Seeing the forest before the trees–spatial orientation in freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon motoro) in a hole-board task

Schluessel, Vera; Herzog, Hans-Ulrich; Scherpenstein, M.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2015.08.001

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…In the physical domain, species differences emerged only in the space differences were found in the quantity or causality scales, which address rather basal cognitive 436 abilities, which might not be variable enough to reveal actual differences between species. 437 Indeed, some fish and insects possess similar basal cognitive skills in the physical domain (Fuss 438 et al 2014; Loukola et al 2017;Schluessel et al 2015). In the social domain, the social learning 439 task was not suitable for all species, and individuals might have recruited other abilities to solve 440 the problems, as discussed for the intention task above.…”

Section: Comparison Of Lemurs and Haplorhines In The Different Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lemur baseline: How lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

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2020

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28Primates have relatively larger brains than other mammals even though brain tissue is 29 energetically costly. Comparative studies of variation in cognitive skills allow testing of 30 evolutionary hypotheses addressing socioecological factors driving the evolution of primate 31 brain size. However, data on cognitive abilities for meaningful interspecific comparisons are 32 only available for haplorhine primates (great apes, Old-and New World monkeys) although 33 strepsirrhine primates (lemurs and lorises) serve as the best living models of ancestral primate 34 cognitive skills, linking primates to other mammals. To begin filling this gap, we tested 35 members of three lemur species (Microcebus murinus, Varecia variegata, Lemur catta) with 36 the Primate Cognition Test Battery, a comprehensive set of experiments addressing physical 37 and social cognitive skills that has previously been used in studies of haplorhines. We found no 38 significant differences in cognitive performance among lemur species and, surprisingly, their 39 average performance was not different from that of haplorhines in many aspects. Specifically, 40 lemurs' overall performance was inferior in the physical domain but matched that of 41 haplorhines in the social domain. These results question a clear-cut link between brain size and 42 cognitive skills, suggesting a more domain-specific distribution of cognitive abilities in 43 primates, and indicate more continuity in cognitive abilities across primate lineages than 44 previously thought. 45 46

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Section: Comparison Of Lemurs and Haplorhines In The Different Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lemur baseline: How lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

Fichtel

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2020

Preprint

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“…Once LC was achieved and transfer testing commenced, sessions were supposed to be continued at an 80% reward scheme to prevent the animals from immediately associating unfamiliar stimuli with a lack of reward (e.g. Schluessel et al 2015 ; Schluessel and Ober 2018 ). This reduced scheme was however followed by a drop in regular performance, so a 90% scheme was implemented instead.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While it is unclear how reliant P. motoro is on visual information in its natural environment, the marked differences between species skin patterns (Rosa 1985 ) raise the question of whether these play a role in conspecific discrimination and which aspects of the patterns could be important in such a case. It has been shown that Potamotrygon motoro uses vision to orient spatially (Schluessel and Bleckmann 2005 ; Schluessel et al 2015 ; Schluessel and Ober 2018 ), and the species has been successfully trained in cognitive behavioral studies using visual stimuli (e.g. Seifert 2017 , Daniel and Schluessel 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual discrimination and resolution in freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon motoro)

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Potamotrygon motoro has been shown to use vision to orient in a laboratory setting and has been successfully trained in cognitive behavioral studies using visual stimuli. This study explores P. motoro’s visual discrimination abilities in the context of two-alternative forced-choice experiments, with a focus on shape and contrast, stimulus orientation, and visual resolution. Results support that stingrays are able to discriminate stimulus-presence and -absence, overall stimulus contrasts, two forms, horizontal from vertical stimulus orientations, and different colors that also vary in brightness. Stingrays tested in visual resolution experiments demonstrated a range of visual acuities from < 0.13 to 0.23 cpd under the given experimental conditions. Additionally, this report includes the first evidence for memory retention in this species.

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“…However, no systematic species differences were found in the quantities or causality scales, which might not be variable enough to reveal actual differences between species. Since some fish and insects possess similar basal cognitive skills as tested in the physical domain of the PCTB (Fuss, Bleckmann & Schluessel, 2014;Loukola et al, 2017;Schluessel, Herzog & Scherpenstein, 2015), the potential link between brain size and performance in the space scale requires further testing. In the social domain, the social learning task was not suitable for all species, and individuals might have recruited other abilities to solve the problems, as discussed for the intention task above.…”

Section: Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

The lemur baseline: how lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

Fichtel

Dinter

Kappeler

2020

PeerJ

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Primates have relatively larger brains than other mammals even though brain tissue is energetically costly. Comparative studies of variation in cognitive skills allow testing of evolutionary hypotheses addressing socioecological factors driving the evolution of primate brain size. However, data on cognitive abilities for meaningful interspecific comparisons are only available for haplorhine primates (great apes, Old- and New World monkeys) although strepsirrhine primates (lemurs and lorises) serve as the best living models of ancestral primate cognitive skills, linking primates to other mammals. To begin filling this gap, we tested members of three lemur species (Microcebus murinus, Varecia variegata, Lemur catta) with the Primate Cognition Test Battery, a comprehensive set of experiments addressing physical and social cognitive skills that has previously been used in studies of haplorhines. We found no significant differences in cognitive performance among lemur species and, surprisingly, their average performance was not different from that of haplorhines in many aspects. Specifically, lemurs’ overall performance was inferior in the physical domain but matched that of haplorhines in the social domain. These results question a clear-cut link between brain size and cognitive skills, suggesting a more domain-specific distribution of cognitive abilities in primates, and indicate more continuity in cognitive abilities across primate lineages than previously thought.

show abstract

Seeing the forest before the trees–spatial orientation in freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon motoro) in a hole-board task

Cited by 16 publications

References 45 publications

The lemur baseline: How lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

The lemur baseline: How lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

Visual discrimination and resolution in freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon motoro)

The lemur baseline: how lemurs compare to monkeys and apes in the Primate Cognition Test Battery

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