scholarly journals Coordinating social action: A primer for the cross-species investigation of communicative repair

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaela Heesen ◽  
Marlen Fröhlich ◽  
Christine Sievers ◽  
Marieke Woensdregt ◽  
Mark Dingemanse
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
Species Comparisons ◽  
Collaborative Efforts ◽  
Nonhuman Species ◽  
Human Joint

Human joint action is inherently cooperative, manifested in the collaborative efforts of participants to minimize communicative trouble through interactive repair. Although interactive repair requires sophisticated cognitive abilities, it can be dissected into basic building blocks shared with nonhuman animal species. A review of the primate literature shows that interactionally contingent signal sequences are at least common among species of nonhuman great apes, suggesting a gradual evolution of repair. To pioneer a cross-species assessment of repair this paper aims at (i) identifying necessary precursors of human interactive repair; (ii) proposing a coding framework for its comparative study in humans and nonhuman species; and (iii) using this framework to analyse examples of interactions of humans (adults/children) and nonhuman great apes. We hope this paper will serve as a primer for cross-species comparisons on dealing with communicative breakdowns.

scholarly journals The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 975
Author(s):  
Guido Gainotti
Keyword(s):  
Animal Studies ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Emotional Communication ◽  
Hemispheric Asymmetries ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Human Feature ◽  
The Right ◽  
Nonhuman Species

Even if for many years hemispheric asymmetries have been considered as a uniquely human feature, an increasing number of studies have described hemispheric asymmetries for various behavioral functions in several nonhuman species. An aspect of animal lateralization that has attracted particular attention has concerned the hemispheric asymmetries for emotions, but human and animal studies on this subject have been developed as independent lines of investigation, without attempts for their integration. In this perspective article, after an illustration of factors that have hampered the integration between human and animal studies on emotional lateralization, I will pass to analyze components and stages of the processing of emotions to distinguish those which point to a continuum between humans and many animal species, from those which suggest a similarity only between humans and great apes. The right lateralization of sympathetic functions (involved in brain and bodily activities necessary in emergency situations) seems consistent across many animal species, whereas asymmetries in emotional communication and in structures involved in emotional experience, similar to those observed in humans, have been documented only in primates.

scholarly journals Representing nonhuman animals as equals: An ecolinguistic analysis of vegan campaigns

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena Zhdanava ◽  
Surinderpal Kaur ◽  
Kumaran Rajandran
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Ecological Philosophy ◽  
Social Action Theory ◽  
Image Shape ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nonhuman Species

Abstract Ecolinguistics studies the interactions between language and ecology. It investigates whether the stories created by language are destructive or beneficial to all the constituents of the environment. In search of positive stories for our environment, this article focuses on vegan campaigns which generally bring awareness about veganism that, in turn, advocates protection of nonhuman animals and abstention from their exploitation. Nonhuman animals are part of the ecosystem and the way they are portrayed in language may determine the relationship between human and nonhuman animals. As vegan campaigns refer to nonhuman animals as sentient living beings, it is important to analyze whether the language and image of these campaigns articulate their purposes and create beneficial stories for nonhuman species. This article explores the stories regarding nonhuman animals in 27 posters of the vegan campaign “Go Vegan World” and examines how these stories are shaped and whether they are aligned with vegan values. The study is approached from an ecolinguistic perspective with a focus on multimodality where the language was analyzed through van Leeuwen’s Social Actor and Social Action theory, and the image was analyzed with Kress and van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design. Further, the analysis involves the ecosophy defined as a personal ecological philosophy of relationships between human and nonhuman animals, plants, and the physical environment. The findings suggest that the campaign language and image shape three stories: salience where nonhuman animals are individuals with their own feelings and lives; conviction that nonhuman animals matter as much as humans; ideology where biocentrism is promoted. By comparing these stories with the article’s ecosophy, an ecolinguistic analysis showed that they are largely beneficial in representing nonhuman animals as sentient living beings who are equal to humans.

scholarly journals A Bird's-Eye View: Core Knowledge in Wild North Island Robins of New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexis Garland
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Evolutionary Context ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
And Mathematics

<p>A prominent psychological theory on early cognitive development is Spelke’s Core Knowledge (CK) hypothesis (Spelke, Breinlinger, Macomber, & Jacobson, 1992), which posits that human infants, and possibly other species, are guided by innate understandings of how object movements, classification and quantification are governed by physical laws and, further, how agents are capable of perceptions and purposive action. CK is a set of cognitive building blocks, which serve as the foundation for more complex cognition such as acquisition and use of symbol systems pertaining to language and mathematics (Spelke, 2000). Evidence points to four core systems of knowledge: representation of number, object, space (or geometry) and agency. Investigation of spontaneous CK in nonhuman species in the wild is fundamental to understanding the ecological validity and evolutionary context for a set of systems that is proposed to be universally embedded. The bold, inquisitive manner, naïve fearlessness and unique insect caching behaviour of wild North Island robins (Petroica longipes) presents a unique opportunity to identify and characterise CK in a new model system. Six studies were conducted with the aim of investigating core developmental cognition in robins. The first three studies focused on perception of numerical quantity. Study 1 investigated the ability to discriminate between both large and small quantities, finding that robins successfully discriminate between unusually large quantities independent of ratio. Study 2 explored quantity discrimination in which summation of items is spatially distributed across an array, and found that while robins perform successfully with small numbers, the task presented substantially more cognitive demand. Study 3 measured robins’ reactions to computation by presenting simple addition and subtraction problems in a Violation of Expectancy (VoE) paradigm, finding that robins search longer when presented with a mathematically incongruent scenario. The last three studies focused on perception of agency. Study 4 investigated robins’ response to gaze direction in humans in a competitive paradigm, and found that they were sensitive to human gaze direction in all conditions but one. Study 5 explored perception of physical capability in humans, and results indicated that limb visibility significantly influences pilfering choice. Study 6 examined robins’ perception of animacy in prey, finding that in a VoE paradigm, robins’ expectation of hidden prey continuity varies depending on mobility and animacy. Taken together, the results of these six studies suggest that while supportive of fundamental characteristics defining basic Core Knowledge in many ways, some unique results in the cognitive abilities of this biologically naïve species shed new light on our growing understanding of the shared basis of cognition. A deeper look at avian performance in core developmental tasks, especially in a naïve wild population, can offer new insights into sweeping evolutionary theories that underpin basic cognitive mechanisms.</p>

Deception

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Troisi
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Evolutionary Strategy ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Clinical Syndromes ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Evolution Of Communication

For a long time, biological studies of communication have been based on the postulate that communication has evolved to ensure the transmission of veridical information between conspecifics. Ethological studies of a variety of animal species have demonstrated that transmission of false information is a relevant component of intraspecific signals and that the adaptive benefit of deceiving others was a driving force in the evolution of communication. In primate species, evolving a larger neocortex was a viable evolutionary strategy to respond to environmental challenges that demand enhanced capacities of social manipulation. Among all animal species, humans are the masters of social deception. This chapter focuses on the cognitive abilities related to voluntary deception in humans, with special regard to the role of theory of mind (i.e. the capacity to infer the mental states of other individuals). Different aspects of theory of mind are discussed, including the evolution of social brain, the distinction between mentalizing and empathizing, and the abnormalities of social cognition in clinical syndromes such as autistic spectrum disorders and primary psychopathy.

scholarly journals Enteroviruses from Humans and Great Apes in the Republic of Congo: Recombination within Enterovirus C Serotypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inestin Amona ◽  
Hacène Medkour ◽  
Jean Akiana ◽  
Bernard Davoust ◽  
Mamadou Lamine Tall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Human Feces ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
The Family ◽  
Severe Infections ◽  
The Republic

Enteroviruses (EVs) are viruses of the family Picornaviridae that cause mild to severe infections in humans and in several animal species, including non-human primates (NHPs). We conducted a survey and characterization of enteroviruses circulating between humans and great apes in the Congo. Fecal samples (N = 24) of gorillas and chimpanzees living close to or distant from humans in three Congolese parks were collected, as well as from healthy humans (N = 38) living around and within these parks. Enteroviruses were detected in 29.4% of gorilla and 13.15% of human feces, including wild and human-habituated gorillas, local humans and eco-guards. Two identical strains were isolated from two humans coming from two remote regions. Their genomes were similar and all genes showed their close similarity to coxsackieviruses, except for the 3C, 3D and 5′-UTR regions, where they were most similar to poliovirus 1 and 2, suggesting recombination. Recombination events were found between these strains, poliovirus 1 and 2 and EV-C99. It is possible that the same EV-C species circulated in both humans and apes in different regions in the Congo, which must be confirmed in other investigations. In addition, other studies are needed to further investigate the circulation and genetic diversity of enteroviruses in the great ape population, to draw a definitive conclusion on the different species and types of enteroviruses circulating in the Republic of Congo.

Numerical and Arithmetic Abilities in Non-primate Species

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Agrillo
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Literature ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Numerical Abilities ◽  
Current State ◽  
Extensive Training ◽  
Mathematical Mind ◽  
The Relationship

In the last decade, several studies have suggested that dozens of animal species are capable of processing numerical information. Animals as diverse as mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, and even some invertebrates have been successfully investigated through extensive training and the observation of spontaneous behaviour, providing evidence that numerical abilities are not limited to primates. The study of non-primate species represents a useful tool to broaden our comprehension of the uniqueness of our cognitive abilities, particularly with regard to the evolutionary roots of the mathematical mind. In this chapter, I will summarize the current state of our understanding of non-primate numerical abilities in the comparative literature, focusing on three main topics: the relationship between discrete (numerical) and continuous quantity, the debate surrounding the existence of a precise subitizing-like process, and the ontogeny of numerical abilities.

Suicide among Animals: A Review of Evidence

2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 831-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Preti
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
The Self ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Human Behaviors ◽  
Literature Searches ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Nonhuman Species

Naturalists have not identified suicide in nonhuman species in field situations, despite intensive study of thousands of animal species. In this review, evidence on suicidal behavior among animals is analyzed to discover analogies with human suicidal behavior. Literature was retrieved by exploring Medline/PubMed and PsychINFO databases (1967–2007) and through manual literature searches. Keyword terms were “suicide or suicidal behavior” and “animal or animal behavior.” Few empirical investigations have been carried out on this topic. Nevertheless, sparse evidence supports some resemblance between the self-endangering behavior observed in the animal kingdom, particularly in animals held in captivity or put under pressure by environmental challenges, and suicidal behavior among humans. Animal models have contributed to the study of both normal and pathological human behaviors: discovering some correlates of suicide among animals could be a valid contribution to the field.

scholarly journals Empatia, antropomorfismo e cognição animal

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Silvia Carolina Scotto
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
Transcendental Argument ◽  
Theoretical Hypothesis ◽  
Ordinary Point

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2015v19n3p423In this paper I argue that attributions of certain cognitive abilities to some animal species, based on inter-species empathy, are supported on a presupposition according to which those animal species are minded creatures. This implicit premise gives support to a “transcendental” argument, based on empathy, in favor of animal cognition, that justifies the anthropomorphic character of ordinary psychological attributions. Furthermore, abundant empirical grounds and theoretical hypothesis explain the nature and the adaptive functions of empathy and anthropomorphism, shaping a complementary “cognitive-evolutive” argument. The two faces of this “empathic argument”, the trascendental and the empirical one, strengthen the idea of a line of relative continuity between our ordinary point of view about us and our ordinary point of view about some animal species, that is founded on the existence of a line of continuity between species, and therefore, on an evolutionary explanation of these socio-cognitive basic abilities.

scholarly journals Intrarenal Pelvic Nephroblastoma in a Meerkat (Suricata Suricatta)

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 623-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhanu P. Singh ◽  
Janet C. Patterson-Kane ◽  
Sharon P. Redrobe ◽  
Jennifer L. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Rare Variant ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Renal Tumor ◽  
Left Kidney ◽  
Postmortem Examination ◽  
Tumor Type ◽  
Tumor Mass ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Nonhuman Species

Nephroblastoma is the most common primary renal tumor in children and has also been reported in domestic and nondomestic animal species. Intrapelvic renal nephroblastoma is a rare variant of this tumor type in human patients. Postmortem examination of a captive meerkat ( Suricata suricatta), which was found dead, revealed enlargement of the pelvis of the left kidney by a tumor mass. Gross, histological, and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with a diagnosis of triphasic intrapelvic renal nephroblastoma. This is the first reported spontaneous case of intrapelvic renal nephroblastoma in a nonhuman species.

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