Learning & Behavior最新文献

This study investigates learning transfer processes in the teaching of pure tacts and intraverbals within the context of verbal behavior. The objectives were: to assess whether training pure tacts and intraverbals, through the inclusion of different stimuli, facilitates learning transfer to new impure tacts, and to determine whether one of these verbal operants (pure tact or intraverbal) better promotes learning transfer. The sample included 54 children aged 11-12 years, using a within-subjects experimental design with pre-post measures. The research was divided into 17 phases and six cycles, with two levels of the independent variable: (1) different stimuli in pure tacts and same in intraverbals, and (2) same stimuli in pure tacts and different in intraverbals. The presentation order was counterbalanced to control for order effects in training. Analyses using repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed that while participants could learn with either type of training, the training of pure tacts facilitated a greater learning transfer toward new impure tacts. In fact, training with pure tacts significantly increased the accuracy of responses in impure tact tests compared to intraverbal training, promoting greater generalization of learning (Pure tacts: M = 80.25%; SD = 4.04; F(1,26) = 5.44, p = .028, ηp² = .173; Intraverbals: M = 51.54%; SD = 3.65; F(1,26) = 8.33, p = .008, ηp² = .243). This finding suggests that pure tacts play a key role in promoting generative behavior, allowing the acquisition of new behavioral repertoires without explicit instruction. Theoretically, this study contributes to isolating the effect of pure tacts in learning transfer, while, practically, it offers relevant educational strategies to improve learning in populations with verbal and cognitive developmental limitations.

Two sentence summary: In this response to a recent commentary by Bastos et al. (2024) on our study showing a superiority of aversive over positive reinforcement training to inhibit chasing in dogs under specific conditions, we emphasize three points: (1) failing to inhibit chasing can result in injuries and fatalities to dogs and people, (2) dog owners want and need rapid solutions (more time-consuming approaches are less likely to be implemented), and (3) the existing literature favoring positive reinforcement is based on correlational and quasi-experimental methods that cannot determine causality.

A decrease in the rate of reinforcement associated with one component of a multiple schedule is typically associated with a decrease in responding in that component as well as with an increase in responding in the unchanged component. This increase in responding, referred to as positive contrast, is thought to result from an increase in the subjective value associated with the unchanged component. Williams Animal Learning & Behavior, 19, 337-344, (1991) challenged this hypothesis in an experiment with pigeons in which Stimulus A, associated with a variable interval schedule, was always followed by Stimulus X, associated with extinction, while Stimulus B, associated with the same variable interval schedule, was always followed by Stimulus Y, also associated with a variable interval schedule. Although Williams found that most of the pigeons pecked more at Stimulus A than at Stimulus B (behavioral contrast), when the pigeons were given a choice between Stimulus A and B, they showed a preference for Stimulus B. In the present experiment (a slight modification from Williams's), we confirmed this finding. Although our pigeons pecked more at Stimulus A than at Stimulus B, they generally preferred Stimulus B, the stimulus that was not followed by extinction. This result suggests that positive contrast may not result from an increase in the subjective value of the unchanged component. Instead, it suggests that this version of positive contrast may result at least in part from the pigeons' attempt to get all of the reinforcers possible in the presence of Stimulus A before the extinction schedule begins.

The concept of fear in animals, particularly its manifestation and measurement, remains a focal point in psychological research. This study builds on the systematic review and meta-analysis work of Bao et al. (Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 157: 105537, 2024), which posits that freezing behavior and 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) may represent objective and subjective fear states in rodents, respectively. We further investigated how these responses are modulated by shock intensity, tone-duration matching, and individual anxiety levels in rodent fear-conditioning paradigms. Experiment 1 manipulated shock intensity during fear learning and tone-duration matching between learning and cue tests, revealing that while freezing behavior was consistent across conditions, 22-kHz USVs varied significantly and appeared later than freezing. This divergence was more pronounced in fear generalization tests. Experiment 2 explored the response differences in rodents with high and low anxiety, demonstrating that highly anxious individuals exhibited more 22-kHz USVs but not increased freezing during cue tests. These findings suggest that while freezing may reflect automatic defensive reactions, 22-kHz USVs are more indicative of rodents' cognitive appraisal and their subjective experience of fear. This distinction provides valuable insights that could improve the translation of animal fear models to human psychiatric conditions related to fear and anxiety.

Despite numerous studies on individual recognition having been carried out on lizards, a clear demonstration that lizards are able to identify conspecifics is still lacking. Individual recognition in lizards involves identifying conspecifics based on distinctive characteristics, including physical, acoustic, and chemical cues. Lizards use specialized epidermal glands for intraspecific communication, which secrete a mixture of proteins and lipids. To demonstrate individual recognition, a training period needs to be devised to establish associations between traits and memories of interactions with other individuals. We thus performed a 3-week study on the common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) to assess whether lizards are able to associate between previous experience with conspecifics and their chemical signals. Further, we investigated whether proteins played a role in this association. We acclimated 40 males to laboratory conditions during the first week. In the second week, we trained lizards to develop familiarity with odors (feces, urine, skin, femoral gland secretion) from previously unknown individuals. During the third week, we tested lizards by exposing them to odors from familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Lizards examined unfamiliar signals for longer in terms of time and frequency compared to familiar ones. These results form the basis of showing that lizards may be capable of recognizing conspecifics as different individuals, based on their chemical signals, even if the observed discrimination remains at the level of familiarity and unfamiliarity. The experiment does, however, demonstrate evidence of learned responses in common wall lizards.

Liao et al. demonstrated that crows can count out loud, revealing a level of vocal control previously unobserved in nonhuman species. This discovery suggests that rather than being judged by primate standards, birds might represent a new benchmark for vocal and perhaps broader cognitive abilities.

Previous investigations into referential use of object words by dogs have revealed limited understanding in this domain by most dogs. However, a recent study by Boros et al. (Current Biology, 34(8), 1750-1754, 2024) has provided neurological evidence suggesting that understanding of the referential nature of object words and the ability to form mental representations of objects may actually be prevalent among dogs.

The perception of objects is a challenging task that requires recognizing visual elements and integrating them into a whole. While human vision prioritizes attention to the overall configuration, data from other species suggests this bias towards global form perception is not universal. Studies with pigeons indicate preferential attention to local details when both local and global information may be diagnostic, but studies with other bird species are more limited. To examine whether this local bias is class-wide or potentially species-specific, we studied whether African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) have a bias towards local elements or the global configuration when processing Navon-like hierarchical form displays. Two parrots were tested using a computerized touch-screen two-alternative choice task that presented displays that were local-relevant or global-relevant. The results of several successive acquisition phases suggest that these parrots have no local or global bias, indicating differing evolutionary or ecological drives for visual processing among avian species.

In a recent study, Johnson and Wynne found that dogs classically conditioned to associate electric shocks with chasing a fast-moving mechanical lure inhibited chasing behaviour at test, while dogs conditioned with food rewards did not learn any operant behaviours to substitute chasing and therefore continued to interact with the lure. Here, we raise questions about the suitability of the training protocols and challenge the conclusion that shock collars impose minimal welfare impacts.

A new study investigates how stingless bee colonies inherit one of two architecturally distinct types of comb and proposes the primary mechanism of inheritance as stigmergy: among-individual coordination in comb building informed by environmental cues (i.e., social artefacts). These findings highlight the importance of social information in creating and maintaining architectural variance among structures.