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dc.contributor.authorBrilot, BOen
dc.contributor.authorAsher, Len
dc.contributor.authorBateson, Men
dc.date.accessioned2014-05-08T13:24:15Z
dc.date.available2014-05-08T13:24:15Z
dc.date.issued2010-09en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2999
dc.description.abstract

Negative affect in humans and animals is known to cause individuals to interpret ambiguous stimuli pessimistically, a phenomenon termed 'cognitive bias'. Here, we used captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to test the hypothesis that a reduction in environmental conditions, from enriched to non-enriched cages, would engender negative affect, and hence 'pessimistic' biases. We also explored whether individual differences in stereotypic behaviour (repetitive somersaulting) predicted 'pessimism'. Eight birds were trained on a novel conditional discrimination task with differential rewards, in which background shade (light or dark) determined which of two covered dishes contained a food reward. The reward was small when the background was light, but large when the background was dark. We then presented background shades intermediate between those trained to assess the birds' bias to choose the dish associated with the smaller food reward (a 'pessimistic' judgement) when the discriminative stimulus was ambiguous. Contrary to predictions, changes in the level of cage enrichment had no effect on 'pessimism'. However, changes in the latency to choose and probability of expressing a choice suggested that birds learnt rapidly that trials with ambiguous stimuli were unreinforced. Individual differences in performance of stereotypies did predict 'pessimism'. Specifically, birds that somersaulted were more likely to choose the dish associated with the smaller food reward in the presence of the most ambiguous discriminative stimulus. We propose that somersaulting is part of a wider suite of behavioural traits indicative of a stress response to captive conditions that is symptomatic of a negative affective state.

en
dc.format.extent721 - 731en
dc.languageengen
dc.language.isoengen
dc.subjectAnimalsen
dc.subjectChoice Behavioren
dc.subjectDiscrimination, Psychologicalen
dc.subjectEnvironmenten
dc.subjectFeeding Behavioren
dc.subjectFemaleen
dc.subjectMaleen
dc.subjectReinforcement, Psychologyen
dc.subjectRewarden
dc.subjectStarlingsen
dc.subjectStereotyped Behavioren
dc.titleStereotyping starlings are more 'pessimistic'.en
dc.typeJournal Article
plymouth.author-urlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20464439en
plymouth.issue5en
plymouth.volume13en
plymouth.publication-statusPublisheden
plymouth.journalAnim Cognen
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10071-010-0323-zen
plymouth.organisational-group/Plymouth
plymouth.organisational-group/Plymouth/Faculty of Science and Engineering
plymouth.organisational-group/Plymouth/REF 2021 Researchers by UoA
plymouth.organisational-group/Plymouth/REF 2021 Researchers by UoA/UoA04 Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience
dc.publisher.placeGermanyen
dcterms.dateAccepted2010-04-21en
dc.identifier.eissn1435-9456en
dc.rights.embargoperiodNot knownen
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1007/s10071-010-0323-zen
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserveden
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2010-09en
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Reviewen


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