Cetacean Cognition in the Lab Flashcards
How are clicks produced?
vibration of “dorsal bursae” (also called nasal plug) in nasal passages at rear of skull
Where is echolocation processed?
cetaceans’ massive brain stem
What is the lag time?
time between returned echo and next click
More closely spaced click trains ends in what?
higher detail resolution
Sound travels ____ ____ _____ in water than in air
4.5 times faster
click repetation rate can _____ as distance to target decreases
increase
Amplitude increases as distance _____
decreases
What role does fatty tissue play in the cetacean’s ability to hear?
hear through throat, lower jaw, fatty tissue, fat channel to inner ear
Lower frequences get _____ resolution
lower
The amplitude of the echo is a function of both _____ and ______
distance and absorption
The longer the latency between click and echo, the _______ the target
farther away
(TRUE/FALSE) Infant dolphins have an innate sense to produce and understand clicks.
FALSE; learning plays a major role
every object has a specific _____ _____
resonant frequency
How were the original vision tests on cetaceans an example of poor ecological validity?
- gave MTS tests with 2d visuals
- dolphins can see high contrast, moving, 3d stimuli more
Which cross modal mapping are cetaceans best at?
visual auditory recognition
Air pockets are highly _____
reflective
Bones are highly _____
absorbive
Higher frequencies interact more with ____ targets than low frequencies do
small
Explain “listening in” test performed on dolphins.
Two dolphins in water. One at the top of the surface is the “listener” and the one below the water is an “echolocator”. E sends out echolocation to a hidden object while the listener is above water. When E gets the information back, it can accurately match the object. When you send L into the water to match the object, it can match gross info (shape)
What does the listening in test show about dolphins and how they echolocate?
they can listen in to each other’s echoes to an extent (via the fat in their necks used for listening)
-believe this is how babies learn to echolocate from their mothers
What are some examples of dolphin object use in captivity?
- invent novel uses, like grab stick to poke into reef hole to roust eels
- use sticks to poke into tubes, boxes etc for reward
What are some examples of object use in the field?
- sometimes see animals with jewelry
- sponge carrying
- shake conch to get fish
Dolphins better at ________ response rule (MTS) across modalities.
transferring
How have dolphins displayed object permanence?
- trained to report absence of cued and searched for object
- trainer signals “Hoop to frisbee” dolphin takes hoop to no if no frisbee
What is the “search image” function of dolphins?
after multiple presentations of similar sized targets, adjust echoloc bandwidth for next search, shows anticipation target size
How did dolphins do on invisible displacement tasks?
motion behind occluder, succeeds
What are the results of numerosity tests on cetaceans?
no data
What are the results of reversal learning and learning sets?
change strategy after first reversed trial; first develop “Learning Set”
What are the results of transitivity tests on dolphins?
no data
What are the results of MTS?
- show first trial success with novel stimuli on identity and conditional MTS, acoustic or visual
- can learn based on very few trials!
What are the results of oddity trials?
first trial success
What are the results of same/different trials?
first trial success
How do dolphins show creativity?
- “do something new” command
- Herman did “Tandum Creative”
How are dolphins curious?
sea world =>baby orca spend 1 hr and a half with painter, need enrichment
