scholarly journals Age-dependent social learning in a lizard

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 20140430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. A. Noble ◽  
Richard W. Byrne ◽  
Martin J. Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Association Task ◽  
Instrumental Task ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Dependent Learning

Evidence of social learning, whereby the actions of an animal facilitate the acquisition of new information by another, is taxonomically biased towards mammals, especially primates, and birds. However, social learning need not be limited to group-living animals because species with less interaction can still benefit from learning about potential predators, food sources, rivals and mates. We trained male skinks ( Eulamprus quoyii ), a mostly solitary lizard from eastern Australia, in a two-step foraging task. Lizards belonging to ‘young’ and ‘old’ age classes were presented with a novel instrumental task (displacing a lid) and an association task (reward under blue lid). We did not find evidence for age-dependent learning of the instrumental task; however, young males in the presence of a demonstrator learnt the association task faster than young males without a demonstrator, whereas old males in both treatments had similar success rates. We present the first evidence of age-dependent social learning in a lizard and suggest that the use of social information for learning may be more widespread than previously believed.

scholarly journals Social and asocial learning in zebrafish are encoded by a shared brain network that is differentially modulated by local activation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Pinho ◽  
Vincent T. Cunliffe ◽  
Giovanni Petri ◽  
Rui Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Early Gene ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Social Stimulus ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Learning Module

Group living animals can use social and asocial cues to predict the presence of a reward or a punishment in the environment through associative learning. The degree to which social and asocial learning share the same mechanisms is still a matter of debate, and, so far, studies investigating the neuronal basis of these two types of learning are scarce and have been restricted to primates, including humans, and rodents. Here we have used a Pavlovian fear conditioning paradigm in which a social (fish image) or an asocial (circle image) conditioned stimulus (CS) have been paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US=food), and we have used the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos to map the neural circuits associated with social and asocial learning. Our results show that the learning performance is similar with social (fish image) and asocial (circle image) CSs. However, the brain regions involved in each learning type are distinct. Social learning is associated with an increased expression of c-fos in olfactory bulbs, ventral zone of ventral telencephalic area, ventral habenula and ventromedial thalamus, whereas asocial learning is associated with a decreased expression of c-fos in dorsal habenula and anterior tubercular nucleus. Using egonetworks, we further show that each learning type has an associated pattern of functional connectivity across brain regions. Moreover, a community analysis of the network data reveals four segregated functional submodules, which seem to be associated with different cognitive functions involved in the learning tasks: a generalized attention module, a visual response module, a social stimulus integration module and a learning module. Together, these results suggest that, although there are localized differences in brain activity between social and asocial learning, the two learning types share a common learning module and social learning also recruits a specific social stimulus integration module. Therefore, our results support the occurrence of a common general-purpose learning module, that is differentially modulated by localized activation in social and asocial learning.

Social learning within and across species: information transfer in mouse-eared bats

2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa M.A. Clarin ◽  
Ivailo Borissov ◽  
Rachel A. Page ◽  
John M. Ratcliffe ◽  
Björn M. Siemers
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Observational Learning ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Initial Learning ◽  
Large Groups

Social learning describes information transfer between individuals through observation or direct interaction. Bats can live and forage in large groups, sometimes comprising several species, and are thus well suited for investigations of both intraspecific and interspecific information transfer. Although social learning has been documented within several bat species, it has not been shown to occur between species. Furthermore, it is not fully understood what level of interaction between individuals is necessary for social learning in bats. We address these questions by comparing the efficiency of observation versus interaction in intraspecific social learning and by considering interspecific social learning in sympatric bat species. Observers learned from demonstrators to identify food sources using a light cue. We show that intraspecific social learning exists in the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis (Borkhausen, 1797)) and that direct interaction with a demonstrator more efficiently leads to information transfer than observational learning alone. We also found evidence for interspecific information transfer from M. myotis to the lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis oxygnathus Monticelli, 1885). Additionally, we opportunistically retested one individual that we recaptured from the wild 1 year after initial learning and found long-term memory of the trained association. Our study adds to the understanding of learning, information transfer, and long-term memory in wild-living animals.

P2-068 Age-independent and age-dependent learning and memory abnormalities in PDAPP mice on a C57BL/6 background

2004 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. S243
Author(s):  
Richard E. Hartman ◽  
Kelly R. Bales ◽  
Steven M. Paul ◽  
David F. Wozniak ◽  
David M. Holtzman
Keyword(s):  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Dependent Learning ◽  
Age Independent

scholarly journals Age-dependent diet choice in an avian top predator

2005 ◽  
Vol 273 (1586) ◽  
pp. 579-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Rutz ◽  
Mark J Whittingham ◽  
Ian Newton
Keyword(s):  
Life History Theory ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Columba Livia ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Breeding Performance ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Foraging Skills

Age-dependent breeding performance is arguably one of the best-documented phenomena in ornithology. The existence of age-related trends has major implications for life-history theory, but the proximate reasons for these patterns remain poorly understood. It has been proposed that poor breeding performance of young individuals might reflect lack of foraging skills. We investigated this possibility in a medium-sized, powerful raptor—the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis . Male goshawks are responsible for providing their females and their offspring with food. We hypothesized that young males may generally show poor breeding performance or even delay breeding, because they lack the experience to hunt efficiently—especially, their principal avian prey, the feral pigeon Columba livia . Our study exploited a rare ‘natural experiment’, the expansion phase of an urban population, where intraspecific interference was negligible and many young males bred successfully. This enabled us to examine the improvement of foraging skills in a larger sample of young individuals, and in more controlled conditions than usually possible. Using data from individually identified male breeders, we show that, consistent with our hypothesis, the proportion of pigeons in the diet increased significantly with male age, for at least the first three years of life. Other studies have shown a parallel increase in productivity, and a positive effect of a pigeon-rich diet on brood size and nestling condition, stressing the potential fitness relevance of this prey species for goshawks. Our results suggest a causal link between patterns of age-dependence in foraging ecology and reproductive performance. Furthermore, our study is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration that prey choice of breeders, which might reflect individual hunting skills, is age-dependent in a raptor.

scholarly journals Pragmatics and Language Evolution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Woensdregt ◽  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms

Pragmatics is the branch of linguistics that deals with language use in context. It looks at the meaning linguistic utterances can have beyond their literal meaning (implicature), and also at presupposition and turn taking in conversation. Thus, pragmatics lies on the interface between language and social cognition. From the point of view of both speaker and listener, doing pragmatics requires reasoning about the minds of others. For instance, a speaker has to think about what knowledge they share with the listener to choose what information to explicitly encode in their utterance and what to leave implicit. A listener has to make inferences about what the speaker meant based on the context, their knowledge about the speaker, and their knowledge of general conventions in language use. This ability to reason about the minds of others (usually referred to as “mindreading” or “theory of mind”) is a cognitive capacity that is uniquely developed in humans compared to other animals. What we know about how pragmatics (and the underlying ability to make inferences about the minds of others) has evolved. Biological evolution and cultural evolution are the two main processes that can lead to the development of a complex behavior over generations, and we can explore to what extent they account for what we know about pragmatics. In biological evolution, changes happen as a result of natural selection on genetically transmitted traits. In cultural evolution on the other hand, selection happens on skills that are transmitted through social learning. Many hypotheses have been put forward about the role that natural selection may have played in the evolution of social and communicative skills in humans (for example, as a result of changes in food sources, foraging strategy, or group size). The role of social learning and cumulative culture, however, has been often overlooked. This omission is particularly striking in the case of pragmatics, as language itself is a prime example of a culturally transmitted skill, and there is solid evidence that the pragmatic capacities that are so central to language use may themselves be partially shaped by social learning. In light of empirical findings from comparative, developmental, and experimental research, we can consider the potential contributions of both biological and cultural evolutionary mechanisms to the evolution of pragmatics. The dynamics of types of evolutionary processes can also be explored using experiments and computational models.

scholarly journals Food discovery is associated with different reliance on social learning and lower cognitive flexibility across environments in a food-caching bird

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1951) ◽  
pp. 20202843
Author(s):  
Virginia K. Heinen ◽  
Angela M. Pitera ◽  
Benjamin R. Sonnenberg ◽  
Lauren M. Benedict ◽  
Eli S. Bridge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Social Information ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Novel Food ◽  
Food Caching

Social learning is a primary mechanism for information acquisition in social species. Despite many benefits, social learning may be disadvantageous when independent learning is more efficient. For example, searching independently may be more advantageous when food sources are ephemeral and unpredictable. Individual differences in cognitive abilities can also be expected to influence social information use. Specifically, better spatial memory can make a given environment more predictable for an individual by allowing it to better track food sources. We investigated how resident food-caching chickadees discovered multiple novel food sources in both harsher, less predictable high elevation and milder, more predictable low elevation winter environments. Chickadees at high elevation were faster at discovering multiple novel food sources and discovered more food sources than birds at low elevation. While birds at both elevations used social information, the contribution of social learning to food discovery was significantly lower at high elevation. At both elevations, chickadees with better spatial cognitive flexibility were slower at discovering food sources, likely because birds with lower spatial cognitive flexibility are worse at tracking natural resources and therefore spend more time exploring. Overall, our study supported the prediction that harsh environments should favour less reliance on social learning.

Plastic and unpredictable responses of stream invertebrates to leaf pack patches across sandy-bottomed streams

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Downes ◽  
Jill Lancaster ◽  
Robin Hale ◽  
Alena Glaister ◽  
William D. Bovill
Keyword(s):  
Food Sources ◽  
Stream Invertebrates ◽  
Patch Use ◽  
Leaf Pack ◽  
Bare Sand ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Type Ii Errors ◽  
Potential Food ◽  
Power Analyses

Detrital inputs to ecosystems provide potential food sources and can produce trophic cascades, but this effect is influenced by whether species specialise in consuming or inhabiting accumulations of detritus. To test whether species are differentially associated with leaves or sand, we compared densities of stream invertebrate species in patches of leaves and bare sand in two sandy-bed creeks in south-eastern Australia, in summer and spring. We also assessed the quality of information on diet and substrate association in the literature. Most species showed no density differences between leaf and sand patches (‘microhabitat generalists’), but categorisation as generalists, leaf or sand species differed between datasets. We developed a method for identifying important effect sizes; power analyses showed that many species were true generalists, but many non-significant results were potentially Type II errors. The literature provided information that was broadly consistent with our data, but few studies publish reliable information about either diet or patch use. Our results support a contention that few Australian stream invertebrates are obligate shredders, and this may also be true for streams elsewhere. Predicting and detecting the responses of such generalist taxa to detrital inputs will be very challenging.

scholarly journals Modeling flexible behavior in childhood to adulthood shows age-dependent learning mechanisms and less optimal learning in autism in each age group

PLoS Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. e3000908
Author(s):  
Daisy Crawley ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Emily J. H. Jones ◽  
Jumana Ahmad ◽  
Bethany Oakley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Age Group ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Optimal Learning ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Flexible Behavior ◽  
Dependent Learning

NEW LEARNING STRATEGIES IN BUSTILLOS AND OLIVEIRA MODEL

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1415-1427
Author(s):  
MINGFENG HE ◽  
XIAOWEN PAN ◽  
XIAOJIA MU ◽  
LIN FENG
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Capacity ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Penna Model ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Dependent Learning

Armando Ticona Bustillos and Paulo Murilo C. de Oliveira first combined learning strategy with Penna model using a third bit string to represent knowledge. There are two forms of learning strategy in their model: individual learning through trial-and-error and social learning through copying knowledge from others. Based on the Bustillos-Oliveira model, we propose a new learning strategy:. (1) Individual learning ability depending on knowledge, through which the individual learning ability is not a constant but in direct proportion to the knowledge level of individual;. (2) Double-direction Social learning, under this, not only the young can learn from the elder, but also the elder can learn from the young;. (3) The age-dependent learning capacity, we make the learning capacity a variable in inverse proportion to the age, unlike which has been represented in Bustillos and Oliveira's model as a constant. Under this new learning strategy represented above, we get different result in the level of knowledge of individuals from B-O model.

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