Social cognition Flashcards
what does cognition deal with
the mental capacity of an animal to:
-aquire information
-have perceptions and interpret something, someone, realize, or understand
-storing of information
-utilize (brining info back out of the brain)
if an animal can recognize some one then they have the ability of…
-social cognition
-ie.
-aquire info
-understanding the info
-storing the info
-utilize the info
what are three examples of how recognition complexity may differ
1) cattle from numerous farms get mixed together and fights happen, is this because those animals are not familiar with eachother (simplest form of cognition)
2) a flock of adult hens, submissives avoids a dominant (more complex)
3) friendship (mem + recognition)
4) mother offspring (most complex)
what does it mean to recognize someone
-remembering previous encounters
-an understanding of the object or event (perception)
-acquire information
-perception (interprets something or someone, realize or understand)
-storing of info
-utilize
mixing unfamiliar animals often result in…
-aggression/fighting
-subordinate animals avoiding dominant
-friends
-dam and offspring
mechanisms of recognition
-recall
-memory
recall
-ability to form a mental image of an object in its absence
-some evidence of ability in animals
-brids: recognized pictures of individuals and difference angles
-sheep: recognized frontal and profile views
memory
-is this simply storing information
-involves new CNS activities: they are:
1) strengthening of synaptic connectivity
2) fresh production or reconstruction of neural pathways
information overload
-too much to utilize (so much info- cannot remember everything)
filtering of information occurs at a what level…
-the receptor level and the cortical region of the brain
cognition measurements in humans
-self reporting
-questionnaires
-etc
cognition measurements in animals
-physiological measures
-behavioural measures
-“asking the animals”
-most effective to utilize all of them
physiology examination of brain activity
-in humans the section of the brain that is active on reciving these signal is the same as those that are active on recall
-electroencephalograph:
-different cells utilized for different projections of images in sheet
-animals or human faces
-animals with horns and how large the horns were
-faces of same species sheet, especially if familiar
-dogs and people
behavioural observations to test cognition and recognition
-operant conditioning to determine if animals can distinguish between individuals
-exposure to familiar or unfamiliar animals
individual recognition in sheep
-ewes trained to choose between two pictures in a Y maze
-test 1: humans vs sheep recognize their own (ewes preferred the sheep picture)
-test 2: same breed vs different breed recognize their breed (ewes preferred same breed picture)
-test 3: ram vs ewe picture recognition repro status (estrous ewe preferred ram, anestrous ewe perferred ewe)
-conclusion of this study: sheep show species, breed and individual recognition. social preference influenced by neuroendocrine systems
exposure to familiar or unfamiliar animals horse studies
-studied individual horses
-walked a herd past test horse
-when out of site, played a whinny over loudspeaker
-measured amount of the time horses looked towards the herd
-if they recognized the call- they looked for a longer period of time
“asking the animals” mechanism
-need to be careful using behaviour to interpret cognitive abilities
-animals choose between what is offered to them
-they may hate two things but one thing less but doesnt mean they love it
recognition mechanisms smell vs olfactory
-are other senses important
-visual vs olfactory
-ewes can be taught to recognize their lambs using visual clues in the Y-maze, but slow process
-sheep are follower species so mother and baby never far
-smell more important then vision??
recognition mechanisms vocal
-speakers playing calls from cows
-cows and young calves separated, and cow calls recorded
-young calves were exposed to sound of their mother and a different mother
-significantly chose to spend more time at the speaker emitting sound from their mother
recognition: do animals have the complex cognitive capability to form mental image of another individual
-evidence shows maybe
-sheep front vs side view
-sheep and cattle had lack of recognition in a mirror
recognition: can animals classify one and other, species, gender, kin
-elephants show more intrest in skulls/tusks of their own species
-ducklings recognize calls from their own species
-hens: avoid chickens from other strains, performed more aggression to those not in their strains, more sexual attraction to those within their strain
cognative methods: examples how can we “ask the animal”
-preference testing (Y maze)
-working for resources (detemaning the value of the resource)
other factors affecting cognition: social learning: social environment
-social environment affects learning
-increased/decreased fear or arousal
-increase the chance of behavioural learning
other factors affecting cognition: social learning: demonstrating
-to naive animals withe the result of learning that specific behaviour suggests an even higher level of cognitive ability
-individual that demonstrates
-ie. pups that watched their mothers training to detect drugs were better at the same activity than pups that did lot
can there be negative effects of demonstrators
-yes
-stereotypes
-cannibilism in birds
-tail biting in pigs
-riding in steers
social learning: refining skills
-refining search skills
-may affect the way an animal learns to find resources such as food
-ie:
-jungle fowl: learn to feed where others have been feeding
-young lambs: learn to suck from a teat on a bucket faster if a demonstrator is there as compared to not present
influencing preferences
-demonstrator can influence the decision a farm animal makes
-foods to avoid
-observational learning may alter some preferences
-mate choices-quail-if another female chose an unpreferred male, then so too did the first female
what animals can animals learn social behaviour from
-learn from those of own species, or other species
-ie. placing broiler chickens with turkey poults lessens the chances of starveouts
social learning and senses
-learned from others but
-also learned from own experiences
-all or some senses important in social learning
-experiment blocked the smell, sight and sound of sheep
-found that a test sheep would not consume novel food even though another lamb ate it
-when only one sense was blocked did eat the food
social learning and the environment
-surroundings fammiliar or not?
-social companionship important when in new situations and determining how to deal with the situation
-important when in unfamiliar surroundings or consuming novel foods
social learning and age effect
-social learning more important in critical periods, particularly with young animals
-memory retention?
-influence of social companions at different ages?
social learning and relationship
-factors involved in learning social behaviour
-relationship with demonstrator
depends on who demonstrator is
-maternal influences most important in many species
-maternal influence likely decreases over time as other social peer becomes more important
social learning and social status
-factors involved in learning social behaviour
-status is important
-hens learned peck responses faster from dominat hen vs a subordinate hen
