Problem-solving performance in wild Steller’s jays using a string-pulling task

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Derek P. Harvey ◽  
Jeffrey M. Black
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Food Reward ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Species Problem ◽  
String Pulling ◽  
Free Ranging

Abstract Animals that exploit resources from human-modified environments may encounter unique problems when searching for food. Pulling a string tied to a food reward (string-pulling task) is one of the most widespread methods of testing a species’ problem-solving performance in non-human animals. Performance in problem-solving tasks may be influenced by an individual’s characteristics and social interactions, especially in its natural habitat. We examined problem solving by free-ranging Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) when extracting food from a string-pulling task presented in their natural habitat. During the study, seven of 50 jays successfully solved the task on their first to eighteenth experimental opportunity; solvers differed from nonsolvers by showing higher levels of persistence by pulling the string in more trials. Of the successful jays, five birds solved without observing others, while two birds were present during successful trials and subsequently completed the task. All seven jays demonstrated improvement in the task by using less string pulls over additional successful trials. Nineteen other jays in the population interacted with the apparatus and pulled the string, but not enough to acquire the food. These 19 jays were significantly bolder (shorter latencies to approach), more explorative (contacted more parts of the apparatus), and had observed solvers more than the 24 individuals that did not pull the string. These results indicate a broad spectrum of individual differences in propensity for solving novel tasks in our population of Steller’s jays.

Problem solving capabilities of peach-fronted conures (Eupsittula aurea) studied with the string-pulling test

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (5-8) ◽  
pp. 815-846
Author(s):  
Sara Torres Ortiz ◽  
Alyssa Maxwell ◽  
Anastasia Krasheninnikova ◽  
Magnus Wahlberg ◽  
Ole Næsbye Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Food Reward ◽  
String Pulling ◽  
Goal Directedness

Abstract The problem-solving capabilities of four small parrots (peach-fronted conures, Eupsittula aurea) were investigated using string-pulling tests. In seven different tasks, one string was baited following a randomized order. The parrots could retrieve the food reward after a wrong choice as the choice was not forced. Additionally, we applied a non-intuitive pulley task with the strings arranged in front of, instead of below the birds. All four parrots performed very well in the multiple, slanted, and broken string tasks, but all failed in the crossed-string task. Only two parrots solved the single pulley task. All four parrots performed successfully in the multiple pulley task but all failed in the broken pulley condition. Our results suggest that peach-fronted conures solve string-pulling tasks without relying on simple proximity based rules, but that they have evolved cognitive abilities enabling goal-directedness, the understanding of functionality, and a concept of connectedness between two objects.

scholarly journals Cooperation, only for high rewards – a solvable task-based study on free-ranging dogs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debottam Bhattacharjee ◽  
Rohan Sarkar ◽  
Shubhra Sau ◽  
Daisy Babu ◽  
Asawari Albal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Food Reward ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Food Sharing ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Social Tolerance ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractThe benefits of group living mostly surpass the disadvantages like sharing of resources and competition over food, space and mates, driving the evolution of social organization. Group living can be facilitated by social tolerance and cooperation among the group members. Social canids (e.g. wolves) display cooperative breeding, hunting, and prosocial activities in different contexts. Unlike cooperative pack-living wolves (Canis lupus lupus), their descendants, domesticated dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), show varying levels of associations from solitary to stable social groups. Free-ranging dogs are group-living but prefer to forage solitarily, hence providing an excellent opportunity for investigating social tolerance and coordinated task performance among the members in various situations. We tested 113 adult-only groups of free-ranging dogs in three different tasks to investigate group responses and performance in problem-solving situations in the presence of an unfamiliar human. Task 1 (unfamiliar, single food reward) and 2 (familiar, single food reward) examined group responses and cooperation from the perspective of familiarity, while Task 3 (familiar, multiple food rewards) enabled us to test whether increased food rewards promote social tolerance and food sharing among the group members. Regardless of significantly higher performance in Task 2 compared to Task 1, cooperation and food sharing were significantly lower in both. Task 3 revealed a strong positive correlation between food sharing and social tolerance, but not between success and social tolerance, suggesting a tendency for cooperation. We conclude that context-dependent cooperation and tolerance among group members facilitate group-living in free-ranging dogs.Significance statementGroup living is a common phenomenon in the animal world where the members of a group show social tolerance and co-operative behaviours towards each other. This need for cooperative intents increases manifolds while groups face different problem-solving situations in their day to day lives. Here, we tested a large number of free-ranging dog groups to understand general cooperative intents such as social tolerance and food sharing in different problem-solving conditions. We found shreds of evidence of context-dependent cooperation and social tolerance among group members with minimal display of aggression. It is not adaptive for the dogs to fight or display aggression over resources. Alternatively, use of subtle cues such as display of dominance and subordination seem to be more plausible mechanisms for the development of efficient scavenging strategies and maintaining hierarchy.

scholarly journals Waterbird solves the string-pull test

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessika Lamarre ◽  
David R. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Food Reward ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Behavioural Flexibility ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Pull Test ◽  
Single String ◽  
String Pulling ◽  
Innovation Rate

String-pulling is among the most widespread cognitive tasks used to test problem-solving skills in mammals and birds. The task requires animals to comprehend that pulling on a non-valuable string moves an otherwise inaccessible food reward to within their reach. Although at least 90 avian species have been administered the string-pull test, all but five of them were perching birds (passeriformes) or parrots (psittaciformes). Waterbirds (Aequorlitornithes) are poorly represented in the cognitive literature, yet are known to engage in complex foraging behaviours. In this study, we tested whether free-living ring-billed gulls ( Larus delawarensis ), a species known for their behavioural flexibility and foraging innovativeness, could solve a horizontal string-pull test. Here, we show that 25% (26/104) of the ring-billed gulls that attempted to solve the test at least once over a maximum of three trials were successful, and that 21% of them (22/104) succeeded during their first attempt. Ring-billed gulls are thus the first waterbird known to solve a horizontal single-string-rewarded string-pull test. Since innovation rate and problem-solving are associated with species' ability to endure environmental alterations, we suggest that testing the problem-solving skills of other species facing environmental challenges will inform us of their vulnerability in a rapidly changing world.

The Structure Among Measures of Personality, Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazar Stankov
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Correlation Matrix ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Ethnic Group Differences ◽  
Inside Out

Abstract. This paper presents the results of a study that employed measures of personality, social attitudes, values, and social norms that have been the focus of recent research in individual differences. These measures were given to a sample of participants (N = 1,255) who were enrolled at 25 US colleges and universities. Factor analysis of the correlation matrix produced four factors. Three of these factors corresponded to the domains of Personality/Amoral Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms; one factor, Conservatism, cut across the domains. Cognitive ability showed negative correlation with conservatism and amoral social attitudes. The study also examined gender and ethnic group differences on factor scores. The overall interpretation of the findings is consistent with the inside-out view of human social interactions.

The Science of Wisdom in a Polarized World: Knowns and Unknowns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Grossmann ◽  
Nic M. Weststrate ◽  
Monika Ardelt ◽  
Justin Peter Brienza ◽  
Mengxi Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
The Common ◽  
Empirical Approaches ◽  
And Training ◽  
Contextual Differences

Interest in wisdom in the cognitive sciences, psychology, and education has been paralleled by conceptual confusions about its nature and assessment. To clarify these issues and promote consensus in the field, wisdom researchers met in Toronto in July of 2019, resolving disputes through discussion. Guided by a survey of scientists who study wisdom-related constructs, we established a common wisdom model, observing that empirical approaches to wisdom converge on the morally-grounded application of metacognition to reasoning and problem-solving. After outlining the function of relevant metacognitive and moral processes, we critically evaluate existing empirical approaches to measurement and offer recommendations for best practices. In the subsequent sections, we use the common wisdom model to selectively review evidence about the role of individual differences for development and manifestation of wisdom, approaches to wisdom development and training, as well as cultural, subcultural, and social-contextual differences. We conclude by discussing wisdom’s conceptual overlap with a host of other constructs and outline unresolved conceptual and methodological challenges.

scholarly journals Learning to Be an Orangutan—Implications of Life History for Orangutan Rehabilitation

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 767
Author(s):  
Signe Preuschoft ◽  
Ishak Yassir ◽  
Asti Iryanti Putri ◽  
Nur Aoliya ◽  
Erma Yuliani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Ontogenetic Changes ◽  
Forest Environment ◽  
Surrogate Mothers ◽  
Biological Mothers ◽  
Solitary Play ◽  
Forest Strata ◽  
Weaning Age ◽  
Survival Skills

Orangutans depend on social learning for the acquisition of survival skills. The development of skills is not usually assessed in rescued orphans’ pre-release. We collected data of seven orphans over an 18-months-period to monitor the progress of ontogenetic changes. The orphans, 1.5–9 years old, were immersed in a natural forest environment with human surrogate mothers and other orphans. Social interactions deviated significantly from those of wild mother-reared immatures. Infants spent more time playing socially with peers, at the expense of resting and solitary play. Infants were also more often and at an earlier age distant from their human surrogate mothers than wild immatures are from their biological mothers. We found important changes towards an orangutan-typical lifestyle in 4- to 7-year-old orphans, corresponding to the weaning age in maternally reared immatures. The older orphans spent less time interacting with human surrogate mothers or peers, started to use the canopy more than lower forest strata and began to sleep in nests in the forest. Their time budgets resembled those of wild adults. In conclusion, juvenile orphans can develop capacities that qualify them as candidates for release back into natural habitat when protected from humanising influences and immersed in a species-typical environment.

Aspects of the Water, Electrolyte and Carbohydrate Physiology of the Silvereye, Zosterops Lateralis (Aves).

1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 695 ◽  
Author(s):  
IJ Rooke ◽  
SD Bradshaw ◽  
RA Langworthy
Keyword(s):  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Tritiated Water ◽  
Free Water ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Water Influx ◽  
Zosterops Lateralis ◽  
Total Body ◽  
Free Ranging

Total body water content (TBW) and TBW turnover were measured by means of tritiated water (HTO) in free-ranging populations of silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis, near Margaret River, W.A. Birds were studied in their natural habitats during spring and summer, and compared with a vineyard population in summer. In the natural habitat TBW content was found to be 77.6% in spring, which was not significantly different from that measured in summer (78.3%). Birds in vineyards in summer, however, were dehydrated, with a TBW content of 69.4%. Calculated rates of water influx for spring, summer and summer vineyards birds were 1.44,2.20 and 0.65 ml g.day-' respectively. These water turnover rates are much higher than those of any other bird yet studied. Dehydration was marked in the vineyard birds, with a significantly lower TBW content and an average net water loss of 0.63 ml day-'. Laboratory studies showed that silvereyes have a low tolerance to sodium loading. Their tolerance is, however, quite adequate for them to drink the most concentrated free water available to them in the field. Ingestion of concentrated sugar solutions of up to 25% did not provoke an osmotic diuresis and thus cannot account for the dehydration and negative water balance of vineyard birds.

Teaching Nonhandicapped Students about Individual Differences: A Pilot Study

1984 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Stainback ◽  
Susan Stainback ◽  
Catherine Hatcher ◽  
Marlene Strathe ◽  
Harriet Healy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Group Setting ◽  
Direct Training ◽  
Behavior Development ◽  
The Social

The lack of social acceptance of handicapped students by their nonhandicapped peers has been cited as a major deterrent to the success of mainstreaming (Strain, 1982). While this problem has been recognized, there has been little empirical investigation of ways to deal with the social acceptance issue beyond direct training of the handicapped in appropriate social behavior development (Gresham 1981). The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine the influence of training nonhandicapped students about individual differences on their social interactions with rejected handicapped students. The results of the investigation provide initial evidence that training nonhandicapped students about individual differences influences their social interactions with their rejected handicapped peers in a small group setting.

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