Toddlers’ causal interventions reveal a grasp of the temporal priority principle

This study investigated whether one- and two-year-olds (N=133, 72 female, Western) grasp that causes must precede their effects (the temporal priority principle). Toddlers watched an adult perform action A on a puzzle-box, following which a sticker dispensed (effect E); following which action B was performed. In line with the temporal priority principle, toddlers were significantly more likely to manipulate A than B (Experiment 1), even when A was spatially disconnected from the sticker dispenser and further from it than action B (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 ruled out that toddlers acted based on a primacy effect in Experiments 1—2. A lack of evidence for any age effects suggests children grasp temporal priority from the second year of life.

Evidence for a dual-process account of over-imitation: Children imitate anti- and prosocial models equally, but prefer prosocial models once they become aware of multiple solutions to a task

Children imitate actions that are perceivably unnecessary to achieve the instrumental goal of an action sequence, a behavior termed over-imitation. It is debated whether this behavior is based on the motivation to follow behavioral norms and affiliate with the model or whether it can be interpreted in terms of a behavioral heuristic to copy observed intentional actions without questioning the purpose of each action step. To resolve this question, we tested whether preschool-aged children (N = 89) over-imitate a prosocial model, a helper in a prior third-party moral transgression, but refuse to over-imitate an antisocial model, the perpetrator of the moral transgression. After first observing an inefficient way to extract a reward from a puzzle box from either a perpetrator or a helper, children over-imitated the perpetrator to the same degree as they over-imitated the helper. In a second phase, children were then presented the efficient solution by the respective other model, i.e. the helper or the perpetrator. Over-imitation rates then dropped in both conditions, but remained significantly higher than in a baseline condition only when children had observed the prosocial model demonstrate the inefficient action sequence and the perpetrator performed the efficient solution. In contrast, over-imitation dropped to baseline level when the perpetrator had modelled the inefficient actions and the prosocial model subsequently showed children the efficient solution. In line with a dual-process account of over-imitation, results speak to a strong initial tendency to imitate perceivably irrelevant actions regardless of the model. Imitation behavior is then adjusted according to social motivations after deliberate consideration of different options to attain the goal.

Linking Human Perceptions and Spotted Hyena Behavior in Urban Areas of Ethiopia

Humans have shaped carnivore behavior since at least the Middle Paleolithic period, about 42,000 years ago. In more recent times, spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in Ethiopia have adapted to living in urban areas, while humans have adapted to living with hyenas. Yet, relationships between coexisting humans and carnivores are rarely addressed beyond mitigating conflicts. We provided a case study for how to broadly think about coexistence and how to study it when measuring if humans and carnivores affect one another. We collected data in four Ethiopian cities: Mekelle, Harar, Addis Ababa, and Arba Minch. We held focus groups and key informant interviews that incorporated feedback from 163 people, representing a wide array of religious, economic, and educational backgrounds. We also determined how many hyenas resided in these cities, hyena behavioral responses to humans using a flight initiation test, and problem-solving abilities via puzzle box trials. We found that in three of the cities, hyenas and humans coexist at high densities and frequently encounter each other. While all participants recognized the importance of hyenas as scavengers to maintain a clean environment, there was pronounced variation in cultural perspectives across cities. For example, while the people of Harar revere hyenas in spiritual terms, in Arba Minch hyenas were regarded as nuisance animals. Hyenas were universally respected as a formidable predator across cities but reports of attacks on livestock and humans were few. Flight initiation tests revealed hyenas fled at significantly closer distances in Harar and Addis Ababa than in Mekelle. Hyenas succeeded at solving a puzzle box in Harar but not in Mekelle. These variable behavior in hyenas correlated to different human perceptions. Our case study results suggest that the hyena–human dynamic is highly variable across these locations. We conclude by exploring the implications of these findings for how humans and hyenas can shape one another’s behavior. Developing studies to link human perceptions and animal behavior could advance wildlife conservation, especially in urban areas.

Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles

Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience, is thought to play an important role in a species’ ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. However, it is possible that causal cognition, the ability to understand relationships beyond their statistical covariations, could play a significant role in rapid range expansions by allowing one to learn faster by making better predictions about outcomes and by exerting more control over events. We aim to determine whether great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range, use causal inference and whether this ability relates to their behavioral flexibility (flexibility measured in these individuals by Logan et al. 2019: reversal learning of a color discrimination and solution switching on a puzzle box). We found that grackles showed no evidence of making causal inferences when given the opportunity to intervene on observed events using a touchscreen apparatus, and that performance on the causal cognition task did not correlate with behavioral flexibility measures. This could indicate that causal cognition is not implicated as a key factor involved in a rapid geographic range expansion, though we suggest further exploration of this hypothesis using larger sample sizes and multiple test paradigms before considering this a robust conclusion.

The influence of early life socialisation on cognition in the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica)

Previously, the benefits of early-life socialisation on later-life social development have been reported in pigs. Here we investigated the effect of pre-weaning socialisation on the later-life cognitive ability of pigs using a range of techniques. Pre-weaning, 101 piglets had access to a neighbouring pen from ~ 15 days of age and interacted with non-littermates (socialised). An additional 89 piglets remained isolated within their home pen (controls). After weaning, 100 individuals were selected for a range of cognitive tests including a food reward T-maze test, reversal learning T-maze test, a social preference T-maze test, and a puzzle box test. Performance during the food reward test was not influenced by treatment. Treatment effected improvement over the course of the reversal learning test, with controls showing a significant decrease in trial duration after the first two trials. During the social preference test, socialised pigs spent significantly more time in the presence of larger stimulus pigs than controls and were quicker to leave the middle of the maze, suggesting improved social skills. Neither sex nor treatment was observed to influence pig’s ability to solve the puzzle box. Thus, overall, evidence from the social preference test suggests an effect of pre-weaning socialisation on aspects of social cognitive development.

Implications of Mixing Methods

Much like a jigsaw puzzle box top guides one in how to connect the pieces, a research paradigm operates as a conscious or subconscious influence in conducting a research project. The promise—and challenge—of mixed methods research is that it involves the use of two box tops, and this chapter discusses the subsequent implications on the researcher. The first effect is through the need to balance the paradigmatic distinctives, requiring the researcher to identify one of four broad ways to address the paradigm divide at the heart of qualitative and quantitative research. The second effect is through the need to balance the validation distinctives. Making research credible is an essential component of any study, and the issues magnify given the stark differences between qualitative and quantitative validity orientations. Both implications reveal the level of sophistication required for the researcher when conducting a mixed methods project.

Detecting social transmission in the design of artifacts via inverse planning

How do people use human-made objects (artifacts) to learn about the people and actions that created them? We test the richness of people’s reasoning in this domain, focusing on the task of judging whether social transmission has occurred (i.e. whether one person copied another). We develop a formal model of this reasoning process as a form of rational inverse planning, which predicts that rather than solely focusing on artifacts’ similarity to judge whether copying occurred, people should also take into account availability constraints (the materials available), and functional constraints (which materials work). Using an artifact-building task where two characters build tools to solve a puzzle box, we find that this inverse planning model predicts trial-by-trial judgments, whereas simpler models that do not consider availability or functional constraints do not. This suggests people use a process like inverse planning to make flexible inferences from artifacts’ features about the source of design ideas.