Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance

C, Guillermo Paz-y-Miño; Bond, Alan B.; Kamil, Alan C.; Balda, Russell P.

doi:10.1038/nature02723

Cited by 340 publications

(213 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The social intelligence hypothesis proposes that increased social complexity (frequently indexed by social group size) was the major selective pressure in primate cognitive evolution (6,44,48,50,87,115,120,(125)(126)(127)(128)(129)(130)(131)(132)(133)(134)(135)(136)(137)(138)(139)(140)(141). This hypothesis is supported by studies showing a positive correlation between a species' typical group size and the neocortex ratio (80, 81, 85-87, 129, 142-145), cognitive differences between closely related species with different group sizes (130,137,146,147), and evidence for cognitive convergence between highly social species (26,31,(148)(149)(150).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of self-control

MacLean¹,

Hare

Nunn³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

640

708

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Cognition presents evolutionary research with one of its greatest challenges. Cognitive evolution has been explained at the proximate level by shifts in absolute and relative brain volume and at the ultimate level by differences in social and dietary complexity. However, no study has integrated the experimental and phylogenetic approach at the scale required to rigorously test these explanations. Instead, previous research has largely relied on various measures of brain size as proxies for cognitive abilities. We experimentally evaluated these major evolutionary explanations by quantitatively comparing the cognitive performance of 567 individuals representing 36 species on two problem-solving tasks measuring self-control. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that absolute brain volume best predicted performance across species and accounted for considerably more variance than brain volume controlling for body mass. This result corroborates recent advances in evolutionary neurobiology and illustrates the cognitive consequences of cortical reorganization through increases in brain volume. Within primates, dietary breadth but not social group size was a strong predictor of species differences in self-control. Our results implicate robust evolutionary relationships between dietary breadth, absolute brain volume, and self-control. These findings provide a significant first step toward quantifying the primate cognitive phenome and explaining the process of cognitive evolution.psychology | behavior | comparative methods | inhibitory control | executive function S ince Darwin, understanding the evolution of cognition has been widely regarded as one of the greatest challenges for evolutionary research (1). Although researchers have identified surprising cognitive flexibility in a range of species (2-40) and potentially derived features of human psychology (41-61), we know much less about the major forces shaping cognitive evolution (62-71). With the notable exception of Bitterman's landmark studies conducted several decades ago (63, 72-74), most research comparing cognition across species has been limited to small taxonomic samples (70, 75). With limited comparable experimental data on how cognition varies across species, previous research has largely relied on proxies for cognition (e.g., brain size) or metaanalyses when testing hypotheses about cognitive evolution (76-92). The lack of cognitive data collected with similar methods across large samples of species precludes meaningful species comparisons that can reveal the major forces shaping cognitive evolution across species, including humans (48,70,89,(93)(94)(95)(96)(97)(98). SignificanceAlthough scientists have identified surprising cognitive flexibility in animals and potentially unique features of human psychology, we know less about the selective forces that favor cognitive evolution, or the proximate biological mechanisms underlying this process. We tested 36 species in two problemsolving tasks measuring self-control and evaluated the leading hypotheses regarding how ...

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of self-control

MacLean¹,

Hare

Nunn³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

640

708

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…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.…”

Section: Transitive Inferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Concept Learning in Animals

Zentall¹,

Wasserman²,

Lazareva³

et al. 2008

CCBR

161

141

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Generally speaking, the study of concepts in cognitive psychology is anthropocentric with respect to both content and theory. A broader comparative perspective on the various forms of concept learning not only provides a more inclusive view of conceptual behavior, but it also provides a more objective perspective from which to identify underlying processes. We suggest that several of the major varieties of conceptual classes claimed to be uniquely human are also exhibited by nonhuman animals. We present evidence for the formation of several sorts of conceptual stimulus classes by nonhuman animals: perceptual classes involving classification according to the shared attributes of objects, associative classes or functional equivalences in which stimuli form a class based on common associations, relational classes, in which the conceptual relationship between or among stimuli defines the class, and relations between relations, in which the conceptual (analogical) relationship is defined by the relation between classes of stimuli. We conclude that not only are nonhuman animals capable of acquiring a wide variety of concepts, but that the underlying processes that determine concept learning are also likely to be quite similar.

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“…By observing interactions between the stranger and known individuals, with whom a social relationship has already been established, an animal may predict their own relationship to unknown individuals. This component of cognitive ability is called transitive inference (TI; Hogue et al, 1996;Paz-y-Miño et al, 2004;Engh et al, 2005;Grosenick et al, 2007;MacLean et al, 2008;Vasconcelos, 2008 for review). A variety of studies have suggested that transitive inference may be used by higher vertebrates (e.g., Hogue et al, 1996;Peake et al, 2002;Peake and McGregor, 2004;Engh et al, 2005), and TI studies are mainly documented in animals with high sociality, such as apes, monkeys, hyena, chickens and corvids (Gillan, 1981;Bond et al, 2003;Paz-y-Miño et al, 2004;Engh et al, 2005), as well as a territorial and social fish (Grosenick et al, 2007;White and Gowan, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of multiple sources of social information in contest behavior: testing the social cognitive abilities of a cichlid fish

et al. 2015

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Theory suggests that living in large social groups with dynamic social interactions often favors the evolution of enhanced cognitive abilities. Studies of how animals assess their own contest ability commonly focus on a single cognitive task, and little is known about the diversity or co-occurrence of cognitive abilities in social species. We examined how a highly social cichlid fish Julidochromis transcriptus uses four major cognitive abilities in contest situations; direct experience, winner/loser effects, social eavesdropping and transitive inference (TI). We conducted experiments in which fish assessed the social status of rivals after either direct physical contests or observed contests. Individuals used direct information from a previous physical encounter to re-establish dominance without additional contact, but winner/loser effects were not observed. Social eavesdropping alone was ruled out, but we found that transitive reasoning was used to infer social dominance of other individuals of unknown status. Our results suggest that in stable hierarchical social groups, estimations of contest ability, based on individual recognition pathways such as TI and direct experience, are more prevalent than social eavesdropping or winner/loser effects. We suggest that advanced cognitive abilities might be widespread among highly social fishes, but have previously gone undetected.

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Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance

Cited by 340 publications

References 16 publications

The evolution of self-control

The evolution of self-control

Concept Learning in Animals

The use of multiple sources of social information in contest behavior: testing the social cognitive abilities of a cichlid fish

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