contexts. Fish from high-predation areas were bolder than those from low-predation areas and males were bolder than females. A significant correlation between …

Animal Mind: Science, Philosophy, And Ethics, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

Although 20th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result …

Animal Minds, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics, Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists’ arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to ‘‘cognitive ethology’’ by philosophers can signal ignorance …

Physiological Constraints On Contest Behaviour, Mark Briffa, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

1. Contests may involve injurious fighting, other types of direct physical aggression and communication. They occur over ownership access to mates and other resources that may increase an individual’s attractiveness and its chance of survival. Traits that enhance resource holding potential may be the result of sexual selection, natural selection or a combination of both.
2. Agonistic behaviours are expected to be demanding to perform and costly in terms of changes in physiological state. The ability to meet the physiological costs may determine contest outcomes and constrain the intensity of agonistic activities.
3. The energetic costs have been investigated in a broad range …

Perceived Desirability Of Given Names: Identifying A Relationship Between Given Names And Associated Personality Traits, Ellen D. Parks

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This study was designed to determine whether participants would have better recall for names with phonetic properties that matched a paired personality trait. In other words, phonetically attractive names paired with positive traits and phonetically unattractive names paired with negative traits should have higher rates of recall than names whose phonetic properties did not match a paired personality trait, such as phonetically attractive names paired with negative traits or phonetically unattractive names paired with positive traits. Given names were deemed to be phonetically attractive or unattractive based on the number of sonorants (soft consonant sounds such as l, m, n, …

The Question Of Animal Selves: Implications For Sociological Knowledge And Practice, Leslie Irvine

Anthropomorphism and Anthropocentrism Collection

The question of whether sociologists should investigate the subjective experience of non-human others arises regularly in discussions of research on animals. Recent criticism of this research agenda as speculative and therefore unproductive is examined and found wanting. Ample evidence indicates that animals have the capacity to see themselves as objects, which meets sociological criteria for selfhood. Resistance to this possibility highlights the discipline’s entrenched anthropocentrism rather than lack of evidence. Sociological study of the moral status of animals, based on the presence of the self, is warranted because our treatment of animals is connected with numerous “mainstream” sociological issues. As …

Individual Acoustic Variation In Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) Common And Harsh Groans: A Source-Filter Theory Perspective, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Mammals are able to distinguish conspecifics based on vocal cues, and the acoustic structure of mammal vocalizations is directly affected by the anatomy and action of the vocal apparatus. However, most studies investigating individual patterns in acoustic signals do not consider a vocal production-based perspective. In this study, we used the source-filter model of vocal production as a basis for investigating the acoustic variability of fallow deer groans. Using this approach, we quantified the potential of each acoustic component to carry information about individual identity. We also investigated if cues to individual identity carry over among the two groan types …

Plasticity In Animal Personality Traits: Does Prior Experience Alter The Degree Of Boldness?, Ashley J. Frost, Alexandra Winrow-Giffen, Paul J. Ashley, Lynne U. Sneddon

Ethology Collection

Theoreticians predict that animal ‘personality’ traits may be maladaptive if fixed throughout different contexts, so the present study aimed to test whether these traits are fixed or plastic. Rainbow trout (Onchorhyncus mykiss) were given emboldening or negative experiences in the forms of watching bold or shy individuals responding to novelty or winning or losing fights to examine whether prior experience affected boldness. Bold individuals that lost fights or watched shy demonstrators became more shy by increasing their latency to approach a novel object, whereas shy observers that watched bold demonstrators remained cautious and did not modify their responses to novelty. …

How Animals Communicate Quality Of Life: The Qualitative Assessment Of Behaviour, F. Wemelsfelder

Sentience Collection

The notion ‘quality of life’ (QoL) suggests that welfare in animals encompasses more than just an absence of suffering; it concerns the quality of an animal’s entire relationship with its environment, of how it lives its life. Judgements of such quality are based on the integration of perceived details of how animals behave over time in different contexts. The scientific status of such judgements has long been ambiguous, but in recent decades has begun to be addressed by animal scientists. This paper starts with a brief review of qualitative approaches to the study of animal behaviour, which tend to address …

Grey Parrots Do Not Always ‘Parrot’: The Roles Of Imitation And Phonological Awareness In The Creation Of New Labels From Existing Vocalizations, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

Evidence exists for a form of imitation, vocal segmentation, by a Grey parrot. Data show that the bird understands that his labels are comprised of individual units that can be recombined in novel ways to create a novel referential vocalization; that is, a novel act. Previous data suggested, but could not substantiate, this behaviour. Such evidence implies that a parrot not only has phonological awareness but also demonstrates true imitation rather than mimicry, and has implications for the studies of both the evolution of communicative competence and the development of robotic speech.

Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts To Our Humanizing Of Animals, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog–human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a …

Aquatic Animals, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics: Questions About Sentience And Other Troubling Issues That Lurk In Turbid Water, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

In this general, strongly pro-animal, and somewhat utopian and personal essay, I argue that we owe aquatic animals respect and moral consideration just as we owe respect and moral consideration to all other animal beings, regardless of the taxonomic group to which they belong. In many ways it is more difficult to convince some people of our ethical obligations to numerous aquatic animals because we do not identify or empathize with them as we do with animals with whom we are more familiar or to whom we are more closely related, including those species (usually terrestrial) to whom we refer …

Critter Psychology: On The Possibility Of Nonhuman Animal Folk Psychology, Kristin Andrews

Psychology Collection

No abstract provided.

Comparative Perspectives On The Functions Of Sleep, John A. Lesku

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous comparative studies of sleep identified relationships between sleep and constitutive and ecological variables. Results from these studies helped shape early hypotheses for the function of sleep; however, all were conducted without an explicit phylogenetic or theoretic framework and focused exclusively on mammals. Hence, the validity of their results and applicability to other taxa is unclear. We ( 1) reviewed the literature on sleep in animals, (2) updated and reanalyzed the mammalian dataset using independent contrasts and (3) multivariate path analysis, and ( 4) presented the first quantitative analysis of sleep in a non-mammalian taxon: birds. Following previous mammalian analyses, …

Putting Humans First?, David Graham, Nathan Nobis

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

In Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature's Favorite, Tibor Machan argues against moral perspectives that require taking animals' interests seriously. He attempts to defend the status quo regarding routine, harmful uses of animals for food, fashion and experimentation. Graham and Nobis argue that Machan's work fails to resist pro-animal moral conclusions that are supported by a wide range of contemporary ethical arguments.

The Changing Concept Of Animal Sentience, Ian J. H. Duncan

Sentience Collection

A brief history of the concept of sentience is given. It is pointed out that the idea of sentience, at least in the mammals and birds, was accepted by lay people by the time of the Renaissance and before it was acknowledged by philosophers. It was not until the Enlightenment of the 18th century that philosophers started to accept the notion that animals have feelings. Towards the end of the 19th century, scientists and philosophers had developed a fairly sophisticated concept of sentience. Little consideration was given to sentience by scientists through much of the 20th century due to the …

Mother-Young Recognition In An Ungulate Hider Species: A Unidirectional Proce, Marco V.G. Torriani, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Parent‐offspring recognition is usually crucial for survival of young. In mammals, olfaction often only permits identification at short range, and vocalizations are important at longer distances. Following and hiding antipredator strategies found in newborn mammals may also affect parental recognition mechanisms. We investigated mother‐offspring recognition in fallow deer, an ungulate hider species. We analyzed the structure of adult female and fawn contact calls to determine whether they are individually distinctive and tested for mother‐offspring recognition. Only females (and not fawns) have individualized vocalizations, with the fundamental frequency as the most distinctive parameter. Playback experiments showed that fawns can distinguish the …