Coherent use of information by hens observing their former dominant defeating or being defeated by a stranger

Abstract

This study examines the role of observation during the formation of triads in female domestic hens. Results indicate that during hierarchy formation, a hen observing agonistic interactions and conflict settlement between its former dominant and a stranger uses this information when in turn confronted by the latter. Under a first condition (E, N=15 triads), bystanders witnessed their prior dominant being defeated by a stranger before being introduced to them. In a second condition (C1, N=16 triads), bystanders witnessed the victory of their prior dominant over a stranger. In a third condition (C2, N=15 triads), bystanders witnessed two strangers establishing a dominance relationship before being introduced to their prior dominant and to a stranger the former had just defeated. The behavioural strategies of bystanders depended on the issue of the conflict they had witnessed. Bystanders of the E condition behaved as having no chance of defeating the stranger. They never initiated an attack against it, and upon being attacked, readily submitted in turn to the stranger. On the contrary, bystanders of the C1 condition behaved as having some chances against the stranger. They initiated attacks in 50% of cases, and won 50% of conflicts against the stranger. Under condition C2, bystanders first initiated contact with the strangers in only 27% of cases, which approximates the average of their chances for defeating the stranger. However, bystanders finally defeated the strangers in 40% of cases. These results suggest that bystanders of conditions E and C1 gained some information on the relationship existing between their prior dominant and the stranger and that they used it coherently, perhaps through transitive inference, thus Hogue et al. 1996 file:///C|/Documents and Settings/Administrator/My...uments/publications/Hogue-Beaugrand-Lague-1996.htm (1 of 15) [11/30/2001 21:50:03] contributing to the existence of transitive relationships within the triads. Alternate explanations are examined.

Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance

“…This pattern rules out alternative general explanations, such as badges of status 19 or dispositional responses to seeing another bird win or lose. 15,16,17 This work constitutes a direct demonstration of transitive inference in social settings, and supports the hypothesis that social complexity provided a crucial context for the evolution of cognitive abilities.…”

“…This sequentially balanced design was employed to ensure the use of transitive inference on the basis of observations of encounters between specific individuals, rather than simply the general effects of having seen another animal win or lose. 15,16,17 In the exhibition encounters, the observer's prior knowledge about one of the demonstrator's opponents was varied systematically. In experimental instances the demonstrator and one opponent were strangers, but the opponent that repeatedly lost to the demonstrator was familiar to the observer, because that opponent had dominated the observer in earlier staged encounters.…”

Concept Learning in Animals

“…Instead, an animal can learn its dominance status relative to a few animals whose rank is similar to its own and then, through observation, learn the dominance rank of the other animals, relative to those animals whose rank is already known. Recent research suggests that such dominance hierarchies can be acquired through observation by pinyon jays (Pas-y-Miño, Bond, Kamil, & Balda, 2004), hens (Hogue, Beaugrand, & Lague, 1996) and even fish (Grosenik, Clement, & Fernal, 2007). Although transitive inference may aid in the acquisition of dominance hierarchies, it seems unlikely that the efficient development of dominance hierarchies is responsible for the arbitrary form of transitive inference that has been found in nonsocial tasks.…”

Categories as paradigms for comparative cognition

“…There is already good evidence that animals observe agonistic interactions between group members and attend the dominance outcomes of paired contests in a way that incites or inhibits their aggression towards the subordinate and the dominant member of a pair, respectively (Hogue et al, 1996). Visual information gained about the outcomes of initial contests may explain the fact that in small groups of various animal species transitive hierarchies occur as a typical pattern, often much more frequently than would be expected merely by chance.…”