Optimal and Non-optimal Behavior Across Species

by Edmund Fantino,
University of California

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Abstract

We take a behavioral approach to decision-making and, apply it across species. First we review quantitative theories that provide good accounts of both non-human and human choice, as, for example, in operant analogues to foraging (including the optimal diet model and delay-reduction theory). Second we show that for all species studied, organisms will acquire observing responses, whose only function is to produce stimuli correlated with the schedule of reinforcement in effect. Observing responses are maintained only by “good news”: “no news” is preferred to “bad news”. We then review two areas of decision-making in which human participants (but not necessarily non-humans) tend to make robust errors of judgment or to approach decisions non-optimally. The first area is the sunk-cost effect in which participants persist in a losing course of action, ignoring the currently operative marginal utilities. The second area is base-rate neglect in which participants overweight case cues (such as witness testimony or medical diagnostic tests) and underweight information about the base rates or probabilities of the events in question. In both cases we argue that the poor decisions we make are affected by the misapplication of previously learned rules and strategies that have utility in other situations. These conclusions are strengthened both by the behavioral approach taken and by the data revealed in cross-species comparisons.

Keywords: choice, optimal diet model, delay-reduction theory, observing responses, sunk-cost effect, base-rate neglect

Fantino, E. (2012). Optimal and Non-optimal Behavior Across Species. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 7, 44-54. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2012.70003

Neurophysiological Studies of Learning and Memory in Pigeons

by Michael Colombo
University of Otago

Damian Scarf
University of Otago

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Abstract

The literature on the neural basis of learning and memory is replete with studies using rats and monkey, but hardly any using pigeons. This is odd because so much of what we know about animal behavior comes from studies with pigeons. The unwillingness to use pigeons in neural studies of learning and memory probably stems from two factors, one that the avian brain is seen as radically different from the mammalian brain and as such can contribute little to its understanding, and the other that the behavior of pigeons is not seen as sophisticated as that of mammals, and certainly primates. Studies over the past few decades detailing the remarkable cognitive abilities of pigeons, as well as a newly revised nomenclature for the avian brain, should spark a renewed interest in using pigeons as models to understand the neural basis of learning and memory. Here we review studies on the pigeon’s hippocampus and ‘prefrontal cortex’ and show that they provide information not only on the workings of the avian brain, but also shed light on the operation of the mammalian brain.

Keywords: hippocampus, NCL, avian, memory, single-unit

Colombo, K., & Scarf, D. (2012). Neurophysiological Studies of Learning and Memory in Pigeons. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 7, 23-43. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2012.70002

How to navigate without maps: The power of taxon-like navigation in ants

by Ken Cheng,
Macquarie University

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Abstract

Rodents are said to have two different navigational systems, a map-like locale system and a route-based taxon system consisting of sensorimotor routines such as beaconing and turns at appropriate stimulus conditions (motor routines). Ants on the other hand are not known for map-like navigation, and seem to get by with a repertoire of taxon-like strategies. I review how this repertoire serves ants in making up for the lack of a locale system. Path integration — keeping track of the straight-line distance and direction from the starting point — operates continuously in the background, and can be called upon as necessary, or relied on in habitats in which no useful visual cues are available. Crucial to the power of a taxon-like repertoire is using the full panoramic visual context, both to guide the operation of strategies (context-modulated servomechanisms) and to guide navigation directly. The entire repertoire is backed up by systematic search strategies. I end with some reflections on the power of taxon-like strategies.

Keywords: ant, navigatio, views, vectors, taxon

Cheng, K. (2012). How to navigate without maps: The power of taxon-like navigation in ants. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 7, 1-22. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2012.70001

A History of Dogs as Subjects in North American Experimental Psychological Research

by Erica N. Feuerbacher,
University of Florida

C. D. L. Wynne,
University of Florida and Kyung Hee University

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Abstract

The recent resurgence in psychological experiments involving dogs revives a long and rich tradition of using dogs as experimental subjects in psychology. Aside from a few very well known authors (e.g., Pavlov, and Scott and Fuller), this research is often overlooked. Here we trace the history of dogs as experimental subjects. A review of Darwin and Pavlov’s research sets the stage for our focus on research conducted in North American laboratories. We end our review with the advent of the modern renaissance of dog research. Our account of dog research illuminates the history of psychology as a science, providing insight into psychological processes and sheds light on the behavior of dogs specifically. A rediscovery of this literature can only improve future research: rejuvenating old questions, suggesting new problems, and highlighting useful methods for work on current issues

Keywords: history of psychology, dogs, Pavlovian conditioning, operant conditioning, animal cognition

Feuerbacher, E. N., & Wynne, C. D. L. (2011). A History of Dogs as Subjects in North American Experimental Psychological Research. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 46-71. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2011.60001

Associative Learning in Insects: Evolutionary Models, Mushroom Bodies, and a Neuroscientific Conundrum

by Karen L. Hollis,
Mount Holyoke College

Lauren M. Guillette,
University of Alberta

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Abstract

Environmental predictability has for many years been posited to be a key variable in whether learning is expected to evolve in particular species, a claim revisited in two recent papers. However, amongst many researchers, especially neuroscientists, consensus is building for a very different view, namely that learning ability may be an emergent property of nervous systems and, thus, all animals with nervous systems should be able to learn. Here we explore these differing views, sample research on associative learning in insects, and review our own work demonstrating learning in larval antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), a highly unlikely insect candidate. We conclude by asserting that the capacity for associative learning is the default condition favored by neuroscientists: Whenever selection pressures favor evolution of nervous systems, the capacity for associative learning follows ipso facto. Nonetheless, to reconcile these disparate views, we suggest that (a) models for the evolution of learning may instead be models for conditions overriding behavioral plasticity; and, (b) costs of learning in insects may be, in fact, costs associated with more complex cognitive skills, skills that are just beginning to be discovered, rather than simple associative learning.

Keywords: insect learning, invertebrate learning, associative learning, insect behavior, antlions, Neuroptera, Myrmeleontidae, sit-and-wait predation

Hollis, K. L., & Guillette, L. M. (2011). Associative Learning in Insects: Evolutionary Models, Mushroom Bodies, and a Neuroscientific Conundrum. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 25-46. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2011.60004

Social Influences on Rat Spatial Choice

by Michael F. Brown,
Villanova University

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Although there is abundant evidence for social learning and other forms of social influence on behavior, relatively little experimental analysis of the mechanisms involved is available. The present paper reviews a line of research examining social influences on spatial choice in the context of spatial working memory paradigms using pairs of laboratory rats foraging together for food. There is a social affiliation effect – rats are attracted to spatial locations if a familiar conspecific is there. However, there is a countervailing tendency to avoid visits to spatial locations that were previously depleted of food by the other rat. The latter effect is based on working memory for the choices made previously by the other rat. The memories for the previous choices of another rat can affect subsequent choices flexibly, either increasing or decreasing choice tendencies depending on working memory for the contents of spatial locations resulting from the rat’s own visits to the location.

Keywords: social memory, social learning, working memory, spatial memory

Brown, M. F. (2011). Social Influences on Rat Spatial Choice. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 5-23. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2011.60003

Greetings from the New Editors of CCBR

by Christopher B. Sturdy,
University of Alberta

Thomas R. Zentall,
University of Kentucky

Abstract

After six years, Ron Weisman and Bob Cook have completed their term as Editors of the Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews (CCBR), an open access journal of the Comparative Cognition Society. CCBR publishes high quality, programmatic review articles covering current topics in comparative cognition. Tom Zentall and Chris Sturdy have been appointed the new editors of the journal. CCBR is published online once a year at http://psyc.queensu.ca/ccbr/.

Each volume of the CCBR consists of a series of articles, most of these have been solicited by the editors to represent cutting edge research in the field of comparative cognition. As the new editors, we plan to continue the excellent tradition established by Ron and Bob to publish the best reviews in the field of comparative cognition. We will also consider publishing high quality unsolicited manuscripts, that like solicited articles have been carefully reviewed by referees selected by the editors. If you are interested in submitting a review article, we would encourage you to send an outline of the article to the editors zentall@uky.edu or csturdy@ualberta.ca to get advice about whether the review would be appropriate for CCBR.

We also plan to encourage and actively recruit authors from related disciplines to consider submitting review paper proposals for consideration and possible publication in CCBR. In particular, we encourage researchers in related fields such as behavioral ecology and neuroscience to consider using our journal as an venue to synthesize major components of their research program, and also, to build bridges, both theoretical and practical, with comparative cognition and behavior researchers who investigate complementary research areas. In this way, we hope to expand and enrich the excellent journal Ron and Bob have established.

Sturdy, C. B., & Zentall, T.R. (2011). Welcome Editorial. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 4. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2011.60005

Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews: the first six years

by Robert Cook,
Tufts University

Ron Weisman,
Queen’s University

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We reflect on beginning the electronic journal, Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews (CCBR) and discuss its current status. We conclude that CCBR meets the continuing need for reviews of established bodies of knowledge about comparative cognition. It now attracts a over ten thousand viewers per year and several thousand downloads of its full articles. Also, CCBR is steadily increasing in citations. We are pleased to hand over stewardship of CCBR to the new editors: Chris Sturdy and Tom Zentall.

Keywords: e-journals, web-based publishing, comparative cognition, impact

Cook, R., & Weisman, R. G. (2011). Comparative Cognition & Reviews: The first six years. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 1-3. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2011.60002

Understanding how Pictures are Seen is Important for Comparative Visual Cognition

by Marcia L. Spetch,
University of Alberta

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Abstract

A few of the interesting points discussed in the commentators were addressed. One commentator pointed out that a lack of perceived correspondence between pictures and objects might arise from a species’ cognitive limitations. Only by using appropriate stimulus displays can one reveal both abilities and their limitations. A second commentator discussed evidence from the neuropsychological literature and emphasized a distinction between the extraction of two-dimensional and three-dimensional information in pictures. Additional literature was discussed to support the argument that information in pictures may be perceived in multiple ways. A framework for determining under what circumstances animals perceive correspondence between picture processing and object recognition is much needed in comparative cognitive research.

Keywords: real world objects, pictures as surrogates, picture processing, birds, pigeons, artificial stimuli, visual cognition, comparative cognition

Spetch, M. L. (2010). Understanding how pictures are seen is important for comparative visual cognition. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 5, 163-166. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2010.50013

The Commentaries: Some are Visual Illusions

by Ronald G. Weisman,
Queen’s University

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Picture-object correspondence is a means to an end. Without correspondence, experimental results can be merely an intellectual curiosity. With correspondence, descriptive functional relationships can become useful laws of nature. In their objections to the correspondence hypothesis, three of the commentaries favored equivocation fallacies, which blurred the multiple meanings of the words ‘natural’ and ‘ecological’, rendering their alternative hypotheses meaningless. In opposition to extensive and much cited research, one of the commentaries attempted to depreciate research on picture-object correspondence by claiming that it is of little relevance to object recognition. Finally, two of the commentaries resorted to absurd ad hominem and equivocation fallacies in attempts to discredit the critique.

Keywords: pigeons, birds, visual cognition, categorization, correspondence, logical fallacies, explaining nature, functions of science, comparative cognition

Weisman, R. G. (2010). The Commentaries: Some are Visual Illusions. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 5, 155-162. Retrieved from https://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/ doi:10.3819/ccbr.2010.50012