Tuesday, 24th July 2018 - Learning and Social Development Flashcards
Learning & Social Development
In today’s lecture:
- Learning and social development.
- Play – what is it?
- Types of play.
- Costs and benefits of play (function).
- Signals in the play context, and other features distinguishing play.
- Play as a welfare indicator (reading).
Learning outcomes:
- Be able to describe and explain the definitions of play, as well as the reasons why play is difficult to define.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the various types of play, and be able to provide examples.
- Be able to explain and describe the costs and benefits of play to animals, including the role that play might play in behavioural development.
- Demonstrate an understanding of how features of play may be species-specific.
- Describe how signalling can be used in play, particularly to help to distinguish play from other behaviours.
- Show knowledge of how and why play may be used to assess standards of welfare in animals.
Learning & Social Development
Remember:
Learning allows animals to adjust to dynamic environments.
Play is behaviour that typically occurs in juveniles, hence ontogeny.
Ontogenesis: the development of an individual organism or anatomical or behavioural feature from the earliest stage to maturity.
• May contribute to learning of social skills.
Learning & Social Development
Social species require a range of skills.
Social deprivation studies suggest inexperienced animals acquire social skills via social interactions.
• Recall Harlow et al.’s experiments on attachment in monkeys.
– Some infants allowed 15 min/day with conspecifics; eventually started playing.
– Compared to socially isolated individuals, these monkeys developed near-normal behaviour.
Learning & Social Development
Play is considered to be important in behavioural development.
- Conspicuous.
- Assume it is functional if significant time spent engaging in it.
- Suggested important for development of adult behaviour.
– E.g., humans.
What is Play?
Hard to define!
Although (often) easily recognisable. Play has a number of common characteristics, but no single one defines it.
• Juvenile behaviour.
Structural:
• Mixture of motor patterns from different contexts.
(hunting behaviours affiliated with other behaviours jumbled up in an eloical order to an adult)
• Exaggeration.
(Much more intense)
• Repetition.
(
• Reordered sequences.
Function – more difficult:
- We don’t always know the function.
- Play is varied.
What is Play?
Purely structural is problematic:
• Discriminating motor patterns that are/not play.
Stalking of ‘prey’ - juvenile consequences are different as all play
adult cats stalking for reason to kill
What is Play?
Definition from Bekoff & Byers (1981, p. 300):
“Play is all motor activity performed postnatally that appears to be purposeless, in which motor patterns from other contexts may often be used in modified forms and altered temporal sequencing. If the activity is directed toward another living being it is called social play.”
Note this focuses on structure – not function.
- Observers may fail to determine function(s).
- Function may be long-term.
What is Play?
Criteria developed by Burghardt (2005):
1. Not fully functional in that context.
(Includes elements of behaviour not essential for current survival)
2. Is self-rewarding/autotelic.
(voluntary, giving positive feedback to animal doing it)
3. Differs in structure/timing from adult form of behaviour.
(Serious form, exagerated or incomplete sequence aka stalk and pounce)
4. Repeated, but not stereotypically.
Animal maybe racing around and around
5. Performed when animals are ‘relaxed’ – no immediate fitness threats.
(No immediate environmental stresses)
What is Play?
Problems defining play and reaching consensus on functions:
- Hard to manipulate experimentally. – Depriving a young animal of play opportunities, also results in other forms of deprivation.
- Diverse (forms and functions) – plastic. Fig. 5 11 Which species play?
- Consensus about mammals, birds.
- Less about other taxa. – Octopus, reptiles.
Importance of Play Why study something that is controversial and difficult? • Animals invest time in it.
– Characteristic of early development.
• It has costs, and so should also bring fitness benefits.
– Otherwise individuals who played would be disadvantaged.
• We can use it as a welfare indicator.
Three main types of play:
• Locomotor-rotational.
(Physical movements)
• Object.
(Chimpanzee with the red frizbee thing)
• Social.
(engaging with social partner)
Types of Play Locomotor-rotational play.
- Jumps, twists, kicks, shakes, spins, bucks, running, etc.
- Alone or with companions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niTByu7Z6TA
Types of Play
Object play
(Not object investigation, fully playing)
– interaction with inanimate objects.
- E.g., leaves, sticks, toys, etc.
- Should be differentiated from object investigation (play may follow).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSr7YrJIyvA
Social Play
Social play – playing with other animals.
• E.g., chasing, play fighting, sexual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg8J1IVC3Ic
Types of Play
Species-typical play patterns.
• E.g., level of play in canids is correlated with sociality – wolves and dogs play more than jackals and coyotes.
Can differ in structure/timing from adult form of activity, but can have similarities.
E.g., horses use teeth, but not head-butting in play. Same in real fighting.
E.g., cows don’t use teeth, but do head-butt in play. Same in fights.
Plays has costs.
- Injury.
- Energy.
- Time spent away from foraging, etc.
- Risk of predation.
These costs indicate that play likely has some adaptive function.
• Value varies depending on species/ecology.
May explain why play doesn’t occur in reduced welfare situations.
• I.e., hungry, sick, cold animals will conserve energy.
– “Luxurybehaviour.”
Costs & Benefits of Play
Play has benefits in terms of learning, skill development.
Learning about the environment.
– Familiarity.
– Foodsources.
Practicing motor skills.
– Hunting,fighting,mating. – Exercise.
• Social.
– Relationships,cognitiveskills.
– Socialinteractions,e.g.,status,reducingtension.
– Copingwithunpredictability.
These may function to provide immediate/long-term benefits.
Correlation between synaptogenesis in the cerebellum, and peak social play in cats.
Features of Play
Two other features of play distinguishes it as such.
• Self-handicapping = stronger animals perform behaviours at lower levels than their capabilities.
(Letting the kids win by adopting a vulnarable posture)
– Deliberate adopt vulnerable positions.
– Larger and older animals [but younger too] typically reduce strength
of movements.
– Signalsintent:play.
https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=em99NXMBH6k
https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnjZpG7ihhE
Features of Play
Two other features of play distinguishes it as such.
• Role-reversal = partners take turns in play roles.
– ‘Offensive’ vs. ‘defensive’.
– Thiscanvaryacrossspeciesandindividuals.
E.g., rhesus monkeys’ roles are relatively equal at first, but one partner’s
role becomes ‘offensive’ more often, as they get older.
E.g., some familiar dyads have their own patterns.
Play & Welfare
Play may indicate welfare
• See your reading! Held & Spinka (2011).
Key points:
Detrimental environmental factors reduce play.
Play can provide long-term benefits to individuals.
Play can benefit individuals immediately via self-reward.
– And others via contagion.
