Tag: Cognition

Is your dog optimistic? Cognitive bias in animals

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date January 22, 2015
No Comments on Is your dog optimistic? Cognitive bias in animals

Cognitive Bias in Animals

Does your pet have a glass half full, or glass half empty take on life?

It’s a recent discovery that many animals can be optimistic or pessimistic based on their experiences.

Dr. Melissa Starling holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and recently gained her PhD from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney with a topic that covered elements of dog behaviour, personality, emotions and cognition.

She has long had a passion for animal behaviour and animal training that has intensified as she learns more.

In this episode, we talk to Mel about her PhD research investigating optimism and pessimism – or cognitive bias – in dogs.

Podcast

Publications

Starling, M. J., Branson, N., Cody, D., Starling, T. R., & McGreevy, P. D. (2014). Developing an optimism index using results from a cognitive bias task. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 9(6), e17-e18.

Starling, M. J., Branson, N., Cody, D., Starling, T. R., & McGreevy, P. D. (2014). Canine Sense and Sensibility: Tipping Points and Response Latency Variability as an Optimism Index in a Canine Judgement Bias Assessment. PloS one, 9(9), e107794.

Starling, M. J., Branson, N., Cody, D., & McGreevy, P. D. (2013). Conceptualising the Impact of Arousal and Affective State on Training Outcomes of Operant Conditioning. Animals, 3(2), 300-317.

McGreevy, P. D., Starling, M., Branson, N. J., Cobb, M. L., & Calnon, D. (2012). An overview of the dog–human dyad and ethograms within it. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 7(2), 103-117.

Dr Melissa Starling - Cognitive Bias in Dogs — Dr Melissa Starling – Cognitive Bias in Dogs

Links

Melissa Starling on Twitter (@dogoptimism)

Creature Teacher (personal website)

Dog Optimism on ABC Catalyst

Video – Optimism in Dogs (Melissa Starling)

Optimism in Dogs

Cover image: Flickr/hoodsie

Tags anthrozoology, Canine, Cognition, cognitive bias, Dog, dogs, Human Animal Science, intelligence, Melissa Starling, optimism, podcast, research, Science, training

Behaviour Cognition

Emotions, memory and social networks – of Goats

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date January 5, 2015
No Comments on Emotions, memory and social networks – of Goats

Do goats have emotions?

“Do goats have emotions?” is something rarely searched for on Google, but if you think about it, it’s a very good question.

The answer is yes, goats do have emotions.

Believe it or not, they also have social networks, puzzle solving skills, and impressive long term memories?

We’re not even kidding! Alan McElligott is based at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the Queen Mary University of London, where he and his team research cattle, fallow deer, and goats.

In this episode, we talk about their recent work, and how it contributes to improved understanding of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology, raising important considerations for animal husbandry and welfare of goats in companion animal, livestock and pest contexts.

It’s time to learn about the emotions of goats!

Podcast

Publications

Dr. Alan McElligott - Do goats have emotions? — Dr. Alan McElligott

Briefer, E. F., Tettamanti, F., & McElligott, A. G. (2015). Emotions in goats: mapping physiological, behavioural and vocal profiles. Animal Behaviour, 99, 131-143.

Briefer, E. F., Haque, S., Baciadonna, L., & McElligott, A. G. (2014). Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task. Frontiers in zoology, 11(1), 20.

Briefer, E. F., & McElligott, A. G. (2013). Rescued goats at a sanctuary display positive mood after former neglect. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 146(1), 45-55.

Briefer, E. F., de la Torre, M. P., & McElligott, A. G. (2012). Mother goats do not forget their kids’ calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0986.

Alan McElligott: Google Scholar profile with further publications

Links

Alan McElligott: research website

Alan McElligott on Twitter

Goats, the boffins of the farmyard (BioMed Central)

Happy goats: How animal rehab works (BBC News)

Header image: Flickr/tcmorgan

Anthropology Cognition Research Wildlife

Gestures & communication: chimpanzees have a point

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date November 20, 2014
No Comments on Gestures & communication: chimpanzees have a point

How chimpanzees communicate

Imagine deciphering the first form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom, such as how chimpanzees communicate.

That’s exactly what Dr. Catherine Hobaiter has done after years of following wild chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest of Uganda, Africa.

She studies the evolution, acquisition and flexibility of communication and social behaviour, in particular through long-term field studies of wild chimpanzees.

For the past seven years, Cat has been working as a primatologist at a forest research-station in Uganda to better understand chimpanzee communication and behavior.

She hopes to to advance our understanding of great ape communication, and in addition, by looking at areas of overlap or species specific traits, she hopes to also gain an understanding of the evolutionary origins of language.

In this episode, we learn from Cat about her exciting observations of a communication system where animals don’t just share information through behaviour, but deliberately send messages of meaning to each other.

Listen in, and you’ll find out exactly how how chimpanzees communicate.

Podcast

How chimpanzees communicate

Publications

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2011). The gestural repertoire of the wild chimpanzee. Animal cognition, 14(5), 745-767. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2011). Serial gesturing by wild chimpanzees: its nature and function for communication. Animal cognition, 14(6), 827-838.

Hobaiter, C. L., & Byrne, R. W. (2012). Gesture use in consortship: wild chimpanzees’ use of gesture for an ‘evolutionarily urgent’purpose. Developments in Primate Gesture Research. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2013). Laterality in the gestural communication of wild chimpanzees. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1288(1), 9-16. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2014). The meanings of chimpanzee gestures. Current Biology, 24(14), 1596-1600. [PDF]

Links

University of St Andrews Profile: Cat Hobaiter

Follow Cat Hobaiter on Twitter: @NakedPrimate

Budongo Conservation Field Station

School of Psychology & Neuroscience at St Andrews University in Scotland

All images and media by Catherine Hobaiter, used with permission.

Wildlife

Is a dingo a dog or wolf?

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date November 25, 2013
No Comments on Is a dingo a dog or wolf?

Is a dingo a dog or wolf?

Dr Bradley Smith is a Research Fellow in Human and Animal Psychology at CQ University in Adelaide, Australia.

He has a fascinating research focus on the behaviour and cognition of dingoes.

Learn more about this amazing wild canid and how it fits into the dog-wolf-other landscape in this episode of Human Animal Science.

Is a dingo a dog or wolf? How does a dingo relate to a kelpie?

Let’s find out!

Podcast

Links

Dr Bradley Smith’s website: https://www.howlingdingo.com.au/
Dingo Discovery & Research Centre

Sterling the dingo demonstrating tool use:

Publications

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2013). Looking back at ‘looking back’: Operationalizing referential gaze for dingoes in an unsolvable task. Animal Cognition, 16, 961-971.

Smith, B., Appleby, R. & Litchfield, C. (2012). Spontaneous tool-use: an observation of a dingo (Canis dingo) using a table to access an out-of-reach food reward. Behavioural Processes, 89, 219-224.

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2010). How well do dingoes (Canis dingo) perform on the detour task. Animal Behaviour, 80, 155-162.

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2010). Dingoes (Canis dingo) can use human social cues to locate hidden food. Animal Cognition, 13, 367-3

Dingo – Is a dingo a dog or wolf? Or somewhere in-between?

Photos courtesy of Dr Bradley Smith

Tags anthrozoology, Behavior, behaviour, Bradley Smith, Canine, Cognition, dingo, dog or wolf, human-animal interaction, research, Science, social cues, tool use, wildlife

Cognition Research

Sit, Stay, Scan: How do dogs think?

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date October 28, 2013
No Comments on Sit, Stay, Scan: How do dogs think?

How do dogs think?

Greg Berns, MD, PhD from Emory University in Atlanta USA, specialises in the use of brain imaging technologies to understand human – and now, canine – motivation and decision-making.

Greg works as a neuroscientist working in the field of canine science. This allows him to use neuroscience techniques to assess how the brain of a dog makes decisions or reacts to stimulus.

In this episode, he speaks to Tim and Mia about his team’s research, named “The Dog Project”, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activity in dogs.

Or to you and me, how dogs think.

Podcast

Book: How Dogs Love Us

How Dogs Love Us: A neuroscientist and his adopted dog decode the canine brain

How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns - an insight into how dogs think — How Dogs Love Us, Gregory Berns (Hardcover)

For the last 2 years, Greg has pursued his dream of using MRI to decode what dogs really think.

Partnering with a dog trainer, Berns’ group has trained a team of volunteer dogs to hold still in an MRI machine.

Greg explains the sound of an MRI machine to be like a jackhammer, and how the dogs had to be trained to wear ear muffs to protect them from the noise.

How dogs love us - how dogs think — How Dogs Love Us, Gregory Burns (Paperback)

The data the team are collecting is revealing startling insights about how a dogs brains work and how they think. They are finding proof dogs really do love us!

In the process, they have broken new ground in elevating the rights of dogs to human-equivalents.

Available on Amazon (Australia) as Hardcover or Paperback.

Available on Amazon (US) as Hardcover or Paperback.