Showing papers in "Journal of Comparative Psychology in 1985"
TL;DR: In this paper, two adult male chimpanzees reached through a hole in the wall of their home cage and, by tracking the images of their hands and of an otherwise hidden target object in a mirror or closed-circuit television picture, moved their hands in whichever direction was necessary to make contact with the target object.
Abstract: Two adult male chimpanzees reached through a hole in the wall of their home cage and, by tracking the images of their hands and of an otherwise hidden target object in a mirror or closed-circuit television picture, moved their hands in whichever direction was necessary to make contact with the target object. They discriminated between live video images and tapes and performed effectively when the target objects were presented in novel locations and when the video picture was presented at random in different orientations. There was thus no consistent relation between the location of images on the monitor and the location of their real-world counterparts. Comparable performances in monkeys and nonprimates seem unlikely.
177 citations
TL;DR: Although social experience served to increase the ultrasound emission of male mice to female sex cues, the production of ultrasounds by females to these cues was decreased by social experience, suggesting the existence of a behavioral/functional sexual dimorphism in adult mouse ultrasonic vocalizing.
Abstract: Though an extensive body of literature exists concerning the emission of 70-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations by adult male mice (Mus musculus), almost nothing is known about the ultrasonic vocalizing of adult females. A series of five experiments was conducted to examine adult female mouse ultrasound emission. Results indicated female ultrasonic vocalizing to be typically displayed among female mouse dyads and comparable to the ultrasonic vocalizing levels obtained among male-female pairs. Genotypically based variations in the production of ultrasounds by females were also noted. Like male mice, socially naive females readily ultrasonically vocalized to anesthetized female conspecifics and rarely vocalized to anesthetized males. Unlike males, socially experienced females emitted few ultrasounds to either female urine or female-soiled cage shavings. Although social experience served to increase the ultrasound emission of male mice to female sex cues, the production of ultrasounds by females to these cues was decreased by social experience. Implications with regard to the existence of a behavioral/functional sexual dimorphism in adult mouse ultrasonic vocalizing are discussed.
137 citations
TL;DR: No visual preference for the familiar mallard model was found at 48 hr or at 72 hr if ducklings were reared in social isolation but allowed to see another duckling, reared with one ducklings, or rearing in a group of ducklings but denied the opportunity for direct social interaction.
Abstract: This study was conducted to examine the influence of various social rearing experiences on the development of imprinted visual maternal preferences in domestic mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos) during the first 3 days of postnatal life. Twenty-four-hour-old ducklings were allowed to follow a stuffed mallard hen for 30 min. This experience resulted in a visual preference for the familiar mallard hen over an unfamiliar stuffed redhead (Aythya americana) hen in simultaneous choice tests at 48 hr and 72 hr only if the ducklings were reared in conditions allowing unrestricted social interaction with siblings, as would normally occur in nature. No visual preference for the familiar mallard model was found at 48 hr or at 72 hr if ducklings were reared in social isolation but allowed to see another duckling, reared with one duckling, or reared in a group of ducklings but denied the opportunity for direct social interaction. These results demonstrate the importance of normal social experience in the development of the visual imprinting of filial behavior in ducklings. Imprinting studies have traditionally employed isolation rearing and ignored the precocial bird's natural social context. Thus, the present findings raise doubts about the appropriateness of the usual methods of studying imprinting in the laboratory for an understanding of the process of filial imprinting in nature.
112 citations
96 citations
TL;DR: Differences between the lines in frequency of intertrial responses (ITRs), which appear during training but not during pretest, suggest that ITRs in animals of the low-avoidance (SLA) line are more suppressed by electric shock than in Animals of the high- avoidance (SHA) line, and suggests that SLA animals may be more emotionally responsive than SHA animals.
Abstract: The behaviors of rats selectively bred for either good or poor shuttle box avoidance learning were studied. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the phenotypic difference in avoidance learning is not associated with differences in speed of escape or avoidance responding. Differences between the lines in frequency of intertrial responses (ITRs), which appear during training but not during pretest, suggest that ITRs in animals of the low-avoidance (SLA) line are more suppressed by electric shock than in animals of the high-avoidance (SHA) line. This result suggests that SLA animals may be more emotionally responsive than SHA animals. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the animals of the two lines do not differ in absolute sensitivity to electric shock, and Experiment 3 showed that the poor performance of the SLA line is not due to an inability to learn. Experiment 3 also provided evidence which suggests that the poor avoidance learning by SLA animals is due to their emotional reactivity. Observations of open-field behavior in Experiment 4 are consistent with this hypothesis. The major consistent correlate of the phenotypic difference in avoidance learning is greater emotionality or emotional reactivity in SLA than in SHA animals.
94 citations
92 citations
78 citations
TL;DR: Adolescent males received high frequencies of aggressive responses, and this is hypothesized to account for the marked shift in adult male patterns of participation in intragroup agonistic interactions, as relative to females whose basic pattern of agonistic expression does not change with age.
Abstract: Both age and sex influence rhesus monkey agonistic behavior. In intragroup episodes, submission was most frequent in juveniles, but aggression increased steadily with age, albeit much more sharply in females. As infants, males were more often involved in agonistic behavior than were females, but this sex difference reversed with age. A notable change in the frequency and forms of agonistic expression occurred in adolescent males. By the time they became adults, their participation in agonistic episodes was silent and brief and rarely involved biting. Adolescent males received high frequencies of aggressive responses, and this is hypothesized to account for the marked shift in adult male patterns of participation in intragroup agonistic interactions, as relative to females whose basic pattern of agonistic expression does not change with age.
69 citations
64 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that the song learning system is quite flexible, hat the results obtained with tape-tutors are very different from those with social tutors, and that there may be an interaction between total number of song inputs and the number presented on a single day.
Abstract: Nestling white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli) were hand-reared in sound-isolation chambers under a variety of conditions. The songs of total isolates were compared with songs of birds tutored with song, and the number of inputs sufficient for a bird to produce a normal song was explored. The flexibility of the song learning system was investigated with a range of tape-recorded tutor songs: alien dialects, alien subspecies, alien species, alternating alien dialects, and an aberrant song. Adult songs were obtained for 40 males and 7 testosterone-injected females. All of the tutor songs could be learned. Also, some birds learned elements of an alien species' song. Birds tutored with two songs copied one or the other, were bilingual, or sang a hybrid of the two. No bird presented with fewer than 120 songs learned the tutor song; 2 birds tutored with 252 songs copied the tutor song. It is concluded that the song learning system is quite flexible, hat the results obtained with tape-tutors are very different from those with social tutors, and that there may be an interaction between total number of song inputs and the number presented on a single day. Some implications of these data for physiological mechanisms and the possible functional significance of the acquisition system are discussed.
60 citations
TL;DR: The inability of the grasshopper mouse to hear low frequencies as well as other desert rodents such as kangaroo rats and gerbils demonstrates that not all rodents found in deserts have developed good low-frequency hearing.
Abstract: The audiograms of two wood rats and three grasshopper mice were determined with a conditioned avoidance procedure. The wood rats were able to hear tones from 940 Hz to 56 kHz at a level of 60 dB (SPL), with their best sensitivity of -3 dB occurring at 8 kHz. The hearing of the grasshopper mice ranged from 1.85 kHz to 69 kHz at 60 dB (SPL), with their best sensitivity of 9 dB also occurring at 8 kHz. These results support the relation between interaural distance and high-frequency hearing and between high- and low-frequency hearing. The inability of the grasshopper mouse to hear low frequencies as well as other desert rodents such as kangaroo rats and gerbils demonstrates that not all rodents found in deserts have developed good low-frequency hearing. The degree to which general and specific selective pressures have played a role in the evolution of rodent hearing is discussed. A comparison of the hearing abilities of rodents reveals wide variation in the ability of different species to hear high- and lowfrequency sounds. Of the seven species whose hearing is known, high-frequency hearing ranges from an upper limit of 33 kHz in the chinchilla to 92 kHz in the wild house mouse. Low-frequency hearing also varies over a wide range, with the kangaroo rat hearing as low as 42 Hz while the comparable limit for the house mouse is 2.3 kHz (for a review, see H. Heffner & Masterton, 1980). Thus, rodents show much of the same diversity in hearing that has been shown to exist among mammals as a whole (cf. R. Heffner & Heffner, 1982, 1983). For the most part, the variation in rodent hearing can be accounted for by the same general factors that have been used to explain the variation in mammalian hearing. Specifically, animals with small functional interaural distances (i.e., small heads and
TL;DR: Three budgerigars were trained with operant techniques to discriminate examples of species-specific contact calls and tested on vocalizations from another avian species--the canary; these experiments support the notion of a generalized, but highly sophisticated, perceptual learning system in the budgersigar for the processing of vocal signals.
Abstract: Three budgerigars were trained with operant techniques to discriminate examples of species-specific contact calls. Budgerigars were also tested on vocalizations from another avian species--the canary (Serinus canarius). Budgerigars showed an equivalent ability to discriminate and remember both budgerigar and canary calls. Additional tests showed that both temporal and spectral cues were important in the discrimination of species-specific calls by the budgerigar. However, spectral cues occurring in the region of 2.0-4.0 kHz appear to be critical for the discrimination. These experiments support the notion of a generalized, but highly sophisticated, perceptual learning system in the budgerigar for the processing of vocal signals.
TL;DR: After 26 years (600+ generations) of intermittent selection, the mean geotactic scores now remain stable upon relaxed selection, a result suggesting that evolutionary changes have occurred in these lines of Drosophila melanogaster.
Abstract: Long-term divergent selection for geotaxis in lines of Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly) is described. After 26 years (600+ generations) of intermittent selection, the mean geotactic scores now remain stable upon relaxed selection, a result suggesting that evolutionary changes have occurred in these lines. Because the stability is not due to genetic fixation (homozygosity) of the lines, it must be due to either close linkage of genes associated with geotaxis (which would not result in enduring change) or the development of new coadapted gene complexes utilizing genes associated with extreme geotaxis expression (which should result in enduring change). Better evidence for the latter hypothesis is obtained from the low, than from the high, line. The notions of coadaptation and genetic homeostasis are considered, as well as the prospective use of the geotaxis lines to study such concepts experimentally. The geotactic behavior expressed in each line is defined as "instinctive": It increases reproductive success and is characteristic of a population.
TL;DR: The responses toward young shown by males and nulliparous females differed substantially between two outbred stocks of laboratory rats, a source of discrepancies between the results of studies dealing with the induction of parental behavior in nonlactating rats.
Abstract: The responses toward young shown by males and nulliparous females differed substantially between two outbred stocks of laboratory rats. Sprague-Dawley females showed maternal behavior either spontaneously (35% of the naive rats) or through concaveation (92% of the initially neutral virgins). Of the Wistar females, however, only 10% showed maternal behavior spontaneously, and only 29% of the neutral virgins came to behave maternally during 15 days of concaveation. Prepubertal cohabitation with lactating rats did not facilitate maternal responsiveness in adulthood in the Wistar virgin females. Of the Sprague-Dawley males, 50% showed paternal behavior spontaneously, and only 4% killed the young. Among the Wistar males, however, only 4% showed paternal behavior spontaneously, and 76% killed pups. Such profound differences between outbred stocks of rats may be a source of discrepancies between the results of studies dealing with the induction of parental behavior in nonlactating rats.
TL;DR: Urine from pups of various ages contains sex-identifying odors that differentially elicit spontaneous maternal interest, and the odor of male urine may provide a sufficient stimulus to account for the greater anogenital licking that males of this species normally receive.
Abstract: Responses of adult female rats to male and female pup urine were examined in three experiments. Investigatory sniffing of male and female pup urine deposits by maternal rats was compared in a series of simultaneous choice tests given at 3-day intervals between Day 2 and Day 17 postpartum. Male urine was consistently preferred. Introduction of male, but not female, pup urine to the nest was also found to significantly elevate maternal licking of anogenital regions of pups. Thus, urine from pups of various ages contains sex-identifying odors that differentially elicit spontaneous maternal interest. The odor of male urine may provide a sufficient stimulus to account for the greater anogenital licking that males of this species normally receive. Nonmaternal, naive, adult females behaved like maternal rats, preferring male urine in the choice test. This indicates that the maternal condition of a dam is not necessary either for the olfactory discrimination or for the male odor preference.
TL;DR: Evidence suggests that a chimpanzee signing with his trainers lacked the semantic and syntactic organization found in the utterances of most children, and learned to use gestures as nonsymbolic instrumental responses under the stimulus control of objects in the signing context and verbal and nonverbal cues from the trainers.
Abstract: Fifteen videotaped conversations of a chimpanzee signing with his trainers were examined in order to determine (a) whether the ape was using imitation to learn about new language forms as some human children do and (b) whether the ape's nonimitative utterances implied knowledge of linguistic structures. The answers to both questions were negative. The evidence suggests that the utterances lacked the semantic and syntactic organization found in the utterances of most children. Instead of learning to use signs as symbols for communicating propositional messages, the ape learned to use gestures as nonsymbolic instrumental responses under the stimulus control of objects in the signing context and verbal and nonverbal cues from the trainers. Other research now underway with chimpanzees may eventually reveal whether this performance is characteristic of chimpanzees in general or is the result of particular training strategies used to teach language to chimpanzees.
TL;DR: The results for goldfish can be understood on the assumption that the effect of preexposure in these animals is simply to reduce general responsiveness or level of arousal.
Abstract: Evidence of latent inhibition was sought in a series of experiments with goldfish. In Experiment 1, goldfish were given nonreinforced preexposure to a color that subsequently predicted shock in an activity conditioning situation; their performance did not differ from that of control animals preexposed to a markedly different color. In Experiment 2, a group of goldfish given nonreinforced preexposure to a tone and an unstimulated control group were trained in an appetitive situation, with the tone serving either as a conditioned excitor or as a conditioned inhibitor. Preexposure had no significant effect in the conditioned excitation training, but it reduced the level of responding both to the positive stimulus and to the negative compound in the conditioned inhibition training. In Experiments 3 and 4, classical aversive conditioning was studied in the shuttle box. In Experiment 3, excitatory conditioning to a color was found to be impaired (relative to the performance of nonpreexposed control animals) as much by nonreinforced preexposure to the training color as by nonreinforced preexposure to a markedly different color; substantial variation in amount of preexposure was without significant effect. In the conditioned inhibition training of Experiment 4, animals with nonreinforced preexposure responded less than did unstimulated control animals both to the positive stimulus and to the negative compound. The results for goldfish can be understood on the assumption that the effect of preexposure in these animals is simply to reduce general responsiveness or level of arousal.
TL;DR: In this study, Médioni and Vaysse's basic observations of conditioning were replicated, with a different strain of flies and a modified conditioning apparatus.
Abstract: Food-deprived Drosophila melanogaster extend their proboscises following sucrose stimulation of the front tarsi (the proboscis extension reflex). Medioni and Vaysse (1975) reported that the inhibition of this response can be conditioned over trials if such proboscis extensions are punished by applying an aversive stimulus to the foreleg tarsi. In this study, Medioni and Vaysse's basic observations of conditioning were replicated, with a different strain of flies and a modified conditioning apparatus.
TL;DR: There is a positive correlation between the number of additional males present and the amount of Courtship activity shown by the test male toward the stimulus female, and the extent to which the courtship activity of the test males was stimulated by the presence of additional courting males was not influenced by how actively the additional males courted.
Abstract: Mating in red-sided garter snakes is characterized by the formation of mating balls. Up to 100 males simultaneously court single females. The social dynamics of the formation of these mating balls was examined to determine whether the mating balls are formed simply because of a common attraction to the female or whether males are stimulated by the mating balls themselves. A sexually attractive female garter snake appears to be even more attractive to a male when she is being courted by other males than when she is alone. Male garter snakes courted females more actively when other males were also courting the female than when they were alone with her. There is a positive correlation between the number of additional males present and the amount of courtship activity shown by the test male toward the stimulus female. The extent to which the courtship activity of the test males was stimulated by the presence of additional courting males was not influenced by how actively the additional males courted.
TL;DR: The formation of dominance/subordinancy relations in pairs of male Siamese fighting fish was examined and findings are consistent with the suggestion that domesticated Bettas have a territorial social strategy that includes both nest-building and fighting behaviors.
Abstract: The formation of dominance/subordinancy relations in pairs of male Siamese fighting fish was examined in six experiments. Dominant animals typically were those fish that built the largest nests and that attacked an image of a live, displaying male most intensely prior to combat. However, pretest performance on an operant task and reaction to an animal's own mirror image were not useful predictors of subsequent dominance. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that domesticated Bettas have a territorial social strategy that includes both nest-building and fighting behaviors.
TL;DR: It is shown that the male golden hamster has a higher ejaculatory output and more rapid recovery from sexual exhaustion than other small rodents that have been studied, and the limits of male capacity appear to vary widely among species.
Abstract: Rested adult golden hamsters produced a mean of 13 ejaculations and then showed a modified copulatory pattern consisting of long intromissions (10-30 s of intravaginal thrusting) during which no sperm transfer occurs. When a second (fresh) female was introduced, 58% of the males produced at least one more ejaculation, and 17% of the males produced one further ejaculation when placed with a third female. In similar three-female tests conducted 24 hr later, all males ejaculated (M = 4 ejaculations); this level of ejaculatory output was maintained over a subsequent 10-day period of daily testing. Four ejaculations ensured a nearly 100% pregnancy rate and maximum litter size in the first females. Second and third females, however, received fewer ejaculations and subsequently showed reduced fertility and produced smaller litters. Most males showed high levels of long intromissions on all days and with all females. The physiological significance of these long intromissions may be to trigger the progestational response. Examination of the rate of recovery from sexual exhaustion indicated that 2 or 8 hr of rest resulted in fewer than 50% of the males being capable of one further ejaculation. However, most of these single ejaculations were accompanied by long intromissions and resulted in successful pregnancies. Four to eight days were required for full recovery of ejaculatory capacity. This study showed that the male golden hamster has a higher ejaculatory output and more rapid recovery from sexual exhaustion than other small rodents that have been studied. Thus, the limits of male capacity appear to vary widely among species.
TL;DR: Two experiments indicate that sodium-replete Sprague-Dawley rats generally prefer unsalted solid foods to salted ones, and the use of the rat as the animal model for human excess salt consumption is in question.
Abstract: Many studies have demonstrated that when sodium-replete rats are given a choice between water and isotonic saline, they consume more of the isotonic saline. Their ingestive responses to a choice between salted and unsalted food, however, have not been studied in the same detail. Because humans consume salt in or on food rather than in pure water, this lack of information calls into question the use of the rat as the animal model for human excess salt consumption. In Experiment 1, 16 Sprague-Dawley rats were given 1-hr access to salted and unsalted foods (potato chips, peanuts, soup) commonly consumed by humans in the salted form. In each choice situation, rats consumed more of the unsalted variety of solid food. In Experiment 2, the concentration of salt in a wider variety of foods was varied. Fifteen rats were allowed a choice of a given salt concentration or the unsalted food. In no case was the salted solid food eaten in excess of the unsalted solid food, and in general, more of the unsalted solid food was eaten. In a third experiment, two groups of 8 rats were given exposure from weaning to either salted or unsalted potato chips. Three-months of exposure to salted chips or unsalted chips did not alter the rats' relative intake of salted chips. When given a choice, more unsalted chips were consumed by both groups. These experiments indicate that sodium-replete Sprague-Dawley rats generally prefer unsalted solid foods to salted ones.
TL;DR: Adult male rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trained in a Y-maze to discriminate the presence of a littermate from its absence and transfer of training indicated that the animals were capable of distinguishing among individuals when relatedness and familiarity were held constant.
Abstract: Adult male rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trained in a Y-maze to discriminate the presence of a littermate from its absence. Transfer of training in subsequent tests indicated that (a) the animals were capable of distinguishing among individuals when relatedness and familiarity were held constant, (b) this ability was not due to training, and (c) their performance was based solely on odor cues. The results are discussed in relation to social behavior in rats.