Search

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.03.008 Byline: Claudio Tennie (a), Eileen Glabsch (a), Sebastian Tempelmann (a)(b), Juliane Brauer (a), Juliane Kaminski (a)(c), Josep Call (a) Abstract: Contextual imitation of intransitive actions within a third-party copying setting was tested in 180 household dogs. A demonstrator dog, in sight of observer dogs, performed one of two trained actions upon hearing verbal commands given by an experimenter. Observer dogs were later tested to see whether they produced more target actions than control groups who had not seen demonstrations of those actions. In all conditions, except one, the demonstrated actions had been previously trained in the observer dogs by their owners, but had been attached to a different verbal command to that used in our study. For these 'pretrained' actions we further investigated whether reward contingency, the relationship of the dog to the human experimenter and ostensive cues had an effect. In no condition did we find any contextual imitation. A subsample of all tested dogs had, during their lifetimes, received extensive training in a diverse range of tasks outside of social learning, but this background similarly did not lead to contextual imitation. We conclude that dogs, even when highly trained, fail to show evidence of contextual imitation for intransitive actions within a third-party copying paradigm. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Comparitive Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany (b) Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, U.K. (c) Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, U.K. Article History: Received 19 August 2008; Revised 15 October 2008; Accepted 9 March 2009 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: 08-00548R

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.08.010 Byline: Julia Riedel, Katrin Schumann, Juliane Kaminski, Josep Call, Michael Tomasello Abstract: Although dogs, Canis familiaris, are skilful at responding to human social cues, the role of ontogeny in the development of these abilities has not been systematically examined. We studied the ability of very young dog puppies to follow human communicative cues and successfully find hidden food. In the first experiment we compared 6-, 8-, 16- and 24-week-old puppies in their ability to use pointing gestures or a marker as a cue. The results showed that puppies, independent of age, could use all human communicative cues provided; only their success at using the marker cue increased with age. In the second and third experiments we investigated the flexibility of the puppies' understanding by reducing the degree to which they could use local enhancement to solve these problems. Here, subjects could not simply approach the hand of the experimenter and follow its direction to the correct location because cups were placed next to the dog instead of next to the experimenter. Six-week-old puppies readily used all of the human communicative cues provided. These findings support the hypothesis that domestication played a critical role in shaping the ability of dogs to follow human-given cues. Author Affiliation: Department of Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany Article History: Received 12 January 2007; Revised 2 March 2007; Accepted 28 August 2007 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: 9231R

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.04.018 Byline: Jana Uher, Jens B. Asendorpf, Josep Call Abstract: Using a multidisciplinary approach, the present study complements ethological behaviour measurements with basic theoretical concepts, methods and approaches of the personality psychological trait paradigm. Its adoptability and usefulness for animal studies are tested exemplarily on a sample of 20 zoo-housed great apes (five of each of the following species): bonobos, Pan paniscus; chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus; gorillas, Gorilla gorilla gorilla; and orang-utans, Pongo pygmaeus abelii. Data on 76 single trait-relevant behaviours were recorded in a series of 14 laboratory-based situations and in two different group situations. Data collection was repeated completely after a break of 2 weeks within a 50-day period. All behaviour records were sufficiently reliable. Individual- and variable-oriented analyses showed high/substantial temporal stability on different levels of aggregation. Distinctive and stable individual situational and response profiles clarified the importance of situations and of multiple trait-relevant behaviours. The present study calls for a closer collaboration between behavioural biologists and personality psychologists to tap the full potential of animal personality research. Author Affiliation: (a) Humboldt-University Berlin, Institute for Psychology, Germany (a ) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany Article History: Received 22 June 2006; Revised 5 March 2007; Accepted 17 April 2007 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: 9010R2

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.05.008 Byline: Juliane Kaminski, Julia Riedel, Josep Call, Michael Tomasello Abstract: Gaze following is a basic social cognitive skill with many potential benefits for animals that live in social groups. At least five primate species are known to follow the gaze of conspecifics, but there have been no studies on gaze following in other mammals. We investigated whether domestic goats can use the gaze direction of a conspecific as a cue to find food. They were able to do this, at a level comparable to that of primates. In a second experiment, we tested goats' ability to use gaze and other communicative cues given by a human in a so-called object choice situation. An experimenter hid food out of sight of the subject under one of two cups. After baiting the cup the experimenter indicated the location of the food to the subject by using different cues. The goats used communicative cues (touching and pointing) but not gaze by itself. Since domestic dogs are very skilled in this task, whereas wolves are not, one hypothesis is that the use of communicative cues in the object choice task is a side-effect of domestication. Author Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany Article History: Received 18 November 2003; Revised 21 January 2004; Accepted 20 May 2004 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: 7910R

Stumptailed macaques, Macaca arctoides, have a high conciliatory tendency, according to research using multivariate analysis to investigate the relative significance of factors that may have an impact on the occurrence of reconciliation or specific postconflict behaviour patterns. The multivariate approach made it possible to determine the factors affecting the occurrence of reconciliation. These were found to be initial interopponent distance in postconflict, friendship and kinship.

Individuals belonging to five primates species were investigated experimentally for their capacity to follow the gaze of conspecifics to an outside object. The species were chimpanzees, sooty mangabeys, rhesus macaques, stumptail macaques and pigtail macaques. Results showed that subjects from all species were able to follow the gaze of conspecifics, looking to the food about 80% of the time in experimental trials, in contrast to 20% of the time in control trials.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.06.031 Byline: Brian Hare (a), Alexandra Rosati (a), Juliane Kaminski (b), Juliane Brauer (b), Josep Call (b), Michael Tomasello (b) Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Evolutionary Anthropology & Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, U.S.A. (b) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany Article History: Received 7 February 2009; Revised 15 June 2009; Accepted 25 June 2009 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: AF-09-00115R