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"Learning in animals"
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Social Learning
Many animals, including humans, acquire valuable skills and knowledge by copying others. Scientists refer to this as social learning. It is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of behavioral research and sits at the interface of many academic disciplines, including biology, experimental psychology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience.Social Learningprovides a comprehensive, practical guide to the research methods of this important emerging field. William Hoppitt and Kevin Laland define the mechanisms thought to underlie social learning and demonstrate how to distinguish them experimentally in the laboratory. They present techniques for detecting and quantifying social learning in nature, including statistical modeling of the spatial distribution of behavior traits. They also describe the latest theory and empirical findings on social learning strategies, and introduce readers to mathematical methods and models used in the study of cultural evolution. This book is an indispensable tool for researchers and an essential primer for students.
Provides a comprehensive, practical guide to social learning researchCombines theoretical and empirical approachesDescribes techniques for the laboratory and the fieldCovers social learning mechanisms and strategies, statistical modeling techniques for field data, mathematical modeling of cultural evolution, and more
eBook
12 super-smart animals you need to know
Features 12 super-smart animals found around the world, including their life cycles, habitats, and traits.
Book
Behavioral Evidence for Song Learning in the Suboscine Bellbirds (Procnias spp.; Cotingidae)
Why vocal learning has evolved in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds but not in other avian groups remains an unanswered question. The difficulty in providing an answer stems not only from the challenge of reconstructing the conditions that favored vocal learning among ancestors of these groups but also from our incomplete knowledge of extant birds. Here we provide multiple lines of evidence for a previously undocumented, evolutionarily independent origin of vocal learning among the suboscine passerines. Working with bellbirds (Procnias spp.), we show that (1) a captive-reared Bare-throated Bellbird (P. nudicollis) deprived of conspecific song not only developed abnormal conspecific songs but also learned the calls of a Chopi Blackbird (Gnorimopsar chopi) near which it was housed; (2) songs of Three-wattled Bellbirds (P. tricarunculata) occur in three geographically distinct dialects (from north to south: Nicaragua, Monteverde, and Talamanca); (3) Three-wattled Bellbirds at Monteverde, Costa Rica, are often bilingual, having learned the complete song repertoire of both the Monteverde and Talamanca dialects; (4) immature bellbirds have an extended period of song development, lasting the 6 years in which they are in subadult plumage; and (5) adult male Three-wattled Bellbirds continually relearn their songs, visiting each others' song perches and adjusting their songs to track population-wide changes. Perhaps female preferences and strong sexual selection have favored vocal learning among bellbirds, and additional surveys for vocal learning among other lekking cotingas and other suboscines may reveal patterns that help determine the conditions that promote the evolution of vocal learning.
Journal Article
Exploring the impact of a brief positive experience on dogs’ performance and stress resilience during a learning task
Learning and stress resilience can be influenced by recent experiences. Research has traditionally focused on the effects of negative situations and stressors on subsequent learning and stress resilience, while knowledge is limited regarding the effects of positive experiences. We aimed to examine the impact of a pre-session brief positive experience on dogs’ learning and stress resilience. Pet dogs were quasi-randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 20) or control (n = 20) group, counterbalanced for age, sex, and breed clade. Experimental dogs received a session intended to provide a positive experience, which included a 15 min walk on a long leash, human interaction, exploration, playing, and olfactory-based foraging. Control dogs were kept on leash in an office without being allowed to explore nor interact with their owner or the experimenters for 15 min. After 60 s of habituation to the testing room, all dogs were taught to nose-touch the experimenter’s hand. After the Learning phase, there was a 2 min Disruption phase, in which a remote-controlled car moved inside of a tub at a distance. Measures included the number of hand touches in each phase, the latency to return to the task, and general stress and affiliative behaviours. No differences were observed in the Learning phase. Surprisingly, experimental dogs exhibited higher stress levels than control dogs during the Disruption phase. These dogs also spent a significantly higher proportion of time in proximity to their owners, which could be interpreted as reassurance-seeking behaviour. Contrary to our predictions, exposure to a brief positive experience did not impact learning and, surprisingly, seemed to have made dogs more susceptible to stress during the Disruption phase. Several possible explanations are discussed, including the possibility of an unintentional induction of a negative emotional state by the termination of the positive experience, as well as differences in arousal, or habituation to the indoor environment.
Journal Article
Mice learn multi-step routes by memorizing subgoal locations
The behavioral strategies that mammals use to learn multi-step routes are unknown. In this study, we investigated how mice navigate to shelter in response to threats when the direct path is blocked. Initially, they fled toward the shelter and negotiated obstacles using sensory cues. Within 20 min, they spontaneously adopted a subgoal strategy, initiating escapes by running directly to the obstacle’s edge. Mice continued to escape in this manner even after the obstacle had been removed, indicating use of spatial memory. However, standard models of spatial learning—habitual movement repetition and internal map building—did not explain how subgoal memories formed. Instead, mice used a hybrid approach: memorizing salient locations encountered during spontaneous ‘practice runs’ to the shelter. This strategy was also used during a geometrically identical food-seeking task. These results suggest that subgoal memorization is a fundamental strategy by which rodents learn efficient multi-step routes in new environments.
Shamash et al. examine how mice learn to get past an obstacle blocking their path to a goal. They found that mice instinctively adopt a subgoal memory strategy, which combines elements from both habitual learning and the cognitive map theory.
Journal Article