|
|
A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
|
|
|
Test of object permanence in primates
Gálik, Michal ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
5 ABSTRACT Object permanence is a cognitive ability to perceive the continuous existence of objects, even if they cannot be directly observed, respectively perceived by other senses (Piaget 1954). In humans object permanence develops in 6 qualitatively different stages. By using a comparative approach, it was found that the last stage 6 of this ability also occurs in great apes, gibbons and some New World monkeys (capuchin, marmoset and tamarin). In this study, we conducted a study with a series of invisible displacements of an object, in which we investigated whether two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) have fully developed the ability of object permanence and don't rely on simple alternative cognitive strategies, while solving the different tasks. With one test subject, we confirmed that he solved the tasks with stage 6 object permanence abilities. Although the second individual reached significant performance in some sessions, the overall results are ambiguous, because during the testing he had a tendency to use simple alternative strategies. Our study concludes that under certain circumstances macaques have the cognitive capacity for a fully developed ability of object permanence. Key words: Object permanence, rhesus macaque, invisible displacement, cognitive functions
|
|
|
Manipulation of physical environment and cognition in primates: Ontogenetic development
Kolářová, Anna ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Hradec, Michal (referee)
Cognition is a crucial factor for primates as it allows properly perceive and respond to the surrounding environment. This thesis is devoted to cognitive phenomena, which are often associated with understanding the physical environment and object manipulation. Much attention is focused on causal reasoning, object permanence and tool using. Particular emphasis is placed on the ontogenesis of these cognitive abilities. One of the main questions is how development differs between humans and non-human primates. Despite the fact that non- human primates, just like humans, have a very complex knowledge of the laws of the physical environment, causal reasoning and object permanence develops in a very similar way for these related species, but far from the same way. A large disparity is observed mainly in the area of the pace of development. Tool use in humans and non-human primates is strongly influenced by social learning and traditions. Key words: primates, physical environment, cognitive abilities, causal reasoning, object permanence, object manipulation, tool using, ontogeny
|
|
|
Object permanence as a method to study higher cognitive functions of primates
Englerová, Kateřina ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence is a cognitive ability, which allows individual to realize the existence of an object even it is not directly accessible to its senses. This ability is essential for successful using of complex cognitive operations. Object permanence is qualitatively and gradually change throughout the development of a child. Congruently, it is not developed to the same level in various species of animals. The aim of this study is to study object permanence in naive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), because there is still some uncertainty about the development of this ability in macaques. Our results show that the naive subjects do not have the highest stage of object permanence (and they do not use representative strategy to solve the tasks), however, other results of our team suggest that more experienced individuals are able to achieve the highest stage under certain circumstances. We show that experimental design used to test object permanence can be modified and used also for studying of other cognitive abilities. We test the preferences of macaque monkeys toward novel non-food stimuli. The reactions of different species of animals can vary. The reactions depend on the type of stimuli (food or non-food), but also on the ecology and ethology of the species. Age, sex and personality of the...
|
|
|
Test of object permanence in primates
Gálik, Michal ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
5 ABSTRACT Object permanence is a cognitive ability to perceive the continuous existence of objects, even if they cannot be directly observed, respectively perceived by other senses (Piaget 1954). In humans object permanence develops in 6 qualitatively different stages. By using a comparative approach, it was found that the last stage 6 of this ability also occurs in great apes, gibbons and some New World monkeys (capuchin, marmoset and tamarin). In this study, we conducted a study with a series of invisible displacements of an object, in which we investigated whether two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) have fully developed the ability of object permanence and don't rely on simple alternative cognitive strategies, while solving the different tasks. With one test subject, we confirmed that he solved the tasks with stage 6 object permanence abilities. Although the second individual reached significant performance in some sessions, the overall results are ambiguous, because during the testing he had a tendency to use simple alternative strategies. Our study concludes that under certain circumstances macaques have the cognitive capacity for a fully developed ability of object permanence. Key words: Object permanence, rhesus macaque, invisible displacement, cognitive functions
|
|
|
A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
|
|
|
Cognition test for testing object permanence in birds and primates
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Veselý, Petr (referee)
Object permanence is a cognitive ability to mentally represent the existence and the movement of hidden objects. This phenomenon is being developed since birth in six different stages following the development of the sensorimotor intelligence. Not only the humans but also the other animals possess a certain notion of hidden objects and acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their life strategies. This thesis summarizes the research conducted up to the present in the field of the object permanence within the infant developmental psychology, but particularly in the animal world with the emphasis on the taxa where this ability has been most researched, that is in primates and birds. This thesis also recapitulates the types of the cognitive tasks used in the object permanence research and compares the methods of experiments applied to the humans, the primates and the birds. Part of this thesis also involves a phylogenetic reconstruction estimate of the ancestral character status in terms of the object permanence and testing the progress dependance of such character in relation to the selected ecological factors in primates.
|
guest ::
