Browsing by Author "Call, J"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Chimpanzees, bonobos, and children successfully coordinate in conflict situations.
    (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2017-06-07) Sánchez-Amaro, A; Duguid, S; Call, J; Tomasello, M
    Social animals need to coordinate with others to reap the benefits of group-living even when individuals’ interests are misaligned. We compare how chimpanzees, bonobos and children coordinate their actions with a conspecific in a Snowdrift game, which provides a model for understanding how organisms coordinate and make decisions under conflict. In study 1, we presented pairs of chimpanzees, bonobos and children with an unequal reward distribution. In the critical condition, the preferred reward could only be obtained by waiting for the partner to act, with the risk that if no one acted, both would lose the rewards. Apes and children successfully coordinated to obtain the rewards. Children used a ‘both-partner-pull’ strategy and communicated during the task, while some apes relied on an ‘only-one-partner-pulls’ strategy to solve the task, although there were also signs of strategic behaviour as they waited for their partner to pull when that strategy led to the preferred reward. In study 2, we presented pairs of chimpanzees and bonobos with the same set-up as in study 1 with the addition of a non-social option that provided them with a secure reward. In this situation, apes had to actively decide between the unequal distribution and the alternative. In this set-up, apes maximized their rewards by taking their partners’ potential actions into account. In conclusion, children and apes showed clear instances of strategic decision-making to maximize their own rewards while maintaining successful coordination.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Citizen Science as a New Tool in Dog Cognition Research.
    (PLoS One, 2015) Stewart, L; MacLean, EL; Ivy, D; Woods, V; Cohen, E; Rodriguez, K; McIntyre, M; Mukherjee, S; Call, J; Kaminski, J; Miklósi, Á; Wrangham, RW; Hare, B
    Family dogs and dog owners offer a potentially powerful way to conduct citizen science to answer questions about animal behavior that are difficult to answer with more conventional approaches. Here we evaluate the quality of the first data on dog cognition collected by citizen scientists using the Dognition.com website. We conducted analyses to understand if data generated by over 500 citizen scientists replicates internally and in comparison to previously published findings. Half of participants participated for free while the other half paid for access. The website provided each participant a temperament questionnaire and instructions on how to conduct a series of ten cognitive tests. Participation required internet access, a dog and some common household items. Participants could record their responses on any PC, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world and data were retained on servers. Results from citizen scientists and their dogs replicated a number of previously described phenomena from conventional lab-based research. There was little evidence that citizen scientists manipulated their results. To illustrate the potential uses of relatively large samples of citizen science data, we then used factor analysis to examine individual differences across the cognitive tasks. The data were best explained by multiple factors in support of the hypothesis that nonhumans, including dogs, can evolve multiple cognitive domains that vary independently. This analysis suggests that in the future, citizen scientists will generate useful datasets that test hypotheses and answer questions as a complement to conventional laboratory techniques used to study dog psychology.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The domestication hypothesis for dogs' skills with human communication: a response to Udell et al. (2008) and Wynne et al. (2008)
    (Animal Behaviour, 2010-02-01) Hare, B; Rosati, AG; Kaminski, J; Braeuer, J; Call, J; Tomasello, M
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The goggles experiment: can chimpanzees use self-experience to infer what a competitor can see?
    (Animal Behaviour, 2015-07) Karg, K; Schmelz, M; Call, J; Tomasello, M