Human Interactivity: Problem-Solving, Solution-Probing and Verbal Patterns in the Wild

2013 ◽  
pp. 195-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sune Vork Steffensen
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
In The Wild

Adaptive instruction for medical training in the psychomotor domain

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Sottilare ◽  
Matthew Hackett ◽  
William Pike ◽  
Joseph LaViola
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
Hemorrhage Control ◽  
Adaptive Instruction ◽  
Smart Glasses ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Psychomotor Domain

The adaptive instruction provided by Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) tailors direction, support, and feedback to enhance/maintain the learning needs (e.g., lack of knowledge or skill) of each individual. Today, ITSs are generally developed to support desktop training applications, with the most common domains involving cognitive problem solving tasks (e.g., mathematics and physics). In recent years, implementations of game-based tutors authored using the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), an open-source tutoring architecture, provided tailored training experiences for military tasks through desktop applications (e.g., games including Virtual Battlespace and Virtual Medic). However, these game-based desktop tutors have also been limited to adaptive instruction for cognitive tasks (e.g., problem solving and decision-making). The military requires adaptive instruction to extend beyond the desktop to be compatible with the physical nature of many tasks performed by soldiers, sailors, and airmen. This article examines how commercial sensor technologies might be adapted to work with GIFT and support tailored computer-guided instruction in the psychomotor domain for a military medical training task, specifically hemorrhage control. Toward this goal, we evaluated the usability and system features of commercial smart glasses and pressure-sensing technologies. Smart glasses were selected as the focus of this study over handheld mobile devices in order to promote a hands-free experience during the training of hemorrhage-control tasks on a mannequin. Pressure sensors were selected to provide direct measures of effectiveness during the application of tourniquets and pressure bandages. Each set of technologies (smart glasses and pressure sensors) was evaluated not with respect to each other, but with respect to their capabilities to support adaptive instruction in the wild at the learner’s point-of-need and criteria based on established usability heuristics. Instruction in the wild is training provided in an environment outside the classroom and areas where tracking and sensing infrastructure are available (e.g., deployed areas of operation). We examined a wide range of features and capabilities, and evaluated their compatibility with the hemorrhage-control task, to answer the following question: what system design features (e.g., usability and interaction) are needed to support adaptive instruction for this individual psychomotor task at the point-of-need in locations where no formal training infrastructure is available?

scholarly journals Video demonstrations seed alternative problem-solving techniques in wild common marmosets

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 20140439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Gunhold ◽  
Andrew Whiten ◽  
Thomas Bugnyar
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
The Other ◽  
Field Conditions ◽  
Common Marmosets ◽  
Video Images ◽  
Artificial Fruit ◽  
In The Wild

Studies of social learning and tradition formation under field conditions have recently gained momentum, but suffer from the limited control of socio-ecological factors thought to be responsible for transmission patterns. The use of artificial visual stimuli is a potentially powerful tool to overcome some of these problems. Here, in a field experiment, we used video images of unfamiliar conspecifics performing virtual demonstrations of foraging techniques. We tested 12 family groups of wild common marmosets. Six groups received video demonstrations (footage of conspecifics either pulling a drawer open or pushing a lid upwards, in an ‘artificial fruit’); the other six groups served as controls (exposed to a static image of a conspecific next to the fruit). Subjects in video groups were more manipulative and successful in opening the fruit than controls; they were also more likely to use the technique they had witnessed and thus could serve as live models for other family members. To our knowledge, this is the first study that used video demonstrations in the wild and demonstrated the potent force of social learning, even from unfamiliar conspecifics, under field conditions.

scholarly journals Can You Teach an Old Parrot New Tricks? Individual Variation in the Problem-Solving Abilities of Wild Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julia Loepelt
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Innovative Solution ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Multi Access

<p>Identifying factors that may influence cognitive variation in the wild is essential for furthering our understanding of how ecological and evolutionary mechanisms shape cognitive phenotypes. Yet, studies on cognitive variation in the wild and its causes and consequences are still rare. In both the wild and captivity, birds have become a centre of attention, revealing striking cognitive abilities that may rival the great apes. While much of this research has focused on corvids, few parrot species have been studied thoroughly. One of these species is the kea (Nestor notabilis), which has shown remarkable social and physical cognitive skills, including the use of tools. This thesis explores the innovative problem-solving skills of the only other Nestor species, the kaka (Nestor meridionalis), with the overall aim to investigate ecological, developmental and genetic factors influencing within-species variation of these abilities in the wild.  When confronted with a series of novel problems at a familiar feeding station, juvenile kaka outperform adult kaka, especially in their ability and efficiency to find an innovative solution to acquiring the food reward. This is particularly the case when modification of a pre-learned behavioural response is required and is further expressed in the juveniles’ higher individual persistence and exploration diversity, which suggests they may be more behaviourally flexible. Testing for this hypothesis using a Multi-Access-Box approach confirmed faster, more flexible discovery of alternative solving strategies in younger birds.  Further analysis of the kaka’s innovation abilities uncovered potential genetic effects on solving ability as shown by full sibling comparison. This provides first potential evidence for heritability of a cognitive trait in the wild and thus presents an important step for furthering our understanding of how natural selection may act on cognitive traits. Between-species comparison of kaka and kea in the physical and social cognitive domains reveals striking similarities. This suggests that the differences in the life histories of these two species play a secondary role in the evolution of Nestor parrot cognitive abilities, which may instead be retained from their common ancestor.</p>

scholarly journals The evolution of social cognition: the case of animal cooperative problem solving

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ljerka Ostojic
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Cooperative Problem Solving ◽  
Social Species ◽  
In The Wild

A major research area in non-human social cognition is the investigation of cooperative problem solving, i.e. the cognition involved in situations when animals cooperate with each other. Social cognition is thought to have evolved due to the demands of social living, and is often thought to present an adaptive specialisation for living in groups. A previous analysis of social learning, another area of social cognition, has highlighted how this has consequently led to two overarching biases in the literature: firstly, a bias towards testing only social species, and secondly, an a priori assumption that social learning is qualitatively different from learning involved in non-social situations. The problem of these biases may not restricted to social learning but be present also in other areas of social cognition research. Applying an equivalent analysis to cooperative problem solving shows that here too both biases are present. Firstly, empirical studies on cooperative problem solving primarily conducted with social species and species that exhibit cooperative behaviours in the wild. Secondly, the assumption that cooperative problem solving relies on a distinctly socialcognitive ability can, at least implicitly, be observed throughout the literature. Thismay be the result of confounding different components of the cognitive process involved in cooperation: what information is required to successfully cooperate and how this information is acquired. While the former needs to involve information about another individual, there is no indication that the latter is required to differ from any known, domain-general cognitive mechanism. These two biases make it difficult to systematically test whether and how cooperation differs between species, and as such impede investigations into the evolution of cooperative problem solving.

scholarly journals Personality and problem-solving performance explain competitive ability in the wild

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1731) ◽  
pp. 1168-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella F. Cole ◽  
John L. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Individual Quality ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Cognitive Trait ◽  
Behavioural Strategies

Competitive ability is a major determinant of fitness, but why individuals vary so much in their competitiveness remains only partially understood. One increasingly prevalent view is that realized competitive ability varies because it represents alternative strategies that arise because of the costs associated with competitiveness. Here we use a population of great tits ( Parus major ) to explore whether individual differences in competitive ability when foraging can be explained by two traits that have previously been linked to alternative behavioural strategies: the personality trait ‘exploration behaviour’ and a simple cognitive trait, ‘innovative problem-solving performance’. We assayed these traits under standardized conditions in captivity and then measured competitive ability at feeders with restricted access in the wild. Competitive ability was repeatable within individual males across days and correlated positively with exploration behaviour, representing the first such demonstration of a link between a personality trait and both competitive ability and food intake in the wild. Competitive ability was also simultaneously negatively correlated with problem-solving performance; individuals who were poor competitors were good at problem-solving. Rather than being the result of variation in ‘individual quality’, our results support the hypothesis that individual variation in competitive ability can be explained by alternative behavioural strategies.

scholarly journals Can You Teach an Old Parrot New Tricks? Individual Variation in the Problem-Solving Abilities of Wild Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julia Loepelt
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Innovative Solution ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Multi Access

<p>Identifying factors that may influence cognitive variation in the wild is essential for furthering our understanding of how ecological and evolutionary mechanisms shape cognitive phenotypes. Yet, studies on cognitive variation in the wild and its causes and consequences are still rare. In both the wild and captivity, birds have become a centre of attention, revealing striking cognitive abilities that may rival the great apes. While much of this research has focused on corvids, few parrot species have been studied thoroughly. One of these species is the kea (Nestor notabilis), which has shown remarkable social and physical cognitive skills, including the use of tools. This thesis explores the innovative problem-solving skills of the only other Nestor species, the kaka (Nestor meridionalis), with the overall aim to investigate ecological, developmental and genetic factors influencing within-species variation of these abilities in the wild.  When confronted with a series of novel problems at a familiar feeding station, juvenile kaka outperform adult kaka, especially in their ability and efficiency to find an innovative solution to acquiring the food reward. This is particularly the case when modification of a pre-learned behavioural response is required and is further expressed in the juveniles’ higher individual persistence and exploration diversity, which suggests they may be more behaviourally flexible. Testing for this hypothesis using a Multi-Access-Box approach confirmed faster, more flexible discovery of alternative solving strategies in younger birds.  Further analysis of the kaka’s innovation abilities uncovered potential genetic effects on solving ability as shown by full sibling comparison. This provides first potential evidence for heritability of a cognitive trait in the wild and thus presents an important step for furthering our understanding of how natural selection may act on cognitive traits. Between-species comparison of kaka and kea in the physical and social cognitive domains reveals striking similarities. This suggests that the differences in the life histories of these two species play a secondary role in the evolution of Nestor parrot cognitive abilities, which may instead be retained from their common ancestor.</p>

scholarly journals Notes on ecology of wild goffin’s cockatoo in the late dry season with emphasis on feeding ecology

TREUBIA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berenika Monika Mioduszewska ◽  
Mark Christopher O’Hara ◽  
Tri Haryoko ◽  
Alice Marie Isabel Auersperg ◽  
Ludwig Huber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Feeding Ecology ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Breeding Behavior ◽  
Flexible Tool ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Respective Species

Experimental work on captive Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) has highlighted the remarkable cognitive abilities of this species. However, little is known about its behavior in the natural habitat on the Tanimbar Archipelago in Indonesia. In order to fully understand the evolutionary roots leading to cognitively advanced skills, such as multi-step problem solving or flexible tool use and manufacture, it is crucial to study the ecological challenges faced by the respective species in the wild. The three-month expedition presented here aimed at gaining first insights into the cockatoos’ feeding ecology and breeding behavior. We could confirm previous predictions that Goffin’s cockatoos are opportunistic foragers and consume a variety of resources (seeds, fruit, inflorescence, roots). Their breeding season may be estimated to start between June and early July and they face potential predation from ground and aerial predators. Additionally, the observational data provide indications that Goffin’s cockatoos are extractive foragers, which together with relying on multiple food sources might be considered a prerequisite of tool use.

scholarly journals Explanations in the wild

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Sulik ◽  
Jeroen van Paridon ◽  
Gary Lupyan
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Lay People ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Insight Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Traits ◽  
Multiple Domains ◽  
Why Questions

Why do some explanations strike people as highly satisfying while others, seemingly equally accurate, strike them as less appealing? We analyze thousands of open-ended explanations generated by lay-people in response to 'Why?' questions spanning multiple domains, to discover (1) what kinds of features are associated with ratings of explanation quality; (2) whether people can tell how good their explanations are; and (3) which cognitive traits predict the ability to generate good explanations. Our results support a pluralistic view of explanation, where satisfaction is best predicted by either functional or mechanistic content. Respondents were better able to judge how accurate their explanations were than how satisfying they were. Insight problem solving ability was the cognitive ability most strongly associated with the generation of satisfying explanations.

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