Object permanence in adult cats (Felis catus).

Human analog tests of object permanence were administered to 14 adult cats to assess as accurately as possible their developmental level in this particular cognitive capacity and to analyze their search behavior in situations in which an object has disappeared. Exp I compared 2 groups, one that received the tests in their usual order of presentation and another that received first the invisible displacement tests and then the visible displacement tests. Results conflict with previous research conducted by E. Triana and R. Pasnak (see record 1982-00510-001): The Ss in the present experiment were able to solve problems with visible displacements but failed with invisible displacement. Exp II compared 2 modalities of object disappearance. The object was hidden under a cover through either its front or its rear panel. This experiment confirmed, in a 5-choice hiding task, that cats are unable to understand invisible displacements. Ss searched for the object in the last location they had seen it disappear or under the nearest cover from this location. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object permanence and working memory in cats (Felis catus).

Cats (Felis catus) find an object when it is visibly moved behind a succession of screens. However, when the object is moved behind a container and is invisibly transferred from the container to the back of a screen, cats try to find the object at or near the container rather than at the true hiding place. Four experiments were conducted to study search behavior and working memory in visible and invisible displacement tests of object permanence. Exp 1 compared performance in single and in double visible displacement trials. Exp 2 analyzed search behavior in invisible displacement tests and in analogs using a transparent container. Exps 3 and 4 tested predictions made from Exps 1 and 2 in a new situation of object permanence. Results showed that only the position changes that cats have directly perceived are encoded and activated in working memory because they are unable to represent or infer invisible movements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision making and interference in the domestic cat (Felis catus).

Domestic cats (Felis catus) received a task in which an obstacle was introduced at the time they were ready to reach for 1 among 2 or 3 baited targets. The results revealed that when the initially chosen direction (i.e., before the introduction of the obstacle) and the new one were orthogonal, the cats reassessed distance, angular deviation, and visibility once they had turned around the obstacle (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). Then the cats chose a different target than the one that would have been chosen had there been no obstacle. When both the initially chosen and the new direction matched (Experiment 4), the cats kept intact their initial decision. The discussion focuses on the nature of the representational system of the cat. The discussion also emphasizes comparisons with dogs (i.e., cooperative hunters). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flavor preferences in cats (Felis catus and Panthera sp.).

Conducted 4 experiments with 28 domestic and 12 wild cats to examine flavor preference in cats. In the 1st experiment domestic Ss exhibited no preference (both in 24-hr and 1-hr 2-choice preference tests) for any of a variety of carbohydrate or artificial sweeteners regardless of whether a water or saline diluent was employed. A preference for sucrose or lactose dissolved in dilute milk compared with dilute milk alone was observed. This preference may have been based on textural rather than flavor characteristics of the milk-sugar solution. In the 2nd experiment a similar lack of preference for carbohydrate sweeteners was found when using 5-min 2-choice preference tests with wild Ss (genus Panthera). In light of this lack of sweet preference among cats, Exps III and IV examined responses to solutions of hydrolyzed protein and individual amino acids and to emulsified fat mixtures. Solutions of hydrolyzed soy, lactalbumin, and casein; l-alanine and l-proline solutions; and butterfat mixtures were all preferred to the diluent. It is suggested that a pattern of responses characterized by an avidity for protein and fat products and no avidity for carbohydrate sweeteners may be typical of strict carnivores like cats. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flexible search behavior in domestic cats (Felis catus): A case study of predator–prey interaction.

Domestic cats (Felis catus) were administered an object permanence task in a novel and a familiar situation to investigate flexibility (i.e., pause behavior and searching by following a path opposite of that taken by the object when it disappeared) in search behavior. Pause and opposite search were assumed to be independent, equiprobable, and randomly exhibited (i.e., random model). The random model predicted that cats would exhibit flexible behavior on 75% of the trials. The results revealed that flexible behavior occurred on 69% of the trials in the novel situation, but only on 52% of the trials in the familiar setting in which pauses were less frequent and shorter than in the novel situation. Thus, the random model provided a good fit of the data in the novel but not in the familiar situation. It is argued that pause and opposite search reflect decision processes when cats are dealing with the behavior of prey that has disappeared while being pursued. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Search behaviour of cats (Felis catus) in an invisible displacement test: Cognition and experience.

Two experiments confirmed the hypothesis that cats' search behavior is influenced by their limited cognitive capacity for object permanence as well as by their previous experience with the hiding places of their environment. Exp 1 compared 3 groups of cats in a 5-choice hiding task with visible displacements (VDs). Two groups received VD training and 1 group did not. Exp 2 compared 2 groups of trained cats in the same task, but the hiding places could be discriminated by spatial and visual cues. Results indicate that, like Stage 5 infants, cats rely mainly on immediate perception and are unable to solve problems with invisible displacement. VD training improved their performance but was not sufficient to make them succeed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual and Acoustic Evidence for Species-Level Differences in Meow Vocalizations by Domestic Cats (Felis catus} and African Wild Cats (Felis silvestris lybica).

To test for possible anthropogenic selection effects on meows in domestic felids, vocalizations by domestic cats (Felis catus) were compared with cries by their closest wild relative, the African wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica). Comparisons included analysis of acoustic characteristics and perceptual studies with human (Homo sapiens) listeners. The perceptual studies obtained human listener ratings of call pleasantness. Both the acoustic and perceptual comparisons revealed clear species-level differences: The domestic cat meows were significantly shorter in mean duration than the wild cat meows, showed higher mean formant frequencies, and exhibited higher mean fundamental frequencies. Human listeners at all levels of experience and affinity for cats rated domestic cat meows as far more pleasant sounding than wild cat vocalizations. These results are consistent with a model of cat domestication that posits selective pressure on meows based on human perceptual biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object permanence in cats (Felis catus): An ecological approach to the study of invisible displacements.

A single invisible displacement object permanence task was administered to 19 cats. In this task, cats watched a target object from behind a transparent panel. However, cats had to walk around an opaque panel to reach the object. While cats were behind the opaque panel, the object was hidden behind 1 of 2 screens. As cats did not perceive the disappearance of the object behind the target screen, the object was invisibly hidden. Results showed that cats solved this task with great flexibility, which markedly contrasts with what has been observed in previous research. The discussion emphasizes the difference between the typical Piagetian task in which the information necessary to succeed must be dealt with in a retrospective way, whereas in this task cats had to anticipate a new position of the object. The ecological relevance of this new task is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive development in kittens (Felis catus): A cross-sectional study of object permanence.

Administered tests of object permanence to 28-, 35-, 48-, and 150-day-old kittens (Felis catus) in order to assess as accurately as possible the developmental level reached at each age group in this Piagetian cognitive capacity. The results indicate that 28-day-old-kittens visually tracked a moving object in their perceptual field (Stage 2); 35-day-olds recovered a hidden object only if they had initiated a search movement at the time of disappearance (Stage 4a); 48- and 150-day-olds mastered multiple visible displacements (Stage 5b). The study showed that the upper limit, Stage 5b, observed in adult cats was reached by Day 48, which indicates a rapid development of object permanence in this species. Results are discussed in relation to object permanence in human babies and in terms of the relevance of object permanence to predatory behavior in the domestic cat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial encoding of hidden objects in dogs (Canis familiaris).

The authors investigated the type of spatial information that controls domestic dogs' (Canis familiaris) search behavior in a situation in which they have to locate a spatial position where they saw an object move and disappear. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors manipulated all local and global sources of allocentric spatial information surrounding the hiding location. The results revealed that dogs relied on an egocentric frame of reference. Experiment 3 showed that dogs also encoded allocentric information when egocentric information was irrelevant. The authors conclude that dogs simultaneously encode both egocentric and allocentric spatial information to locate a spatial position, but they primarily base their search behavior on an egocentric frame of reference. The authors discuss under which natural conditions dogs might use these 2 sources of spatial information and detail the nature of spatial egocentric information and the circumstances underlying its use by dogs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Searching for the center: Spatial cognition in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus).

Chicks learned to find food hidden under sawdust by ground-scratching in the central position of the floor of a closed arena. When tested in an arena of identical shape but a larger area, chicks searched at 2 different locations, one corresponding to the correct distance (i.e., center) in the smaller (training) arena and the other to the actual center of the test arena. When tested in an arena of the same shape but a smaller area, chicks searched in the center of it. These results suggest that chicks are able to encode information on the absolute and relative distance of the food from the walls of the arena. After training in the presence of a landmark located at the center of the arena, animals searched at the center even after the removal of the landmark. Marked changes in the height of the walls of the arena produced some displacement in searching behavior, suggesting that chicks used the angular size of the walls to estimate distances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incentive contrast in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).

Dogs (Canis familiaris) trained to receive a preferred food (dry beef liver) from an experimenter learned to maintain a longer gaze on the experimenter than dogs receiving a less preferred food (dog pellets). Dogs downshifted from dry liver to pellets rejected food more frequently than nonshifted controls. Gaze duration also decreased in downshifted dogs below the level of a group always reinforced with pellets. In addition, downshifted dogs tended to move away from the experimenter, adopting a lying down posture. This phenomenon, called successive negative contrast, has been described in analogous experiments with a variety of mammalian species, but has failed to occur in similar experiments with nonmammalian vertebrates. Unlike similar previous observations, the present data were obtained in an environment involving interspecific communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial behavior in gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).

Investigated whether adult gerbils could use an allocentric frame of reference to efficiently solve a spatial memory task. 38 male Ss were allowed to explore an arena containing an object. The external reference frame was reduced to a single visual landmark. After habituation, Ss entered the arena from a new direction. A 2nd object, identical to the 1st object, was placed symmetrically with regard to the landmark. The 2nd object was explored more than the 1st object, a result showing that the 2nd object was differentiated on the basis of location. This result suggests that, during the course of exploration, Ss had learned about the spatial features of the experimental situation. It is suggested that Ss' final discrimination performance (preference for the novel stimulus location) reflected an allocentric rather than egocentric frame of reference. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Comparative Study of the Use of Visual Communicative Signals in Interactions Between Dogs (Canis familiaris) and Humans and Cats (Felis catus) and Humans.

Dogs' (Canis familiaris) and cats' (Felis catus) interspecific communicative behavior toward humans was investigated. In Experiment 1, the ability of dogs and cats to use human pointing gestures in an object-choice task was compared using 4 types of pointing cues differing in distance between the signaled object and the end of the fingertip and in visibility duration of the given signal. Using these gestures, both dogs and cats were able to find the hidden food; there was no significant difference in their performance. In Experiment 2, the hidden food was made inaccessible to the subjects to determine whether they could indicate the place of the hidden food to a naive owner. Cats lacked some components of attention-getting behavior compared with dogs. The results suggest that individual familiarization with pointing gestures ensures high-level performance in the presence of such gestures; however, species-specific differences could cause differences in signaling toward the human. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Landmark-based search memory in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

Recent studies have suggested that any animal that relies on landmark-based search memory encodes and uses metric properties of space to navigate. So far, however, metric information provided by landmarks has been predominantly investigated in avian species. In the present study, I investigated whether the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a mammalian species, encodes the distance and direction from landmarks. Dogs were trained to find a ball hidden next to an array of two distinct landmarks that remained at a constant location in a room from trial to trial. After training, the dogs were occasionally tested on unrewarded conditions where the array was either left in its usual position or shifted laterally, perpendicularly, or diagonally relative to the rear wall of the room. Although the dogs significantly shifted their search as a function of the displacement of the landmarks, they did not search at the predicted coordinates of the goal relative to the shift of the landmarks, suggesting that the global cues available in the testing room were also encoded and used by dogs to locate the position of the goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-sectional study of object permanence in domestic puppies (Canis familiaris).

Visual accommodation and object permanence tests were administered to 70 puppies (Canis familiaris), aged 4 wks to 9 mo. The results showed that understanding of visible displacement problems emerged at the 5th wk and developed rapidly until the 8th wk. Although the search behaviors of older puppies were more flexible, no further significant development was observed between 8 wks and 9 mo. The results on invisible displacement tests suggest that understanding of invisible displacement problems appears around the 1st year in dogs' development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial learning and memory in the tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria).

A single tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria) was trained in an eight-arm radial maze, with the apparatus and general procedures modeled on those used to demonstrate spatial learning in rats. The tortoise learned to perform reliably above chance, preferentially choosing baited arms, rather than returning to arms previously visited on a trial. Test sessions that examined control by olfactory cues revealed that they did not affect performance. No systematic, stereotyped response patterns were evident. In spite of differences in brain structure, the tortoise showed spatial learning abilities comparable to those observed in mammals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial memory recall in the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).

The current study tested spatial memory recall in 1 male and 1 female giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). The task required subjects to make a delayed response to a previously lighted location, with varying lengths of delay between the observation phase and the test phase. The male subject reached criterion at 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 10-s delays. The female subject reached criterion at 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 10-, and 15-s delays. The results support the hypothesis that giant pandas demonstrate significant working memory for spatial location in the absence of external cues, which may be an important mechanism for survival in the wild. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial memory in the desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti).

Desert kangaroo rats forage for seed distributed in patches in the desert environment and may remember patch locations. In Exp 1, 7 desert kangaroo rats that had discovered the location of a plastic token in 1 box accurately dug for a token hidden in the same location in a 2nd identical box. Results of Exp 2 indicated that the rats primarily remembered the spatial location of the token within the box in relation to extramaze objects and the walls of the experimental box. Female rats also remembered the chip's location in relation to objects inside the box, but males did not. Exp 3 demonstrated that the rats' ability to locate the buried token did not depend on detection of the odor of the token. The author proposes that spatial memory in kangaroo rats may have evolved as a result of an overall change in the ontogeny of the species rather than as a specialized adaptation for foraging efficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial unmasking of birdsong in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus).

Budgerigars and zebra finches were tested, using operant conditioning techniques, on their ability to identify a zebra finch song in the presence of a background masker emitted from either the same or a different location as the signal. Identification thresholds were obtained for three masker types differing in their spectrotemporal characteristics (noise, modulated noise, and a song chorus). Both bird species exhibited similar amounts of spatial unmasking across the three masker types. The amount of unmasking was greater when the masker was played continuously compared to when the target and masker were presented simultaneously. These results suggest that spatial factors are important for birds in the identification of natural signals in noisy environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)