Journal of Comparative Psychology最新文献

It has been argued that humans' susceptibility to visual illusions does not simply reflect cognitive flaws but rather specific functional adaptations of our perceptual system. The data on cross-cultural differences in the perception of geometric illusions seemingly support this explanation. Little is known, however, about the developmental trajectories of such adaptations in humans, let alone a conclusive picture of the illusionary susceptibility in other primate species. So far, most developmental or comparative studies have tested single illusions with varying procedural implementations. The current study aims at overcoming these limitations by testing human subjects of four different age classes (3- to 5 year-old children and adults) and five nonhuman primate species (capuchin monkeys, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) with an identical setup in five well-known geometric illusions (horizontal-vertical, Ebbinghaus, Mueller-Lyer, Ponzo, and Sander). Two food items of identical size were presented on separate trays with surrounding paintings eliciting the illusion of size differences and subjects were required to choose one of the items. Four of the five illusions elicited a strong effect in adult humans, and older children showed a greater susceptibility to illusions than younger ones. In contrast, only two illusions (Ebbingaus and horizontal-vertical) elicited a mild effect on nonhuman primates with high variation within species and little variation between species. Our results suggests that humans learn to see illusions as they develop during childhood. They also suggest that future work should address how nonhuman primates' experience of these illusion changes throughout their development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Rodents produce a variety of acoustic signals to communicate different types of information such as identity, reproductive state, or danger. The degree to which hearing sensitivity matches particular frequencies of conspecific vocalizations may provide insight into the relative importance of different acoustic signals. In this experiment, we characterized vocal and footdrumming behaviors of white-throated woodrats (Neotoma albigula) and measured their hearing sensitivity using the auditory brainstem response. Adult and juvenile woodrats produced seven categories of vocalizations, with six categories containing frequencies that overlap their peak hearing sensitivity. In addition, woodrats produced low-frequency footdrumming signals in the presence of same- and opposite-sex social partners and in social isolation. Woodrats varied spectral and temporal characteristics of vocalizations based on social composition of the dyad. Woodrat audition spanned 1 to 42 kHz, with a broad range of best hearing sensitivity between 4 and 20 kHz. Compared to other rodents that primarily produce high-frequency vocalizations in social contexts, woodrat audition was more sensitive to low frequencies that typify their vocal repertoire. Our results suggest that the auditory system of white-throated woodrats is broadly tuned to detect behaviorally relevant acoustic signals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Probing for spatial cognitive processes in model rodent species has a long history in the psychological literature, with well-established protocols and paradigms successfully revealing the mechanisms underlying spatial learning and memory. There has also been much interest in examining the ecological and evolutionary context of spatial cognition, with a focus on how selection has molded spatial cognitive abilities in nonmodel species, how spatial cognitive traits vary across species, the neural mechanisms underlying spatial cognitive abilities, and the fitness outcomes of spatial cognition. Behavioral ecologists have been able to take advantage of paradigms from experimental psychology's rich history of spatial cognitive testing for use in nonmodel species. However, as the field advances, it is important to highlight noncognitive factors that can impact performance on spatial cognitive tasks (e.g., motivation to perform the task, switching navigational strategies, variation across protocols, ecological relevance of the task), as these factors may explain discrepancies in findings among some studies. This review highlights how these noncognitive factors can differentially modulate performance on spatial cognitive tests in different nonmodel species. Accounting for these factors when creating protocols and paradigms allows for a more nuanced approach with more explanatory power when probing for spatial cognitive abilities in nonmodel species. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Face pareidolia is the misperception of a face in an inanimate object and is a common feature of the face detection system in humans. Whereas there are many similarities in how humans and nonhuman animals such as monkeys perceive and respond to faces, it is still unclear whether other species also perceive certain nonface stimuli as faces. We presented a novel computerized task to capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), and preschool-aged children (Homo sapiens). This task trained subjects to choose faces over nonface images, and then presented pareidolia images with nonface images. All species selected faces most often on trials that included face images. However, only children selected pareidolia images at levels above chance. These results indicate that while children report perceiving face pareidolia, monkeys do not. These species differences could be due to human-unique experiences that result in an increased aptitude for anthropomorphizing objects with face-like patterns. It could also be due to monkeys showing a greater reliance on stimulus features rather than global, holistically organized cues that faces provide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite increasing numbers of publications showing that many animals possess the neural substrates involved in emotions and consciousness and exhibit agency in their behavior, many animals are still restrained and forced to take part in applied or fundamental research. However, these restraints and procedures, because they stress animals and limit the expression of adaptive behavior, may result in compromised findings. Researchers should alter their research paradigms to understand the mechanisms and functions of the brain and behavior so that the paradigms incorporate animals' agency. This article discusses how animal agency cannot only be the key to more wide-ranging and improved research in existing domains but can also lead to new research questions about behavior and brain evolution. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The evidence of "cognitive impenetrability" is a byproduct of the fact that minds often must react quickly to sensory stimulation, and they must attempt to make visual stimuli meaningful given what the perceiver knows of the world. Hanus et al. remind us that such immediate decisions may, in fact, help keep us alive, but at the possible cost of sometimes misaligning visual perception and physical reality. That said, not all people fall prey to all illusions, and many individuals may only fall prey to some illusions, but not others. A big question is why this happens. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A wide range of nonhuman animal species has been shown to be able to respond to human referential signals, such as pointing gestures. The aim of the present study was to replicate previous findings showing cats to be sensitive to human pointing cues (Miklósi et al., 2005). In our study, we presented two types of human pointing gestures-momentary ipsilateral (direct pointing) and momentary cross-body pointing. We tested nine rescue cats in a two-way object-choice task. On a group level, the success rate of cats was 74.4%. Cats performed significantly above chance level in both the ipsilateral and cross-body pointing conditions. Trial number, rewarded side, and type of gesture did not significantly affect the cats' performances in the experiment. On an individual level, five out of seven cats who completed 20 trials performed significantly above chance level. Two cats only completed 10 trials. One of them succeeded in eight and the other in six of these trials. The results of our study replicate previous findings of cats being responsive to human ipsilateral pointing cues and add additional knowledge about their ability to follow cross-body pointing cues. Our results highlight that a domestic species, socialized in a group setting, may possess heterospecific communication skills. Further research is needed to exclude alternative parsimonious explanations, such as local and stimulus enhancements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Many animals navigate in a structurally complex environment, which requires them to detour around the physical barriers that they encounter. Although many studies in animal cognition suggest that they are able to adeptly avoid obstacles, it is unclear whether a new route is learned to navigate around these barriers and, if so, what sensory information may be used to do so. We investigated detour learning in traveling up a tree in the Australian bull ant, Myrmecia midas, which primarily uses visual landmarks. We first placed a barrier on the ants' upward path. Initially, 46% of foragers were unsuccessful in detouring the obstacle. On subsequent trips, the ants became more successful and established a new route. We observed up to eight successful foraging trips detouring around the barrier. We then tested the same foragers in a series of manipulations, including changing the position of the barrier, making a new gap in the middle of the obstacle, or removing the barrier altogether. The ants mostly showed the same learned motor routine, detouring with a similar path as in the initial trials, suggesting that foragers were not relying on barrier cues and therefore learned a new route around the obstacle. When foragers encountered new olfactory or tactile cues, or the visual environment was blocked; however, their navigation was profoundly disrupted. These results suggest that changing sensory information drastically affects the foragers' navigational performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).